So had a iRIG Mic for a while now and here is my impressions being that there is some advantages to own a microphone like this one. If you read on you will know why...
You connect the microphone in the headphone jack of your device and the connection comes with space for a cable out and that is a good thing as you can have it connected to speakers, headphones or mixer.
And there is the possibility to record on top of another track while listening to it if you are using one of the multi track applications. Depending on the headphones you use you will hear for example your own voice through the headphones while the other tracks plays in the background... yes it is also possible to hear what you are recording on top of your other tracks directly in the headphones but that will come with a decent amount of delay.
So maybe preferably to hear what you record on top of other tracks it is better to let the sound of what you are recording come in through the outside of the headphones...
Which has not been too much of an issue for me...
As will only record rough sketches on the multi track applications for Android,
being too hard to get more or less okay with or without this microphone so making serious multi track recording gets saved for USB Sound Card and P.C.
( Will try the USB recorder for Audio Evolution Mobile one day this summer ).
Have used it for sample recordings and this is pretty okay and can even record directly into the SunVox sampler which also means to be able to record with effects directly in SunVox for example. ( This with latency but it is something that you can easily fix in the sample editor... )
Doing single track recordings is okay like single guitars or as I have been doing practicing guitar and singing. But the best use of all for this microphone would be for interviews as it seems to me that the microphones main frequencies are adjusted for voice.
In general recordings are less noisy than with just the built in microphone of the devices that got tested and of course the recording being picked up by a microphone you can direct the microphone and get a less generalized recording.
To control the input of the microphone there is three different sensitivities, the low setting you would probably never use unless you are recording some extremely loud sounds- the middle setting is good for singing directly into the microphone and the most sensitive for more overall recording like a acoustic guitar and voice.
So to conclude would say that it is worth it for recordings and with some audio enhancement included in the recorder application that IK Multimedia want you to use with the microphone
( iRIG Recorder ) or with some of the other enhancement that you can find in other applications you can get decent results.
It does sound better than the built in microphones of the three devices I tried but it is hard to get a professional sound, so depending if you use your device for a lot of recording and have some extra cash ( ~ 50 euros / 66 $ ) it is worth it, but it is definitely extremely useful if you do a lot of interviewing.
And in the case of interviewing it is built in cast iron and seems to be able to take some punishment which makes it easy to bring it with you without worrying of it breaking.
One thing that would have been nice is that if you could use the microphone for other recordings outside of your Android device.
Feel that if it could work as a normal microphone it could have been a reason to buy it if you do not have a microphone or much money.
The only way it is possible to do this is, to connect the phone in between the microphone and whatever you plug the line out to, like for example a amplifier.
You then have to use a recording application where you can go into settings and switch on direct monitoring but as mentioned before doing this comes with latency included.
Here now is some sound examples and they will probably freak you out as it is my friend Rikardo singing in a stylelee being used in the thirties in Spain and this is what he does professionally in theaters.
So the tests are made first with a Dynamic microphone that is a Shure sm48 which would be similar to the iRIG Microphone,
and one borrowed Condenser microphone Audio-Technica AT 2020.
This to how an idea how it would compare to a recording you would make into a
USB- Audio card or other semi to professional recording device.
Then testing the microphone with the application iRIG Recorder,
with and without the microphone.
All of the recordings made without any processing except making the volumes equal at the recordings highest peaks.
You connect the microphone in the headphone jack of your device and the connection comes with space for a cable out and that is a good thing as you can have it connected to speakers, headphones or mixer.
And there is the possibility to record on top of another track while listening to it if you are using one of the multi track applications. Depending on the headphones you use you will hear for example your own voice through the headphones while the other tracks plays in the background... yes it is also possible to hear what you are recording on top of your other tracks directly in the headphones but that will come with a decent amount of delay.
So maybe preferably to hear what you record on top of other tracks it is better to let the sound of what you are recording come in through the outside of the headphones...
Which has not been too much of an issue for me...
As will only record rough sketches on the multi track applications for Android,
being too hard to get more or less okay with or without this microphone so making serious multi track recording gets saved for USB Sound Card and P.C.
