Mobile phone for recording

Halpas

Member
Hi everyone,

So as one of the last people I´m switching to a smart phone. Now I´d like to choose one with whom I can record occasional sessions of my band with a good quality (obviously including me as e.g. a loud drummer). Which phones do have good microphones???

Regards,
Mathias
 
None will be worthwhile. Get one of the zoom things.
 
I have seen decent iPhone recordings, I have not seen any other phone to compare. However I do not know if a cable was plugged into it. Look up Thomas Langs Gianna Nanini tour on YouTube and judge the quality for yourself.

You may also want to look into a Zoom Q2 or Q3. Those are nice video cameras.
 
For what it's worth, I don't have a smart phone.
We've recorded some rehearsals with the guitar players HTC phone, and it does a pretty good job, or enough so that everything is audible.

Those things do compress a helluvalot tho
 
A mobile phone recording is better than nothing, but you probably want to have a decent bandwidth and control the volume level, both of which you don't have on mobile phone. I tried using iphone but all I got was a hugely distorted mid range only sound file. Not very pretty to listen back. An external microphone should do a better job than the built in one.
 
I have an older iphone 4 and I record with it with an external mike hooked up to it , the tascam im2. Cheap mic (around $20 I believe) and it has stereo, a limiter and a compressor.
 
I have an older iphone 4 and I record with it with an external mike hooked up to it , the tascam im2. Cheap mic (around $20 I believe) and it has stereo, a limiter and a compressor.

Maybe something not involving iphones from Apple?
 
You did ask for a smartphone, an iPhone is a smartphone.

None of them. The iPhone is a good idea because you can buy external accessories that will give you a good mic input (as suggested by drumforfun). Personally, I think you're better off buying a Zoom recorder and using that.
 
TASCAM iM2 is cool rivals ZOOM (Q video) recorders sound.

ZOOM is not out of the IOS game either, their iQ5B makes more sense than a ZOOM Q3 for example (if you have an iPhone).

ZOOM recorders have to be dumped to something else and on top of that you're dealing with poor battery life. On an i-devise you can edit quickly and send/post easily, plus the iPhone battery will outlast NiCads in a ZOOM and charging is easier, more convenient with an i-devise. Who wants to haul around another recorder if you already have your phone with you? Trust me its way easier, I've done both.
 
Recording with the phone sounds like a really cool idea. The problem with the Tascam is that it's built for the iPhone 4 and below, and the Zoom iQ5 is for the iPhone 5 and hopefully beyond.

For this very reason, I prefer to leave my phone as my phone and convenience item and any recording will be done by a real recorder. If you buy the Tascam unit, its obsolete since you can't use it on the new iPhone, and the Zoom iQ5 has a limited shelf life until Apple again decides to change it's dock-connector.

For the cost of either external phone microphone, you can buy a Tascam DR-05 stereo flash recorder (I got mine for $69 on Amazon last year when they did a blow out sale), and it's not obsolete until micro-SD cards go out of style. The Zoom H2n stereo recorder can probably be had really cheap nowadays too.
 
The problem with the Tascam is that it's built for the iPhone 4 and below, and the Zoom iQ5 is for the iPhone 5 and hopefully beyond.

For this very reason, I prefer to leave my phone as my phone and convenience item and any recording will be done by a real recorder. If you buy the Tascam unit, its obsolete since you can't use it on the new iPhone, and the Zoom iQ5 has a limited shelf life until Apple again decides to change it's dock-connector.




Not a problem, a solution, you buy the mic that fits your iOS devise.

Like the OP, Im recording rehearsals/gigs for my reference, maybe send clips vis txt msg or email to others, for that purpose iPhone beats the hell out of any separate recorder for ease of use, and the sound/vid quality is on par.

I've used everything from cassettes (back in the day) to flash to SD etc. any separate recorder is a hassle, you have to deal with it and its power source, compared to always having your phone with you its a no brainer.
 
One option I tried as a lark was recording on the phone simultaneously with a Zoom H2. I put the Zoom audio track into Audacity and trimmed it, EQd etc.

Then I put the video from the phone into Windows Moviemaker and trimmed it so it started at the same time as the audio track. It's agood idea to count out before the first note beforehand to make the synching easier. I then muted the audio on the video track so I ended up with a clean sound with video.

