How To Record a 3.5mm Mic on an iPhone

Another day, another video. In the first day of my last video, I received a lot of questions about what other mics work on the iPhone 6. So, I tested out the SF-930, SM-58, NW-700, BM-800, & NW-1500. Surprisingly, all the microphones technically worked.

This method consists of plugging the microphone into the Startech 4-pin Splitter, and then plugging the splitter into my iPhone and recording into the stock Voice Memos app. 

Some microphones performed much better than others in this test. However, none of the microphones even came close to their full potential. Every single microphone sounds much better when being recording on a computer in the appropriate fashion.

I have major concerns about this technique. I don't know the iPhones TRRS jack specs, but I don't think it was designed to handle the power needs of a 5v condenser mic. This could possibly damage your battery or damage your TRRS jack. I'm not sure. I would need to consult Apple on this, but I don't have the time. 

I guess, I should just say that I do not recommend using this method. It does not provide good results, and you could potentially damage your phone. The iPhone mic doesn't sound terrible. Just use that in the mean time. I think that the quote from Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park is surprisingly fitting. I was so preoccupied with whether or not I could, that I didn't stop to think if I should.

Can You Record an External Microphone on Your iPhone?

Hey! Special edition of Podcastage! I received quite a few comments asking me "Can you record an external microphone on your iPhone?". The majority of these comments were on my SF-920 review video, so that's the mic I decided to test out. I will walk you through the adapter and app that I used, and some of my warnings and concerns.

The iPhone has a single 3.5mm jack on it. This jack is a TRRS plug, which stands for Tip, Ring, Ring, Sleeve. What this jack allows you to do is transfer audio in and audio out on a single cable. That is all well and good, but if you want to record a different mic than your stupid iPhone headphones mic, then you're out of luck. Until NOW! There is a $7 adapter that splits this jack into two jacks; a headphone out and a microphone in. This allows you to plug in your headphones, and plug in a separate mic!

In this video, I test this out by using the the Voice Memo app on the iPhone. It seemed to work fine, but here are my concerns.

• You cannot change the microphones input gain on the phone. Therefore, you will need to monitor the input closely and change your distance to the microphone accordingly. You can also use a microphone that has a gain control on it, like the SF-920.
• I do not know what kind of voltage the TRRS plug provides, so I cannot guarantee that all microphones will work using this method. I can almost guarantee that the most condenser microphones will not work using this method. 

That's what I found on my first test of this method. I hope you learned something or found the video and article helpful. If you did, go ahead and give us a thumbs up and subscribe on youtube. If you have any more questions leave them in the comments down below. Talk to y'all next time.