Originally Posted by jawgee
Originally Posted by Sawmill Music
Originally Posted by jawgee
If you already own an iPhone, that might be all you need!

I would think you'd be able to get similar results with an Android phone with a voice memo/recorder app that has a lossless setting that can be enabled.

After watching that video, I'm rethinking why I bought all my mics. grin

My wife has the latest Pro iPhone and I have a Google Pixel and I won't even listen to anyone's music on a phone (without headphones anyway) and I would never even consider using one to record anything other than one of my friends bar / cover bands . . .

I had the same opinion as you and Mike about smartphone-recorded audio...until I watched that Spencer video.

Perhaps he's being deceptive in some way with the iPhone-recorded vocal, but it sounds more than passable to me. Did you folks check out the comparison at the 4:09 mark?

Granted, I think the differences would be more noticeable in an acoustic mix, but I was still impressed that a smartphone mic could hold its own to a Neumann TLM103 (which I happen to own).

Would I choose a smartphone over a TLM103 (or any other condenser mic) for vocals in my studio? Most likely not, primarily out of habit, but I would be open to using one if I lost all my mics and was starting over.

Originally Posted by Mike Halloran
...My iPhone 17 Pro has four microphones and no way to control the input...

That's a bummer. Why wouldn't an expensive "Pro" phone have that option?

Why would it have that option? An iPhone is not designed to be a single source microphone, pure and simple. Apple has some serious AI going on in there to try to get the best sound from that 4-mic array.

Notice that the guy in the video emphasized room treatment? Of course he did — those other three microphones are still active; nothing anyone can do about that. And then there was all the processing. A hell of a lot of effort spent and time wasted to “prove” that my $1,400 iPhone is as “good” as a $1,300 TLM 103 (not a mic I would use on my voice)… Yeah, well it isn’t and no amount of that guy waving his arms changes this.

Now, let’s go back to the OP who asked about the AT 2020, a pretty good mic that can be purchased for $119 new. Put that up against a TLM 103 instead—many YouTube videos doing just that. The 2020 is pretty good and fairly neutral, a mic I could use—I prefer neutral mics such as my TLM 193 unless I want something edgier and I have U 87s and FET 47s for that.

If I had to move 50 people ten miles, which is better—a Ferrari or a bus? There’s a lot to be said about using the right tool for the job.

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