Getting a decent sound from a recording on a phone

dean111music

Hi

I'm looking at ways to record my band using little money! I'm not after studio quality but just to get an improved sound from my iPhone. I understand there are mic's you can connect to your iPhone that will improve things. 

The idea is to get video and audio of some songs to edit into a medley so clients know what we sound and look like to book us. We are a function band.

Not sure if anyone has experience with mics you can use with a phone and how they record in a band senario and how much improved quality you get from one.

I was looking at these 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Microphones-Lightning-Recording-Microphone/dp/B00J6XI15S/ref=sr_1_4?tag=androcentr-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1421180347&sr=8-4&keywords=iphone+microphone&m1k=d_im&m2k=d_im

dean111music

or do i get a dedicated recording unit https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0144JHW4E?psc=1

Danny1969

I would look into ways of recording the band from the mixing desk rather than a phone or handheld recorder. I've never heard a decent recording from one, they always lack bass and love cymbals. 
Phone wise the Tascam IOS mic is the best I've heard but if you want to get work your probably need better recordings. We get work via out Youtube live vids but they are all off the desk and generally higher quality than a handheld or phone

TheBigDipper

The mic is certainly one aspect of the equation. The app would be another. Make sure all that great audio isn't lost because the file format it uses is low-res. 

dean111music

recommend app? Thanks Danny1969 might need to re think. How are you recording from the desk?

TheBigDipper

@dean111music  I'm only recording audio on my phone, not video. I'm quite a fan of Multitrack DAW (by HarmonicDog) on that platform. Records well even using the iPhone mic at 24/96 resolution, but I agree a better stereo mic would capture a more balanced sound. It's a bit idiosyncratic in terms of interface until you realise it makes a lot of sense on the small amount of screen real estate you get on a phone. 

Danny1969

dean111music said:

recommend app? Thanks Danny1969 might need to re think. How are you recording from the desk?

There's different ways depending on the type of desk you have, aux or subgroups, matrix etc. A lot of early stuff I did was line out from desk into the line in of a laptop