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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: meursault on February 23, 2021, 06:31:25 PM
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Hello to all.
I have recorded some acoustic concerts with my Sony xz1 with decent results. Now that my phone is dead I wonder if there are any recommendations for an android phone (preferably) to use for audio recordings without external mics. Thank you.
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Get external mics, even if simply in the form of an attachment that plugs directly into the USB port, making it essentially a part of the phone.
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Thank you for your reply but I am looking for recommendations for smartphones alone.
I know they are inferior, i just want to know the best among them.
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A friend has the earlier iOS version of this and it works quite well. It is the only device of this type I have heard that gives decent results, though still not as good as "real" separate mics with a preamp/DAC feeding your phone.
https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/microphones/mv88plus (https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/microphones/mv88plus)
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Last year I was watching a video about someone buying a new camera and I was very impressed with the sound of the part of the video which was recorded just on their phone.
After a happy half hour trying to find it in my watch history - here it is. https://youtu.be/xZoPCUAE3vk?t=148 I suggest you watch from that point through to where they start showing footage from their new camera. Where there is live audio it seems to me to be very stereo.
I asked them at the time what phone they used and the replied "Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 pro" - and they didn't say they had an external mic connected to it. But you could ask them to confirm that using the video comments yourself. I can't find any confirmation online that it has stereo mics.
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I have a Pixel 3XL and think the audio is pretty decent for a phone. Not sure if the newest Pixels are equally good.
I'd definitely would prefer external mics (If you can find the Sennheisers in my sig + a iPod you will make a much better recording), but I'd rather have the audio from the Pixel than nothing (and there would be a point in quality where I'd rather have nothing).
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After a happy half hour trying to find it in my watch history - here it is...
I'm sorry you spent all this time, thank you!
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Hello to all.
I have recorded some acoustic concerts with my Sony xz1 with decent results. Now that my phone is dead I wonder if there are any recommendations for an android phone (preferably) to use for audio recordings without external mics. Thank you.
Samsung S 10 using Shure MV 88+. This is raw footage and was never edited or mastered.
https://youtu.be/pmNe9P-I9fc
The issue with just using the phone is that most those internal mics are probably omni and will pick up a lot of chatter. The Shure MV 88 you can dial in the angle in the presets. This was recorded in the tapers section around row 20 ish.
Also I believe all Android phones will end up in AAC format, iPhones will end up in WAV.
The Samsung S 10 also records using internal mics in Stereo NOT mono.
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Why android? Iphone and Apogee Metarecorder is a very good combi, especially with Sennheiser ambeo smart headset.
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https://wetransfer.com/downloads/bcc3d42a7cf169df2d394975d7e3918d20210504181929/c9e8c5b17ecc0f83ac7a1fc74dd1102720210504181929/c9b061
AC/DC SHOOTOTHRILL-BOOGIEMAN.wav Recorded with Samsung Note S10+ Internal Microphones with WAV Record Application/Software.
Playback from Korg MR-1000 DSD 5.6
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Wait for the Sony Xeperia 1 111. looks like a great camera and phone can't speak about recorder but the camera is supposed to be better than the rest. and if you should decide to go for external amp mic combo you will be able toget good video and audio depending on the externals
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https://wetransfer.com/downloads/bcc3d42a7cf169df2d394975d7e3918d20210504181929/c9e8c5b17ecc0f83ac7a1fc74dd1102720210504181929/c9b061
AC/DC SHOOTOTHRILL-BOOGIEMAN.wav Recorded with Samsung Note S10+ Internal Microphones with WAV Record Application/Software.
Playback from Korg MR-1000 DSD 5.6
Heavy clipping distortion, most likely indicating the phone is unable to handle high SPL in the lower-frequencies in loud concert situations. The recording does seem to be stereo rather than mono.
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AC/DC SHOOTOTHRILL-BOOGIEMAN.wav Recorded with Samsung Note S10+ Internal Microphones with WAV Record Application/Software.
Playback from Korg MR-1000 DSD 5.6
Heavy clipping distortion, most likely indicating the phone is unable to handle high SPL in the lower-frequencies in loud concert situations. The recording does seem to be stereo rather than mono.
What External Microphone do You recommend? or is no point with this mobile telephone
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Depends on what your are recording, how you run, what you are willing to spend, etc.
I'm not up on all the options into phones. But here are a few examples of quite different options at either end of the range. Some have been mentioned previously in the thread:
Shure MV88 > phone- low cost, all in one, attaches directly to phone.
One of the binaural recording sets like the Sennheiser Ambeo, or the Roland mic earbuds, or (there is/was another one) > phone
DPA microphone pair > DPA d:vice > phone- higher cost, choice of any DPA microphones, most stealthy
Any microphone pair > Sonosax SX-M2D2 > phone- expensive, arguably as good as it gets
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lots of stuff in between there, like the MOTUs, Centrance mixerface, and others
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Sennheiser Ambeo does not work with Android phones, sadly. iOS only.
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^
DPA d:Vice as well, which is one reason I've not picked one up yet.
Yes I know I could just pickup an older or less costly iOS device and dedicate it to this, which is the way to go.