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Hello All,
Has anyone ever had any success recording video with an android phone using an external mic to capture the audio? Video quality while recording on the phones are great, but audio not so much. I looked into it a little bit with a quick google search, and found that it is possible with an app called ‘Open Camera’. I tried it out with a Zoom H2 audio recorder, and it does record the audio through the Zoom, but sounds like it records at a higher frequency than it should and is not synced up with the video (audio just seems a tad faster than video). Just curious if anyone else has experimented with this at all with some better success than I had.
-Dave -
On an iPhone, I just plug in the external mic, start recording the video, and the camera app automatically uses the external mic. Is that not the case with an Android phone? If it is, I would get the Filmic Pro or Cinema FV-5 app.
Sunjamr Steve
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Hi Dave, I have just started recording using an Android phone with an iRig Mic HD2 external microphone plugged into the USB port. I use the iRigRecorder software to capture the video and audio recording simultaneously. The results are pretty reasonable and I’m still experimenting with all the options etc. I then save the native file to the phone’s source, from there I upload to YouTube and then post to the AM Forum.
Hope that helps.Richard
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Update on this… I tried the Cinema FV-5 app and the iRig Recorder 3 app. Both seem to allow recording from an external USB mic, but had issues with the audio and video not syncing up correctly (just like the issue I was having with Open Camera). Perhaps the issue is the Zoom H2 recorder I am using? This is the only mic I have, so I can’t test any others to confirm. If anyone else is able to do this with a different USB mic and not have the audio and video syncing issues I am seeing, let me know.
Thanks,
Dave-
I’m confused about your workflow – why do you even need to use a Zoom H2 recorder? Aren’t you recording directly into your phone? There are 2 ways: (1) put an external mic in front of your guitar amp (or acoustic guitar), then the mic plugs directly into your phone, or (2) plug your guitar into an iRig adapter then directly into your phone. The latency is totally due to the Zoom H2. BTW, iRig makes an external mic just for this purpose. Some members use it and say it works great. Keep us posted – as you can see, there are a lot of members more than willing to offer ideas and suggestions.
Sunjamr Steve
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Thanks everyone for your responses! I could just use only my phone to record both video and audio (no external mic), but the audio quality just is not that good it seems. Because of this, I decided to try and plug the Zoom H2 into the phone via USB to capture higher quality audio while still taking video with my phone. Of course, I could just use the zoom H2 as a stand alone and save a separate audio file on an SD card while taking video with my phone, but that will require some editing to merge the video and audio, which is what I was trying to avoid. The zoom is the only mic I currently have access to and I was just trying to use what I have to avoid spending money. When I get a chance, I will try airplane mode to see if that changes anything with the syncing issue. Maybe I will look into an iRig hd2.
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The reason you have latency is because your audio signal has to pass through a whole lot of complex circuitry before it ever enters you phone. It takes time to pass through that much circuitry, which is busily splitting and recombining signals. Speaking as one who has been there and done that, there are no settings on your phone – including airplane mode – that will have any effect. The reason for putting your phone on airplane mode and/or Do Not Disturb is so that no incoming calls will mess up your recording (hate it when that happens). Based on how you want to record, an audio interface like the iRig is your best choice. Maybe you could find one on eBay for half price. You could upgrade your mic, but that’s tricky. Here’s a rundown:
Note that this article points out that you can’t plug a mic into the USB port of an android phone due to latency issues, and because the video app won’t recognize it properly. It has to go through the headphone input. This not true for iPhones.
Sunjamr Steve
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Steve, I think things have moved on since that article was written as my iRig Mic HD2 condenser microphone plugs directly into the mini USB port of my Android Moto G5. I use a cable with a mini USB/OTG connector to do this. The cable has to be correct which I bought from IK Multimedia. The Mic is also powered from the phone’s USB port. On my first recording I used some third-party software app to record with and it suffered quite badly from latency. I then used iRig Recorder as the recording app and that cured the sync between sound and video.
Richard
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That’s not surprising. I sometimes use a Shure MV88 condenser mic which plugs straight into the charger port (lightning port) of my iPhone. Even though it draws energy from the phone, it doesn’t seem to deplete the batteries very much at all. And the sound is way better, especially the bass.
Sunjamr Steve
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Video and audio are extremely memory and cpu heavy, the complexity varies depending on your video/audio resolution.
Reading the article quoted talks about native support through the USB host not being implemented on some android devices and also power drain, given that we have audio not syncing its actually being processed,just not quick enough.
If your trying to record in 4k or HD(1080) lower the capture resolution to 720
Putting a device in airplane mode stops it constantly pinging for connections while not in themselves heavy on cpu/memory they generate traffic
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OK as after reading up on various issues on this I decided to do it myself to make sure I wasn’t feeding you a load of false tips.
I didn’t have any issues with syncing but I did what I advised above which is airplane mode and lowered the capture on my phone to 1080p. My trusty Z1 is a good few years old to the point that Sony now have a ZX1 so about 4/5 versions old.
The thing I thought it would trip up on was powering the mike from the phone battery but it sailed through with flying colours ( unlike the playing which is well dodgy)Hope this helps
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Glad I finally read this and understand a bit more about external mics ..guitar interface,, DAW (digital audio workstation) I use windows still but as Steve pointed out Mac is likely much better for DAW professionals.. I’m not rushing into this much to get in the way of my guitar lessons, but going to practice and learn by youtube tutorials what is best to try as a beginner.. I bought a used Yamaha THR 10C that came with a free trial cubase registry software but had no idea at the time how to connect using this desktop..and had no idea what i was doing,, had no understanding of interface and not yet sure if my asus desktop soundcard ( AMD card in this is defintely cheap and several years old..maybe need an interface and just a plug input jacks usb cables etc.., As a matter of fact, I watched this well know youtuber guitar “Learn DAW basics Digital Audio Workstation overview key components for home recording pt1” Anyway, David really explains well enough good basic understanding.., I just figure it is time i get a basic system I don’t even have any monitors yet! lol. but he stresses a good computer interface mics but decent monitors,, but I want simple and basic,, to just sound decent ..not into making digital mixed gumbo orchestration with floating soap bubbles you know ? I want to keep it simple, still using my phone and windows 10 with game movie puter speakers,, wonder if the yamaha thr10c has a builted in interface?.. I should ask/email cubase.. got to take time reading or watching a tutorial get an idea with this yahama..but not so much rush into it to take away time practicing
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One of the take aways from doing this was how easy it was to just hook up a mike to the phone and get good results.
The microphone itself is proving to be a real star, I bought it a good few years back for a different project at the time I did my usual over the top complete analysis of features and requirements, unfortunately one of my personality traits but at least I’m aware that I have OCD anyways.
I’d urge anyone doing these videos to really look at a quality microphone, this one with all the bits is round the 100 dollar mark.
Using it on current projects I have had excellent results, its designed to take the majority of the sound from the front so you don’t get noise bleed.
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