4 Tips to Improve Your Audio When Recording with a Smartphone

In this video, A.B. shares 4 tips for improving your sound quality when recording with a smartphone, from choosing the best microphone to utilizing noise-reduction software. Whether you’re recording a YouTube video, a voiceover, a podcast or a song, these tips and techniques will show you how to record great audio with your smartphone!

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[BandH]

What type of content do you plan on recording?

[resrussia]

Excellent video. One thing I learned is make sure recording app recognizes the external microphone. I started doing some videos on my smart phone using the camera app that come with the phone. The audio quality wasn't what I wanted, so I bought an external microphone and there was no change in the quality of the sound. Only after searching the Internet did discover that the app that came with the smartphone did recognize external microphone. After upgrading to a third party app, did my sound improve.

[Altema]

Hi Aaron, great video and spot on! I'm a studio/live recording engineer, and it's nice to find someone who knows what he's talking about. Is your nickname a take on "A/B roll"? Thanks for mentioning the proximity effect, which I have the advantage of controlling in the studio with pop filters that kind make it difficult to get close, lol. For those that are curious, the proximity effect is caused by lower frequencies diffracting around the microphone head and into the cancellation ports of directional microphones, resulting in the muddy sound. If you need to get close to your mic because of a noisy environment, you can use a low cut filter if available (also called a high pass filter or a bass roll off). This is often on the mic, or on the mixer if you are using one. Otherwise, you'll have to do it in post.

I've found myself doing a LOT more videos lately, and ended up going with a mini shotgun mic depending on the phone. I do have an assortment of iPhones, but found that the HTC U12+ has a four microphone array that does stereo 24 bit hi-res audio recording for video. It also gives you options for audio focus and vocal boost, and I like using it because I don't "need" an external mic. The downside is that when vocal boost is turned on, the file container is MKV to accommodate the audio stream, and I have to convert to MP4 before sending to our editor for use with Adobe Premier. He doesn't mind the delay though, and has complimented me on the audio quality.

Nice touch providing the links for the acoustic treatments, and they go a long way in controlling early reflections common in home environments. If your room sounds boomy, use bass traps which go in the corner(s) of the room.

PS: Edited for typos!

[k.o.composition]

This was so helpful! Thank you very much for sharing! :)

[lightbulbmne]

Thank you so much for sharing, concise-understandable and with recommendations!

[SailingSarah]

I bought a Samsung Tablet A9 plus. I wanted to record video with decent audio but on playback the audio is digitally grainy. Looking for a way to step the recording bitrate.

[briannolan]

Great video. It helped me to decide which mic was best for me. Thanks.

[Kito_PUBG]

Thank you for sharing! This was very helpful.🙏

[DeannaCochranguide]

you are awesome. real help and I appreciate you. do you know of a program that can get my audio (post) level? its up and down from tinny to deep and have no idea how that happened.

[WolfQuantum]

I was wanting a Zoom H1n at one point to record various things, plus separate audio for video. I really don't have enough use or need it enough to go for it. Then I realized that I have a perfectly usable Samsung S7 sitting around. I also have the Sony hot shoe mic for my a6000. The mic has an audio out jack. I may have to give up being able to use headphones with the mic, but it means I can use it as an external mic for the S7. I've tried it and it works great. Or I can plug a lav mic, or other mics into the S7 and have my very own homebrewed standalone audio recorder. Appreciate the tips and information.

[Julian.Jerusalem]

I appreciate it sir, very helpful video!

[Giggidygiggidy]

What's the best portable mic to record on the go, both for outside and inside using android device with no audio jack only type c connector

[Nova-_-]

I'd assume that most of these tips translate decently well to a built-in laptop microphone?

[derrickdu]

Aaron, very good tips. Thank you. Q: can you recommend something for my iPhone 11 Pro to block wind noise? No external mic, just to block the built-in mic on the phone. I don’t necessarily be talking. I sometime take video of the landscape view. Thanks

[itzjustkay]

Can you tell me why a video I made on my phone, which looks fine - when I use it thru my uploading software to YouTube, my voice and the video is not accurate. One is before the other. It is not synced together. It doesn't do it all the time, just sometimes. Is there a setting I need to adjust?

[alexandrevaliquette]

If we have a lavalier, does the phone quality influence the recording?
Can you heard the difference with the same lavalier recorded by different phone?

Great video dude, thank you for sharing your tips to get great quality on a shoe string budget!

[Alexandra-Rex]

Video resolution for the phone's camera app? I can change that in the app already, so I suspect I misunderstood.

[Aldiggy]

Question, taking phone to a rave and the bass levels are too loud, can the MV88+ act like a boom mic to reduce the bass ?

[blp]

Are ecos my problem? The shorts I have done so far make my voice sound bad. I don't have a microphone and I don't have the money to buy a good one. So does anybody have any ideas how to make my voice sound normal?

[catchawake-upwithheritageb]

How do you manage audio levels with your smartphone? My mic keeps distorting with my iPhone and there is no way to lower levels on the voice recorder app.