This could be achieved so much more easily with a Zoom Q2HD that captures decent quality video and audio but when I tried to buy it the website demanded that I verify my credit card. So I clicked yes but then the page hung and nothing happened for 10 minutes, after which I gave up. This has happened to me before with card verification.

Will need to find another supplier who doesn't mess me around. How NOT to do e-commerce ...

// rant
 
The problem with the Tascam is that it's built for the iPhone 4 and below, and the Zoom iQ5 is for the iPhone 5 and hopefully beyond.

For this very reason, I prefer to leave my phone as my phone and convenience item and any recording will be done by a real recorder. If you buy the Tascam unit, its obsolete since you can't use it on the new iPhone, and the Zoom iQ5 has a limited shelf life until Apple again decides to change it's dock-connector.




Not a problem, a solution, you buy the mic that fits your iOS devise.

Like the OP, Im recording rehearsals/gigs for my reference, maybe send clips vis txt msg or email to others, for that purpose iPhone beats the hell out of any separate recorder for ease of use, and the sound/vid quality is on par.

I've used everything from cassettes (back in the day) to flash to SD etc. any separate recorder is a hassle, you have to deal with it and its power source, compared to always having your phone with you its a no brainer.

My point was when you buy these add-on pieces for your particular smart phone, then all of a sudden you're stuck with what the phone manufacturer decides to do. Think about all the people that bought (or just bought) the Tascam microphone. When those people decide to get the new iPhone, they now have to get a new microphone.

Which is why I made the comparison in price. You can either buy the $79 iPhone microphone (or whatever price it is), and then buy it again when you change phones or when Apple changes their dock, or spend less than a hundred on something that's not dependent on your phone.

Sure, it's more of a hassle because OMG, you have to carry another piece that's slightly larger than your phone, but is it really that big of a hassle? And oh gee, you might have to carry a couple of AA batteries.....the world is totally askew! Sorry, my sarcasm is showing when you compare this to what you would've had to do maybe five years ago ;)
 
You don't need a new mic. You just buy an adaptor or an adaptor cable (around $10) from iPhone 4 to 5.
$20 for the mic and $10 for a cable. Still can't beat it.
(It also fits iPads and ipod). Latest video I took was with an ipod and there are a gazillion of those around.
 
My point was when you buy these add-on pieces for your particular smart phone, then all of a sudden you're stuck with what the phone manufacturer decides to do. Think about all the people that bought (or just bought) the Tascam microphone. When those people decide to get the new iPhone, they now have to get a new microphone.

If thats your point, then think of all the people who bought a ZOOM Q3 then ZOOM comes out with the Q3 HD (a year later) and Q2, all those people have to buy a new camera.



Sure, it's more of a hassle because OMG, you have to carry another piece that's slightly larger than your phone, but is it really that big of a hassle? And oh gee, you might have to carry a couple of AA batteries.....the world is totally askew! Sorry, my sarcasm is showing when you compare this to what you would've had to do maybe five years ago ;)

Relatively yes, it is a big hassle. Drummers have so much gear comparatively and to set up a drum set and related along with another camera/battery charger/NiCads/wall warts and dealing with their cases, it is a hassle, done it too much, smart phone makes way more sense, you have it with you all the time.

Then taking the camera/recording devise and plugging it into your computer at home and getting clips/tracks to email/your phone, thats another hassle, takes time...again smart phone way easier, makes way more sense.



You don't need a new mic. You just buy an adaptor or an adaptor cable (around $10) from iPhone 4 to 5


You can even find them as low as $3
 
Last edited:
Bo and Les, you do realize the OP said no iPhone right?

I would buy a separate recording device than record using a windows/android phone.
 
You can use a phone for recording, we used to do it for months - but it's not worth it. I bought a Tascam DR-08 and there just isn't a comparison.

Depends on what you're doing with the recording.

If its just for reference an iPhone with a good mic is way easier.
 
The phone you want is the Nokia Lumia 928. Trust me buy it used on ebay. It captures audio exceptionally well and records in 1080p. Relatively cheap too. Ive used it myself.
 
Back
Top