
Tom Miko
New member
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.
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.