- So what is the best
microphone for your iPhone?
Whether you're livestreaming
or you're shooting video.
I'm gonna talk about
three of the best options
in this video.
(techno music)
Hey, what's up guys?
Sean here with THiNK Media TV,
helping you go further faster in media.
And on this channel we
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And at any point during this
video, check out show notes
and links in the description below.
I'll list out all the mics
and all the tech reviewed
in the YouTube description.
Let's get in to the review.
So as you know, you can
record audio right off
your smartphone, but
sometimes it's not the best,
especially if you get further away.
So what are the best
microphones for your iPhone?
Well the first option is
to pick out a lapel mic.
Now, a lapel mic is a microphone
that clips on your shirt
and that can give you some cord length
so you can get a distance
away from the phone.
So the first mic I would
recommend is actually called
the BOYA BY-M1 microphone.
Now, couple features
you'll notice right away
with this particular mic
is that you get a ton
of cord length.
In some cases, it might be too much,
but maybe that's something
you're looking for.
I have tested out some
of the cheaper mics,
I'm not sure which one
this is, about 10 bucks.
But one of the downsides is
that the cable was so short,
and I'll link it up still
so you can research it
in the YouTube description.
But the BOYA is awesome 'cause
you get a ton of cord length
and it sounds really good.
So check out how this BOYA mic sounds.
Alright this is what the
iPhone mic just on the camera
sounds like with no
mics plugged in at all.
Okay, here is the BOYA mic.
This is what it sounds like.
You can see this little
adapter thing on it.
It has a place where you
can flip it to camera
so on smartphone mode it is turned off
and this is what this
lapel mic will get you.
This mic's 20 bucks.
Now the other great
thing about this BOYA mic
is it's powered so it also
sounds great if you use it
for like a DSLR or some other application.
And so there's a little switch
on it so you can say off,
and that's what it is
when you just plug it in
to your smartphone, or you can turn it on
if you plug it in to the
audio port of a camera
so that's pretty cool.
Now, the second lapel
mic that I actually use
most of the time is
called the iRig Mic Lav.
Now this is a great mic.
The BOYA was about $20 U.S.
The iRig is about $40 and it
plugs right in to your phone,
works great, sounds great,
and it actually, for me,
is like the perfect cord
length and so I use this mic
a ton for Facebook Live, for Periscopes,
and it's kind of like my go-to mic,
and so check out how the iRig sounds.
Okay, now this is the iRig mic.
Now this is the one that
I like to use the most
just because the cable
length is about perfect
to be doing Facebook Lives consistently
and I don't want all of this extra cable.
Again, maybe you do, and
it's not a huge deal,
you can just move it out of the way,
but I do like this iRig.
It's kind of my go-to mic.
It comes with a cool case and
this will run about $40 U.S.
Now one thing about the
iRig mic is it actually does
have a little plug in
place where you can plug in
a secondary mic and actually
do two lapels off the one port,
but I found that that
doesn't work that great
or sound that great,
and so if you're gonna
do more than one person,
wait for later in the video.
I've got better solutions for that.
And then the third recommendation would be
the Rode smartLav.
You've probably heard of that.
$80, now it's pretty solid.
You know you're gonna
get good audio with it,
but some of these other options
gonna sound about the same
and for $20 or $40.
So definitely the smartLav, but
you know that Rode's quality
is gonna be solid so you
could check that out.
Now one thing I've heard
about it is that that cable
is kind of short so then
you end up investing
in an extension cable, but I don't know.
Let me know if you know about that
in the comment section below.
Now the second kind of mic
I'd recommend is a shotgun mic
and this is also when
we talked about bringing
multiple people on, this is
a great solution for that.
And so I'd recommend the Rode Videomic Me.
Now this is a $60 microphone
and it's pretty great.
You can just plug it right
into your phone like that
and if you're shooting on
Facebook Live or something,
it can shoot kind of down and catch you,
or if you go sideways,
it's gonna work as well.
And so what I found with
these mics that plug in
that are supposed to be
directional kind of mics,
you don't really wanna cheap out on these.
There are some Amazon
options, whereas the lapels
that are cheaper can
actually be great if you get
the right one.
The directional mics just
usually are gonna leave you
wishing you didn't waste your money.
So I think this is a great investment
and this is a good
solution for having maybe
a couple people on camera.
