Recording Live Bands With iPhone

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tdrusk

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I carry my iPhone everywhere I go and sometimes I see a band that I want to record. Basically the audio sounds great until everything gets loud. I understand why this happens, but what would be the best solution to stop my iPhone from giving in to the loudness?
 
From what I understand, part of that has to do with automatic gain compensation. If you really want to get rid of that, BLUE has a mic that sells for under $100 that has fixed gain settings for ipod's (and most likely would work on iphones as well).
 
tdrusk said:
I carry my iPhone everywhere I go and sometimes I see a band that I want to record. Basically the audio sounds great until everything gets loud. I understand why this happens, but what would be the best solution to stop my iPhone from giving in to the loudness?
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I would stay away from the PA speakers when recording. Especially the low frequency speakers. I had a similar experience with the mic on a video camera. Each time it got near a sub cabinet or even the bass guitar rig it distorted pretty badly. But at a good distance back from the stage/speakers it recorded much cleaner.
 
RawDepth said:
I would stay away from the PA speakers when recording. Especially the low frequency speakers. I had a similar experience with the mic on a video camera. Each time it got near a sub cabinet or even the bass guitar rig it distorted pretty badly. But at a good distance back from the stage/speakers it recorded much cleaner.
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Okay. I've only tried recording like this once, and I was in fact sitting next to the PA. The venue had assigned seating so it was kind of forced...

I can't afford the $100 mic.

So I suppose it's the ol' stand in front of the stage with an object in a sock scenario.
 
It's the auto-gain that messes the sound up. Trying to muffle the sound will just result in a muffled distorted sound. If you don't get an ap that lets you keep a constant recording volume and a mic that can handle all frequencies, it won't sound great. For less than the cost of an iPhone, you can get a great portable digital recorder!
 
mjbphotos said:
It's the auto-gain that messes the sound up. Trying to muffle the sound will just result in a muffled distorted sound. If you don't get an ap that lets you keep a constant recording volume and a mic that can handle all frequencies, it won't sound great. For less than the cost of an iPhone, you can get a great portable digital recorder!
Click to expand...

Seconded, I think you are fighting a losing battle in trying to record good quality sound with such a tiny mic.
 
tdrusk said:
I carry my iPhone everywhere I go and sometimes I see a band that I want to record. Basically the audio sounds great until everything gets loud. I understand why this happens, but what would be the best solution to stop my iPhone from giving in to the loudness?
Click to expand...

I wonder if you can download an app with a compressor/limiter for that?
 
Downloading an app with a compressor limiter will just screw things up worse. The biggest problem here is that it sounds like there is already a compressor limiter of sorts that is masking itself as an AGC circuit (automatic gain compensation).
 
I was having a problem with a mini camcorder mic that would distort at a loud concert...and the Zoom H2 with the onboard Comp/Limiter did the trick...I just use it as an external mic now.
 
You don't want a compress/limiter, and you don't want a sock - for all the reasons stated. What you want is a PAD - or, to be specific, an iPhone app that allows you to PAD, or attenuate (or control), the incoming signal. A compressor/limiter will just smack the sound like a hammer, and it's not going to help you. It's already a condenser mike, so it's going to be able to catch the subtle stuff ok (though if you're in the crowd, people talking nearby will probably be louder). If you can find an app that gives you a pad on the signal, you can "tune" it for the loud parts, and the condenser //should// take care of the quieter stuff. You just want to make sure that you don't go "into the red" -12db or 0 db, depending on which kind of standard the pad is using, and it should be fine. Good luck! And be sure and come back and tell everyone what you did!
Cheers,
-Kelly

PS - Blue mics really rock, especially for the proce. They're a great value. Full disclosure: I don't work for Blue or have any connection with them of any kind.
 
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Did you try...?

Did you guys try Flipzu? IPhone, Android and Web app for Live Audio Broadcasting!

:)
 
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