USB mics and/or cellphone interfaces ... what's your faves?

[ExZacLee]

Hey peeps...

During the shutdown I've had to transition all of my teaching on line and I currently have students recording parts and sending them to me for a lot of my classes. My recording students have audio interfaces and microphones so their stuff generally isn't an issue, but I have a lot of students who only have their iPhone to record on and of course there are issues there - namely the auto compression that isn't adjustable.

So if you have used USB mics extensively, what out there now offers the best bang for the buck? Good A/D conversion? Easy to use? Plug and play or do you need certain drivers? How does it work with your DAW of choice?

Also, if you've used any of the pocket interfaces designed for cellphone, what have you used and how did that work?

Bonus points for affordable gear!

Thankya!

[AndrewMeronek]

I have an AT2020 USB mic, and it works great - probably about as good as it's possible to get in terms of sound given a USB connection which has some amount of inherent noise that you can't remove - so trying to put more expensive components in it for noise reduction probably isn't really worth it. The biggest consideration then would be how directional a mic is and it's frequency response curve.

But, IMHO an AT2020 is overkill for students. It's a good mic to make audition recordings and demos on if you don't have access to a recording studio. For my own use, though, I've found that it definitely makes a difference when I play into it over Skype versus using the tiny built-in mic that comes with my webcam. And this is all on my desktop, so it's relatively easy to control or get rid of digital and audio compression that I don't want - at least, as long as the software doesn't make it hard (Zoom, I'm thinking of you!).

I don't have an iPhone, so I don't know if plugging a USB mic into it would solve compression issues in that platform. I would expect that plugging a mic into it would noticeably drain the battery faster.

[JLivi]

I don’t know if this would work, but if your students have a program like GarageBand, and I’m sure there’s a good free PC program (audacity?), they could change the mic volume and it wouldn’t compress. And just export to mp3 and be able to send you the file.

If that doesn’t work, then your students can get a cheaper usb mic. Given that this pandemic is probably going to take us into the summer, I don’t think asking people to spend $100 on a microphone is a crazy idea. If you’re a musician I think you should at least own a Shure SM57, but that’s me.

[marccromme]

I use an iRig Mic Studio USB condensor microphone together with an android phone. Easy to use, better than build in microphone, OK for self recording and listening with headphones, but definitely not studio quality. There are cheaper USB condensers to get, they do probably work equally good as mine, if using a phone as recording device. No special sound interface needed, no external power source needed either. Quick and easy, not stellar.

[Burgerbob]

I'll post it here too, the Zoom H1 is a great little recorder that you can hook up as a microphone via USB.

[sungfw]

I have a lot of students who only have their iPhone to record on and of course there are issues there - namely the auto compression that isn't adjustable.

[snip]

Bonus points for affordable gear!

How about FREE, as in "free beer" as opposed to "free speech"?

The iOS Voice Memos app offers lossless audio recording. (The default is 4:1 AAC audio.) Go to Settings > Voice Memos > Audio Quality > Lossless to enable it. No additional hardware necessary.

[edit: requires iOS 12 (Sept 2018) or later]

You're welcome.

[ExZacLee]

I have a lot of students who only have their iPhone to record on and of course there are issues there - namely the auto compression that isn't adjustable.

[snip]

Bonus points for affordable gear!

How about FREE, as in "free beer" as opposed to "free speech"?

The iOS Voice Memos app offers lossless audio recording. (The default is 4:1 AAC audio.) Go to Settings > Voice Memos > Audio Quality > Lossless to enable it. No additional hardware necessary.

[edit: requires iOS 12 (Sept 2018) or later]

You're welcome.

While the audio files can be exported as lossless, the recording itself is still affected by the automatic audio compression in the iPhone. If the mic level could be adjusted and the compressor turned off, that'd be perfect, but try as a might I can't figure out how to do that. For an example of what I mean, record yourself playing a figure really soft then really loud. Listen back and you'll notice they're at pretty much the same volume. That's the audio compression I'm trying to avoid.

I don’t know if this would work, but if your students have a program like GarageBand, and I’m sure there’s a good free PC program (audacity?), they could change the mic volume and it wouldn’t compress. And just export to mp3 and be able to send you the file.

A few students have DAWs and interfaces, their stuff will be fine... the ones who only record to phone is the issue. Mainly I'm hoping I can get good equipment in the hands of my lead players if possible. That'll at least help with the automating and audio voodoo i'll have to do on the heavily compressed phone stuff. We were messing with garage band, but we were having to go into the settings too much to kill the bad defaults just so it'd let them record more than a few seconds before shutting off (that annoying bars feature.) Using the voice memo app just ended up being a better option - they can play music through the phones, open it up and record theirself playing along with it.

I'll post it here too, the Zoom H1 is a great little recorder that you can hook up as a microphone via USB.

I didn't know you could use the H1 as just a mic - that's awesome. I may have to get one.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, I'll point my students this way so they can check it out as well.

[sungfw]

While the audio files can be exported as lossless, the recording itself is still affected by the automatic audio compression in the iPhone. If the mic level could be adjusted and the compressor turned off, that'd be perfect, but try as a might I can't figure out how to do that. For an example of what I mean, record yourself playing a figure really soft then really loud. Listen back and you'll notice they're at pretty much the same volume. That's the audio compression I'm trying to avoid.

Hmm ... I'm not having that problem. Listening to the tracks I recorded Saturday for my church's virtual choir, there's a clear difference between mp and mf, and a huge difference between pp and ff. Stab in the dark, but you don't happen to have Volume Limit or Sound Check turned on, do you?

[Mikebmiller]

I just bought an AT2020. How far do you guys position this mic from the bell for best results?

[JLivi]

I just bought an AT2020. How far do you guys position this mic from the bell for best results?

I came across this video last night. It seemed to be informative.

Tips on how I record the trombone (Michael Lake)


In a studio, I generally I try to stay 6-12" away from the mic to pick up the natural sound of the horn. But my main setup is in my unfinished basement, so I try to get close to the mic so I try not to pick up too much of the room. I really need to figure out how to make my basement a little more dead sounding.

Experiment with different distances. Play the same section of an etude or something and pick which one you like better. Pay attention to articulations and natural ambience of the room.

[ExZacLee]

While the audio files can be exported as lossless, the recording itself is still affected by the automatic audio compression in the iPhone. If the mic level could be adjusted and the compressor turned off, that'd be perfect, but try as a might I can't figure out how to do that. For an example of what I mean, record yourself playing a figure really soft then really loud. Listen back and you'll notice they're at pretty much the same volume. That's the audio compression I'm trying to avoid.

Hmm ... I'm not having that problem. Listening to the tracks I recorded Saturday for my church's virtual choir, there's a clear difference between mp and mf, and a huge difference between pp and ff. Stab in the dark, but you don't happen to have Volume Limit or Sound Check turned on, do you?

I'm not seeing anywhere i can turn that on or off... is located in settings or something? I don't see it anywhere in the voice memo app.

[sungfw]

They're in Settings > Music > Playback.

[Note: I know several people who say that changing them doesn't make a difference in recording quality for them, and others say it does (it does for me), and one guy who says it makes a difference on his iPad but not on his iPhone. No idea why it works for some but not for others, but there you go. YMMV.]

[ExZacLee]

well, i got around to messing with this today. Doesn't do anything on this end. Compression is still noticeable. Oh well, it was worth a shot.