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external microphone for smart phone (1 Viewer)

I suspect the majority of phones don't have a headphone socket these days - I know mine doesn't - which will reduce the options.
Thanks Steve (I applaud your cats and pangolins!). Although I love birds (and tried to rescue a beautiful dying song thrush a few weeks ago) I am actually curious from a music recording point of view, as I have the micW i436, and always wanted to try the slightly larger i266. I can't really tell if the Rode Videomicro or similar are much of an improvement. I just like to have an ultra-small mic I can keep unobtrusively and permanently in my laptop case to record usable vocals on the fly, even when I havent brought my proper mic/audio interface paraphernalia. Also, these 3.5mm TRRS mics still work via USB with a small adaptor.
 
Thanks Steve (I applaud your cats and pangolins!). Although I love birds (and tried to rescue a beautiful dying song thrush a few weeks ago) I am actually curious from a music recording point of view, as I have the micW i436, and always wanted to try the slightly larger i266. I can't really tell if the Rode Videomicro or similar are much of an improvement. I just like to have an ultra-small mic I can keep unobtrusively and permanently in my laptop case to record usable vocals on the fly, even when I havent brought my proper mic/audio interface paraphernalia. Also, these 3.5mm TRRS mics still work via USB with a small adaptor.
I'm still keen to solve this from a birding point of view. Especially how I have a phone without a headphone jack.
 
I'm still keen to solve this from a birding point of view. Especially how I have a phone without a headphone jack.
I see some responses in a search for bluetooth microphones. Whether any of them have sufficient reach to work for birding is beyond me. My iphone still has a lightning entry point and my old microphone seems to work in it.
Niels
 
Do you still use the MicW i266, or have you found a higher quality ultra-portable mic?
I do. My current phone (Samsung XCover6 pro) still has a standard headphone socket, so the MicW i266 still works for me. I'm sure there are other, better microphones, but the MicW is good enough for me. I also still use the same app I mentioned in my old post. Works perfectly well once you set it up for your phone.

Hermann
 
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I do. My current phone (Samsung XCover6 pro) still has a standard headphone socket, so the MicW i266 still works for me. I'm sure there are other, better microphones, but the MicW is good enough for me. I also still use the same app I mentioned in my old post. Works perfectly well once you set it up for your phone.

Hermann
Thanks very much Hermann - I'm planning to buy one (y)
 
I am probably way out of my league on this thread, but ...
I have this "vlogging kit" from Joby:
I have it for the flexible tripod and the microphone, not for "vlogging!"
On my recent trip to Tanzania, I set it up in the early morning to capture the sunrise. I then had a video I can turn into a time-lapse sunrise video, as well as a recording of an hour of early-morning bird (and animal) sounds. I like the floofy windscreen for outdoor recording.

I usually put all my audio into Audacity and run a few basic filters to improve the quality. I don't want to give the impression I actually know what I'm doing in Audacity; I just experiment on a copy of the file to make the birdsongs more clear. (Amplify; high-pass filter; sometimes noise reduction; and cropping/trimming).

I'm also interested in birdsong ID apps!
 
I thought I would like to try something different this year with ebird. I've ordered a Rode video mic with a c type connection for my Pixel 8. If I can get it to work with Merlin I'll report back.

I've noticed that Merlin fails to pick up a lot of the birds I can actually hear, especially more distant ones or single note calls, while claiming a few that don't appear to be present, chiffchaffs yesterday for instance. Hopefully this directional set up will work better and as a bonus I'll learn more calls.

Regards Howard
 
The weather has not been very suitable for recording bird sons with my Rode mic-me but I've had a couple of tries. I am very happy with the results but have not done any mic/no mic comparisons yet. Links are to a song thrush from a few days ago and a Dunnock today ( or rather two singing alternately).
{ used Merlin as the recording app on each occasion then amplified once in audacity and ran a high pass filter

 

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