- If you're gonna spend the time and effort
to make your ideas come to life
and get the best possible quality
video out of your mobile device,
then doesn't it make sense to get the best quality
audio out of your mobile device?
In this video, I'm gonna go over some audio basics,
as well as share with you my favorite audio app for Android,
and my favorite audio app for Apple devices.
And then we're gonna get into the best microphone
that I think is affordable and practical for most people.
But first, let me introduce myself.
My name is Dee Nimmin.
And you're watching the Master Your Mobile video series,
where I help you take your mobile device and turn it into
a pocket-sized production studio and so much more.
So, if you're ready to go,
let's jump right into some audio basics.
Now, regardless of what type of content you're creating,
the basics of audio are basically the same.
You want to get a quiet room.
You don't want a lot of outside noise.
You don't want a lot of interior noise.
That means turn off the fan, turn off the air conditioner,
turn off your gaming PC that's making
a lot of noise over there in the corner.
Close the doors. Shut the windows.
And if you have to, get everybody else
out of the room including your pets,
unless of course you want to put your pet
and the noises that they're gonna make in the video.
Well, then roll with that, whatever works for you.
But for everybody else, we want a quiet room to record in.
Now, one thing you want to do is make sure you
don't have a lot of flat, reflective surfaces in your room.
What's that basically going to do
is reflect your soundwaves.
They're gonna go out, they're gonna come back,
and the mic's gonna pick them up.
That's how you get an echo.
So, things like rugs, curtains,
sofas, pillows, and even blankets.
Those are all your friends.
Put them around your workspace if you can.
Get acoustical foam if you can.
What you want to do is deaden the sound
and stop the sound from coming back.
And believe it or not, tiled floors, ceilings, walls,
those are all reflective surfaces.
So is the desk.
So, anything you can do that stops the sound from bouncing,
do that.
You can even hang some sweaters over there.
You can hang a blanket over there.
You can throw some pillows down on the floor.
Put a rug down on the floor.
It all adds up, and it helps.
Moving onto my favorite audio apps.
On the Android side, I like RecForge II.
It's free, it's easy to use, and it's pretty powerful.
And on the Apple side, I like Voice Record Pro.
It's also free, and it's very powerful.
It's actually my favorite app.
And by the way, be sure to check the description,
because I'm putting links for everything
I'm talking about today.
And while you're down there looking at that,
let me know what your favorite audio apps are,
as well as what your favorite mics are
for your mobile device.
Basically, how the apps work
is once you have them downloaded into your phone,
you simply take your mic of choice,
plug it into your phone, and that's going to override
the native microphone on your phone.
And then it's just a matter of going in
and adjusting your settings within the app
to make it sound the way you want.
I will be doing detailed tutorials
on both of those apps in the near future,
so make sure you are subscribed
so you don't miss those videos when they come out.
And of course, that brings us right along to microphones
and what I believe is the most affordable
and practical microphone out there.
The lavalier mic.
Now, in case you don't know what a lavalier mic is,
it's a tiny condenser mic.
It looks just like this. You've probably seen them on TV.
People usually clip them to their shirt,
clip them to their jackets.
You can even clip it under your shirt
if you want to hide it and hide the cable.
Now, the mic I'm using today is the Rode SmartLav+.
It runs about $60. And in my opinion, it's a fantastic mic.
There are less expensive options that you can get.
You don't have to get the Rode SmartLav.
A great option is the Boya BY-M1 lavalier microphone.
It looks just like the SmartLav,
it sounds pretty close to the SmartLav,
and it's only about $20.
Now, the thing about this though, is this.
Look at this. This is a huge, huge, messy cable.
I mean, right?
But that might work for whatever
environment you're shooting in.
As you can see the SmartLav cable is shorter.
You might need an extension for this.
And the Boya cable is,
it's this.
But don't let the longer microphone cable
discourage you from buying it.
It's an awesome microphone, and depending on
what you're doing, it might actually work to your favor.
What I usually do is take a velcro strap,
wrap it around it and tuck it inside
of a pocket or put it inside of a hip sack
or something like that when I'm recording.
So, let me get this set up,
and let's record a sample and see what it sounds like.
So, now I have the lav mic clipped to my jacket,
and I'm gonna use my iPhone 7
and plug it in to record audio.
But this doesn't fit.
So, what I have to use is the Apple Dongle.
And I know some of the newer Android devices,
you have to use these, as well.
So, I'm gonna plug it in.
I'm going to open my audio app.
I'm gonna double check the settings here,
and I'm gonna hit record.
So, right now the sound that you're hearing
is coming from the SmartLav.
I've turned off the shotgun mic in the room
so the sole audio source is this microphone
clipped to my jacket recording into my iPhone.
It's gonna sound exactly the same
if you record it into your Android.
So, now you're listening to the sound
of the Boya BY-M1 lavalier microphone.
You compare it against the Rode
to see which one you think sounds best.
But let's go outside and see what they
sound like in a noisy environment.
So, now we're outside, racing the sun as it sets behind me.
And I'm going to do some comparisons between
what the onboard microphone sounds like on the iPhone
versus the Rode SmartLav+ versus the Boya lav mic.
So there's lots of noise happening.
There's cars driving by. It's a little bit windy.
I hear a guitar in the background.
And there's a party going on over there
for the Thailand Songkran Holiday.
Okay, the audio that you heard right before this
was just the microphone from the
on-board camera in the iPhone 7.
Now what you're listening to is the Rode SmartLav+.
Now I'm using the Boya BY-M1 lavalier microphone.
Same environment.
You just heard the Rode SmartLav.
And you also heard what is sounds like
with the microphone directly in the iPhone.
So leave a comment below.
Let me know which one you think sounds better.
And I should let you know that
when you're buying lav mics for your phone,
you want to get a microphone that has three bands on it.
I know when you look at your headphones or other mics,
you might see two bands or you might see three.
If you see two bands, it's a TRS,
and if you see three, it's a TRRS.
To work perfectly with your mobile device,
you need a TRRS, which is three bands.
You can also get adapters that will
turn your TRS into a TRRS
and in reverse, turn your TRRS into a TRS.
Thank you so much for watching.
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and you don't miss anything.
And I'll see you in the next video.