( Will try the USB recorder for Audio Evolution Mobile one day this summer ).
Have used it for sample recordings and this is pretty okay and can even record directly into the SunVox sampler which also means to be able to record with effects directly in SunVox for example. ( This with latency but it is something that you can easily fix in the sample editor... )
Doing single track recordings is okay like single guitars or as I have been doing practicing guitar and singing. But the best use of all for this microphone would be for interviews as it seems to me that the microphones main frequencies are adjusted for voice.
In general recordings are less noisy than with just the built in microphone of the devices that got tested and of course the recording being picked up by a microphone you can direct the microphone and get a less generalized recording.
To control the input of the microphone there is three different sensitivities, the low setting you would probably never use unless you are recording some extremely loud sounds- the middle setting is good for singing directly into the microphone and the most sensitive for more overall recording like a acoustic guitar and voice.
So to conclude would say that it is worth it for recordings and with some audio enhancement included in the recorder application that IK Multimedia want you to use with the microphone
( iRIG Recorder ) or with some of the other enhancement that you can find in other applications you can get decent results.
It does sound better than the built in microphones of the three devices I tried but it is hard to get a professional sound, so depending if you use your device for a lot of recording and have some extra cash ( ~ 50 euros / 66 $ ) it is worth it, but it is definitely extremely useful if you do a lot of interviewing.
And in the case of interviewing it is built in cast iron and seems to be able to take some punishment which makes it easy to bring it with you without worrying of it breaking.
One thing that would have been nice is that if you could use the microphone for other recordings outside of your Android device.
Feel that if it could work as a normal microphone it could have been a reason to buy it if you do not have a microphone or much money.
The only way it is possible to do this is, to connect the phone in between the microphone and whatever you plug the line out to, like for example a amplifier.
You then have to use a recording application where you can go into settings and switch on direct monitoring but as mentioned before doing this comes with latency included.
Here now is some sound examples and they will probably freak you out as it is my friend Rikardo singing in a stylelee being used in the thirties in Spain and this is what he does professionally in theaters.
So the tests are made first with a Dynamic microphone that is a Shure sm48 which would be similar to the iRIG Microphone,
and one borrowed Condenser microphone Audio-Technica AT 2020.
This to how an idea how it would compare to a recording you would make into a
USB- Audio card or other semi to professional recording device.
Then testing the microphone with the application iRIG Recorder,
with and without the microphone.
All of the recordings made without any processing except making the volumes equal at the recordings highest peaks.
So my own conclusions after doing these recordings are that the recordings without the microphone just using the telephone there is less dynamics than with the microphone and as mentioned before less noise. Also managed to saturate the last recording that was recorded with just the phone so this tests above are slightly inconclusive. In case of microphone recording into iRIG Recorder and the one with just the iRIG Recorder application. But the observations are based not on only these recordings so maybe you have to trust me... or wait until there is more recordings posted. So maybe the most interesting part is the comparison with the two microphones SM48 and AT2020 and the iRIG microphone.
Also have tested recording into a lot of other applications and there will be future posts with overviews and more testing.
Because there is surprisingly big differences in between the different applications and it would be nice to do tests where you take advantage of the audio processing that you can do with different applications.
Maybe more important is that my curiosity is peaked, as it is convenient to be able to do as good recordings as possible in something as portable as a telephone.
IK Multimedia mobile product line homepage:
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/cat-view.php?C=mobile
And of course how am I not going to post this video of Rikardo singing at Musical Android HQ!
( Yes the quality of the video is horrible as it was recorded with an old phone laying around. )
Also have tested recording into a lot of other applications and there will be future posts with overviews and more testing.
Because there is surprisingly big differences in between the different applications and it would be nice to do tests where you take advantage of the audio processing that you can do with different applications.
Maybe more important is that my curiosity is peaked, as it is convenient to be able to do as good recordings as possible in something as portable as a telephone.
IK Multimedia mobile product line homepage:
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/cat-view.php?C=mobile
And of course how am I not going to post this video of Rikardo singing at Musical Android HQ!
( Yes the quality of the video is horrible as it was recorded with an old phone laying around. )
RSS Feed
