Connecting microphone to cell phone (options?)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tom Miko
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Tom Miko

Tom Miko

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Hi,
I am a birder. Sometimes I want to record birds out in the field. I find that recording bird sounds directly onto my Android cell phone is the most practical option. To this end, I use an AudioTechnica shotgun microphone that requires 1 AA battery (inside the microphone) on a pistol grip with a dead cat, and I connect this to an IK Multimedia iRig Pre 2 ultracompact XLR microphone interface. The female end of this magical small plastic box accepts my XLR cable, and sticking out of the other end is a small cable ending in a 3.5 mm. Inside this iRig there are 2 AA batteries. So, is there some sort of analog to digital conversion going on here, or is this just a pre-amp? Interestingly, although most phones are now all USB-C, they only make/sell this product with the 3.5 mm jack.
So, I ran across some old equipment this weekend and discovered an old microphone in my storage shed with an XLR to 1/4 inch jack cable, and a 1/4 inch to 3.5 mm adapter. This microphone also has 1 AA battery inside. It occurred to me that I could also use that microphone by sticking a 3.5 mm to USB C adapter onto the end of the 3.5 mm adapter. I looked online and found that they do sell XLR to USB C cables.
Can I just buy one of those (XLR to USB C), and record directly onto my phone, or do I need a pre-amp?
Sorry for being long-winded.
 
Hello. It sounds like you are almost there but some technology issues are standing in the way. It seems that you wish to record birds outdoors and you want to use what you have instead of buying a lot of new equipment.

I completely empathize with your situation. I have attempted to piece together splitters and adapters for similar reasons but always run into problems. I guess since the AudioTechnica mic has a battery, maybe it doesn't need phantom power? Because if you hook a condenser mic with an XLR cable, I'm pretty sure you need 48v phantom power, hence the I-Rig. In this case, I don't think running a condenser mic > XLR cable > XLR/USB-C adapter > USB-C/3.5mm adapter > Android is going to work, at least not without a preamp. I don't think 3.5mm is made to withstand 48v phantom power then punched through two adapters to power the mic. I'd say try it out and report back but I don't want to be blamed for any fires, explosions, or loss of life and property.

In my case, I don't like batteries. I invested in a RODE VideoMic Go II. It's a battery-free condenser shotgun mic that gets power from my Android phone via the USB-C port. I got a dead cat for it, too. The only way you could get a mic like that to work would be to upgrade your phone to a newer model that has USB-C.

Another option would be to invest in a Zoom recorder and run your mic into it. Zooms have XLR inputs with onboard preamps. I have an old H4 model and it has a DC plug but also runs on batteries. But you would definitely not be using the DC plug out in the field. And if you want video you would need to sync it with the audio in post production.

Hope I was able to help a little bit.
 
Hello. It sounds like you are almost there but some technology issues are standing in the way. It seems that you wish to record birds outdoors and you want to use what you have instead of buying a lot of new equipment.

I completely empathize with your situation. I have attempted to piece together splitters and adapters for similar reasons but always run into problems. I guess since the AudioTechnica mic has a battery, maybe it doesn't need phantom power? Because if you hook a condenser mic with an XLR cable, I'm pretty sure you need 48v phantom power, hence the I-Rig. In this case, I don't think running a condenser mic > XLR cable > XLR/USB-C adapter > USB-C/3.5mm adapter > Android is going to work, at least not without a preamp. I don't think 3.5mm is made to withstand 48v phantom power then punched through two adapters to power the mic. I'd say try it out and report back but I don't want to be blamed for any fires, explosions, or loss of life and property.

In my case, I don't like batteries. I invested in a RODE VideoMic Go II. It's a battery-free condenser shotgun mic that gets power from my Android phone via the USB-C port. I got a dead cat for it, too. The only way you could get a mic like that to work would be to upgrade your phone to a newer model that has USB-C.

Another option would be to invest in a Zoom recorder and run your mic into it. Zooms have XLR inputs with onboard preamps. I have an old H4 model and it has a DC plug but also runs on batteries. But you would definitely not be using the DC plug out in the field. And if you want video you would need to sync it with the audio in post production.

Hope I was able to help a little bit.
Hi,
1. Thanks for your input. I am going to follow your suggestions. [there is an important reason why I prefer to record onto a cell phone (see 4)]
2. I actually have been using the setup that I originally described, for several years. Usually, once a year, the XLR cable goes bad from field use, and when I buy a new XLR cable the static noise goes away. Also, before Androids and Apple decided to get rid of the 3.5 mm jack on their phones, I just connected directly to the phone (I had to pivot to the USB-C or iPhone lightning adapters after they changed what the bottom of their phones look like).
3. Something weird that I noticed while recording birds the other day. Sometimes I will just tap on the 'record" button on my phone's sound recording app. When I did that, Monday, I experienced that same weird, hollow background sound that--up until now--I thought was coming from the microphones or the XLR cables. Now I'm really confused.
The reason that I really prefer to record directly onto the phone is that I can then easily upload the recordings onto eBird, the app/website where Cornell lab of Ornithology has thousands of peoples' bird recordings (and photos). To me (assuming that the sound quality is good) this makes much more sense than recording onto an expensive audio recorder, then placing that audio recorder's SD card into my laptop at home, then using bulky audio software to edit the sound files, then go to eBird's home page, and upload the sound files. I find the audio software out there difficult to use, and I don't have the technical skills or understand the terminology they use. I used to use Audacity until the Russians bought their parent company. Then I deleted it off my laptop. Raven Lite is hard to use. It's not intuitive.
 
Hi,
1. Thanks for your input. I am going to follow your suggestions. [there is an important reason why I prefer to record onto a cell phone (see 4)]
2. I actually have been using the setup that I originally described, for several years. Usually, once a year, the XLR cable goes bad from field use, and when I buy a new XLR cable the static noise goes away. Also, before Androids and Apple decided to get rid of the 3.5 mm jack on their phones, I just connected directly to the phone (I had to pivot to the USB-C or iPhone lightning adapters after they changed what the bottom of their phones look like).
3. Something weird that I noticed while recording birds the other day. Sometimes I will just tap on the 'record" button on my phone's sound recording app. When I did that, Monday, I experienced that same weird, hollow background sound that--up until now--I thought was coming from the microphones or the XLR cables. Now I'm really confused.
The reason that I really prefer to record directly onto the phone is that I can then easily upload the recordings onto eBird, the app/website where Cornell lab of Ornithology has thousands of peoples' bird recordings (and photos). To me (assuming that the sound quality is good) this makes much more sense than recording onto an expensive audio recorder, then placing that audio recorder's SD card into my laptop at home, then using bulky audio software to edit the sound files, then go to eBird's home page, and upload the sound files. I find the audio software out there difficult to use, and I don't have the technical skills or understand the terminology they use. I used to use Audacity until the Russians bought their parent company. Then I deleted it off my laptop. Raven Lite is hard to use. It's not intuitive.
Gotcha! That is really cool. I had no idea such a database existed where researchers can collect bird recordings.

Sorry I couldn't be more help but I think I may need to bow out. I do agree that recording audio and video separately would prolly create extra problems for what you wish to do. Maybe you could upload the clips from Monday into SoundCloud or another free streaming service and post it on this site. Someone might be able to help troubleshoot the confusing hollow background sound. Without hearing it ourselves, it would be difficult to advise you which part of the signal chain may be causing that sound.
 
A buddy of mine has an app on his phone. It will listen for bird songs, and display any bird it hears. It's pretty cool when we're out on the golf course waiting and he pulls it up and starts spouting which birds are around us.
 
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