So if you were to be doing a livestream
and you had two people next
to it or you wanted to,
instead of doing the lapel mic option,
this would be a good way to go.
And if you're by yourself as well.
So this is what the Rode mic sounds like.
Alright, here we are.
This is the iPhone mic again.
So this is what it sounds like.
I'm about, you know, two feet
away from the phone itself.
And this is what it sounds
like with the Rode Videomic Me.
So this is the difference
and what's kind of cool
is I guess if you could
imagine maybe somebody's here
next to me, we are doing
two people on camera.
We're about this far, now
we're probably three, four feet
away from the actual mic itself.
Okay, and the third option is
actually to use an adapter.
And so if you get this
Rode TRS to TRRS SC4,
then you can take any mic
that you currently have
and use it on your iPhone.
Now to oversimplify things
to determine whether or not
it's meant for the smartphone
jack or for a headphone jack,
is a standard microphone is
gonna have two little black
lines on it and that's TRS.
And you'll notice that, like
your headphones for your iPhone
or whatever, it's gonna
have three lines on it
and that's TRRS.
And so all this plug does,
and you can definitely get
some very much cheaper
versions here, for about $15,
I think this is a good
investment because, again,
Rode's well built and then
some of those other ones,
it's like just get something
that's always gonna work for you, right?
And so for $15 you can take
any shotgun mic, handheld,
anything you have, if it's
the two black lines, right?
And you just put this
converter in and now you can
plug this in to your iPhone
or to your smartphone
and benefit from the
audio of any mic at all.
So that's maybe one of
the cheapest options
and we're shooting with the
Rode Videomic Pro right now
in this video.
We've used that for Facebook
Live before if we also had
multiple people on camera
and it sounds amazing
because you've got a great shotgun mic.
Now that's like a $200 shotgun mic,
but then we just used this
little converter cable.
Now, similarly, you might
wanna also get a Rode SC3
because that converts the opposite way.
It goes from two to allowing you to use
the three plug prong.
So for instance, this
little lapel mic here
that's intended for smartphones
has the three black lines,
the SC3 is gonna turn that
into the two black lines
so you can plug this into
your DSLR and use it.
And so these are probably
two things you wanna pick up
just kinda for your kit
in general depending
on what kind of videos you're creating.
If you're doing both
smartphone and DSLR type videos
and you could adapt any mic that you want.
Okay, and then lastly
this is the iPhone audio
and so I've got my SC4 right here,
and I'm just gonna use this
particular shotgun mic.
So obviously this is
completely predicated upon
what actual mic you use,
but just for example.
And I'm gonna throw it up
on this other tripod here
and I'm gonna set it
right next to the phone.
Alright and here you go.
So now you can take a mic that
you just have lying around
and you could convert it to your phone
and get more pro audio like this.
Oh yeah, and one more tip on that.
You might want to invest in
how you're gonna actually
mount all of that stuff,
'cause you can take
some piece like this,
mount your shotgun mic,
and then you've got your
phone mounted as well.
I unscrew that piece
and put it on this thing
and put that on a tripod.
Not that you have to do
all of that, but again,
if you just kind of go through it,
I can look up some resources too,
a way that you would mount
your mics if you were using
an adapter.
And you know, they're not
meant to just clip right on
your phone, so you wanna look
in to a solution for that.
Question of the day.
What do you think the
best microphone for iPhone
or for smartphones is?
Let me know in the comment section,
and remember that some of
the best tips and feedback
comes from you, the
THiNK Media TV community,
so definitely connect with
everybody in the comment section.
So thanks so much for
checking out this video.
Definitely subscribe for
more videos just like this,
and also check out the playlist
of all of my smartphone
accessories videos.
I talk about lenses, any
cool smartphone tripods,
microphones, all in the one playlist
so I'll link that up on the YouTube card
and if you haven't
downloaded the THiNK Media TV
Video Gear Buyer's Guide,
it's a complete guide
of actually all the
lighting, audio, and cameras
I recommend for making YouTube videos.
So you can grab that as well.
Everything linked up in the description
or on the YouTube card.
Until next time, THiNK
Media TV is helping you go
further faster in media.
Keep crushing it and we will talk soon.
(techno music)
Hey, what's up guys?
Sean here and we are
ready to drop the mic.
(techno music)
Okay.
