- What to consider when choosing an external recording device for your mobile?
- How to plug a microphone into a phone?
What to consider when choosing an external recording device for your mobile?
Here list four aspects you need to think about before buying a phone microphone.
Types/Applications - What do you want to use it for?
If you are a video producer recording with your smartphone but don't have a plug-in phone microphone as a suitable audio tool, you can be limiting your potential. Although the audience is probably doing the judgment, we don't. Nothing screams amateur more than poor sound, but audio, especially speech, are frequently disregarded. There are a ton of alternatives for filming at home, pro studio, or other indoor places, but a surprising number of mobile-specific or mobile-friendly options are available to improve your on-the-go recordings for vlogging, filmmaking, jam sessions, podcasting, and other purposes.
Device/Connector - What plugs are your recording device compatible with?
Bluetooth microphone can be directly connected to your device through the technology, but the general external type is required to connect, and that’s why the interface is an important thing to think about. What type of phone do you have? We can simply divide it into the following three types.
- Lightning for iOS devices like iPhones and iPads
- Type-C for Android phones
- TRRS for smartphones that have a 3.5mm headphone jack
Specifications/Performance: What basic factors should you know?
1. Polar pattern: It is the sound pickup pattern or directionality of an audio microphone that plugs into phone. Generally, they can be divided into three kinds: Directional, bidirectional, and omnidirectional microphones. The first kind is mostly adopted by the shotgun type, which can accurately capture the sound in front of the lens, such as SYNCO U1L is a cardioid iPhone microphone. The third one is 360° radio, mostly used for clip-on microphones for interviews, podcasts, and vlogs. etc.
2. Transmission distance: It is the range between the transmitter clipped on the speaker’s shirt and the receiver plugged into phones. In another word, you can see it as the connection tech and signal strength between two paired TX and RX. You can have a direct feeling through the video below.
- How far can you record with SYNCO P2L?
- In this video, the Youtube channel Trending reviews did a detailed unboxing and functional review of SYNCO P2L and then did an NLOS outdoor sound test of this mini microphone that plugs into phone. You can see the blogger from in front of the camera, go out dozens of meters away, even to the camera can not see the place, you can still clearly hear his voice. Even in the noisy interface, with traffic coming and going, the sound quality is still very clear, will not be a lot of background car sound and wind noise recorded.
3. Capsule: It is the component in charge of turning sound waves into mic signals. It can usually be divided into two kinds. including the condenser mic that is ideal for studio vocals and dynamic type for load sounds.
4. Frequency range: The mic can "hear" certain sound frequencies, which is how it is frequently described. Choose the best microphone you can plug into your phone with a frequency response of 20 Hz to 20 kHz and you'll be able to record clear, natural sounds this way. Popular microphones that are for sale at Moman PhotoGears Store like the SYNCO P series and Moman CP2 all are in this range.
Budget/Price - What’s your budget for investing in good audio?
If you're a newbie seeking an excellent and dependable phone microphone that's also reasonably priced, you can just focus on finding a type that has good sound quality without thinking about special sound effects and features first. Generally speaking, it would be easy to find the right type for under $50.
How to plug a microphone into a phone?
We can divide the connections into three types depending on the type of microphone. The following will have actual products as examples to facilitate your understanding.
For wireless lapel type: Connect the receiver to devices and clip the transmitter on your shirt
Unlike wired lavalier type, wireless lavalier microphones are usually divided into a transmitter and a receiver. With the introduction of this video, you will have a good perception.
- What are the transmitter and receiver of the plug-in lav mic?
In this SYNCO P1T/P1L’s hands-on and setup guide video, pro reviewer Richard Wong at the beginning describes in detail the definition and use of transmitter and receiver. TX is used to listen to the speaker's sound, and RX is used to transmit the received sound to your device via output. And the SYNCO P series lapel microphone that plugs into phone is easy to operate and has high-quality built-in batteries. Also, they have a Type-C port on the side for charging while recording.
For shotgun type: Plug and start record directly
Shotgun type is usually used for professional filmmaking because they have a special radio design and are easy to install and use operation. When this type is used for cell phones, they will be designed to be very mini, to ensure the quality of recording at the same time will not bring a burden to your phone. Take SYNCO U1L for example, its design is a very simple integrated appearance, directly into the lightning plug into your iPhone, you can start recording. Unlike the last kind of lav mic we mentioned needs to be divided into two parts. Like the U1L microphone that plugs into phone with the plug-and-play feature, there is no waiting for the pairing step.
For USB type: Using adapter cable for connection
USB microphones are usually accompanied by a dock that sits on the desktop and is commonly used for live streaming, online video chatting, gaming, music recording, and ASMR suchlike video production. They are mostly used with computers and laptops, but they are also compatible with cell phones. When using this type of microphone, you may have to use a converter to convert the plug to the interface of your mobile. If it's a type like the Moman EM1 is much more simple. It uses a USB output port, but the cable that comes in the package is USB to Type-C, which can be used not only for your laptop but also can plug microphone into Android phone.
