Advice on smartphones & field recording (1 Viewer)

Dear BirdForum,

Is there an optimal setup for using a smartphone for recording during field outings?

I'm in the market for a phone, and would appreciate recommendations either on phones with decent mic quality -- or good external mics that can be paired with a smartphone.

Cheers!

a.k.a. said:

Dear BirdForum,

Is there an optimal setup for using a smartphone for recording during field outings?

I'm in the market for a phone, and would appreciate recommendations either on phones with decent mic quality -- or good external mics that can be paired with a smartphone.

Click to expand...

I'd be interested to hear what you come up with. I've only tried Blackberries, and found them to be not very good for this. Any bird calls were very faint in relation to other noises, so only close loud calls were much good.

I suspect phones are designed only for recording close sounds, and maybe even have noise cancelling working to reduce distant noises.

I never tried an external microphone with one. I had intended to try it, but the problem is that the only input is the headset jack. I assume this is similar on all phones, and is intended for combined microphone and earphones, so the plug has a 4 ring tip on it and a normal microphone can't be simply plugged in.

I searched for a cable for a microphone, or description of how to make one, but didn't come across anything that seemed like it would work for sure. It appears that lots of phones are wired up differently, maybe so you can't use another brand of headset, and ther's a lot of confusion about what works and what doesn't. I suspect you'd have to work it out by experimenting.

I knew if I got a cable then I'd face another struggle getting a good mic to work, as I don't know much about them, and it appeared I'd be pretty much on my own trying this approach, so I gave up and bought a recorder. These have far better microphones built in than any phone ever will, and can take an external shotgun mic if required. I suspect even the cheapest, say a Zoom H1, will do a much better job.

I did find this reference to recording with an iPhone:
http://www.surfbirds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5261

I suspect that a phone can work for recording, but then you're likely to be limited by the recording software. You might decide mp3 isn't good enough, and some phones can't even do mp3.