Comments on: iPhone Microphone Frequency Response Comparison

By: FERGUS SMITH

FERGUS SMITH — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:57:34 +0000

HERE’S THE LINK:

http://www.usbfever.com/index_eproduct_view.php?products_id=1324

By: FERGUS SMITH

FERGUS SMITH — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:56:34 +0000

HAVE YOU TESTED THE FREQUENCY RESPONSE OF THIS USB FEVER MICROPHONE? IT APPEARS TO BE A USB INPUT AND IS LIKELY TO BE AN ELECTRET MIC LIKE THEIR USB FEVER MINI MIC. SINCE ELECTRETS USUALLY HAVE EXCELLENT LOW FREQUENCY RESPONSE, THIS MAY BE GOOD FOR 2G, 3G, ETC IPHONES AND IPOD TOUCHES.

By: KlaasJan

KlaasJan — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:44:07 +0000

Do i understand you correctly that the Ipod touch has the same rolloff as the 3GS??
An iPod touch with a thumbtrack mic would be small and easy to use.
your solution is to use an external mic trough a doc connector on your 3GS.
(the bleumic has no external inputs BTW),
Maybe the apple iSlate could be an interesting new option….

By: ben

ben — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:46:02 +0000

Existing dock connector input devices were designed under Apple’s Made for iPod program, which did not account for the iPhone. The iPhone is a mobile phone, which produces noise that can interfere with audio signals, and it can also be affected by the presence of accessories that were not specifically designed to be operated with a mobile phone. So, the iPhone OS gives you the option to switch to Airplane Mode, so you can operate your iPhone essentially as an iPod to avoid any interference concerns (for the phone or for the audio signals). You can still use the accessory, whether or not you choose to switch to Airplane mode.

By: ben

ben — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:42:51 +0000

The low frequency rolloff will always be a problem, unless you use an external microphone connected to the dock connector. (You could avoid the low-frequency rolloff on the headset input, by using the Thumbtacks mic with a 1st gen iPhone, however.)

The ProTrack is not highly portable (it’s big) and you have to find a way to secure your iPhone to it, but it does offer phantom power for higher quality external measurement microphones. Alternatively, if you have an existing measurement microphone and a suitable power supply for it, you can use the line-input feature of either the ProTrack or the Belkin TuneTalk. Again, it’s not super portable, but there is no existing pro-level measurement microphone solution that is.

By: KlaasJan

KlaasJan — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:29:40 +0000

Dear Ben,

I recently bought the new iPhone 3GS and am wondering what to do to get good measurements.
My 3G got stolen and I already owned a Thumbtacks microphone.
I want to use the software as a professional in a live sound environment.
I own all the apps and looked at the possibilities.
As the bluemic works with the 3GS but only in airplane mode and the external mic input still has the 200Hz cutoff on the 3GS I tend to opt for a Ipod touch as a second device. Has this Ipod touch the same problem with low cut frequencies?? otherwise i could use the Thumbtracks as a mic input and the bluemic or ProTrack as a line input (the Tunewear is no longer available).

Bonus: less worries when it gets stolen again.

gr. KlaasJan

By: KlaasJan

KlaasJan — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:43:53 +0000

To everybody,

what to do to make good measurements using the iPhone 3GS?
which external device(s) do I need?
(I have bought all the Faber apps and a thumbtrack microphone)
I want to use them professionally in a live sound environment.

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:45:23 +0000

Hello Guys,
Sorry to be ignorant but why is the Airplane Mode mentioned in the Mikey Blue information on Lasse’s link above? Will it not function normally with a 3GS as I am looking for the best quality portable mic.

Thanks and happy 2010!

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:08:46 +0000

Hi, I just purchased signalscope for a new iphone 3gs and I am getting a response near 15 kHz that has to be internal because it happens everywhere. It is actually very narrowband spikes separated by 60 Hz so it looks like modulation of a clock with AC power but is it truly microphonic or say capacitive. It goes away using the iphone headset mic.

By: Lasse

Lasse — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:06:11 +0000

Has anyone tried the Mikey dock-microfon from Blue Microfones on the iPhone? Looks like an interesting proposition, but I would love some first hand reports and certainly some measurements on the Mikeys freq. response. Anyone?

http://www.bluemic.com/mikey/

By: ben

ben — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:48:58 +0000

Im currently dreaming about connecting a phantom powered shotgunmicrophone to a ipod touch 3G for recording my lectures. Like the type of microphones you use for booming in movies.
Is it possible?

You might want to check out the Alesis ProTrack. It uses its own batteries and supplies phantom power.

By: ben

ben — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:47:55 +0000

Do you have a bigger resolution graph or some raw data for the frequency response of the 3GS microphone in the +18kHz range?

That seems like a peculiar request–what are you looking for?

By: Mads

Mads — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:25:20 +0000

Im currently dreaming about connecting a phantom powered shotgunmicrophone to a ipod touch 3G for recording my lectures. Like the type of microphones you use for booming in movies.
Is it possible ?

I need to do aproximately 2 hours recording a day, so i will probably need external batteries for the ipod. . .

But has anyone done it?

Best regards from
Copenhagen

By: Will

Will — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:13:45 +0000

Do you have a bigger resolution graph or some raw data for the frequency response of the 3GS microphone in the +18kHz range?

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 03:16:50 +0000

Do you have a Griffin SmartTalk that you can test? I’d like to see how its microphone compares to the rest.

By: Daisuke

Daisuke — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:17:02 +0000

i don’t have a comparison of various iphones, however i have measured the iphone 3G speaker using CLIO. the 3G speaker rolls off at about 12 dB/octave below 1 kHz. between 1 kHz and 3 kHz, it’s about +/- 1.5 dB, followed by a broad +6 dB peak centered around 4 kHz. There is a dip around 10 kHz followed by another peak around 16 kHz. i feel the midrange sounds quite natural on the iphone 3G and this seems to be reflected in the mostly-flat 1 ~ 3 kHz measurement.

By: solo

solo — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:58:26 +0000

Yes Thanks, I understand. Just that I have one recording I am desperately trying to make the most out of it… even if it means the inverse EQ of the responses above 1Khz will be much appreciated.

By: ben

ben — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:36:22 +0000

Are iPhone apps able to detect whether the signal source is the built-in, a headset, or a dock?

Yes.

If so, do Faber s/w products adjust freq. responses for the built-ins or allow users the option of adjusting for other response curves?

No. (See previous comments.)

By: Walt

Walt — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:27:44 +0000

Are iPhone apps able to detect whether the signal source is the built-in, a headset, or a dock? If so, do Faber s/w products adjust freq. responses for the built-ins or allow users the option of adjusting for other response curves?

“Inquiring Minds Want to Know!”

By: ben

ben — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:57:19 +0000

One problem with that approach is that the signal to noise ratio (SNR) deteriorates rapidly below 200 Hz. Amplifying those frequencies (by applying an inverse filter) will not improve the SNR and will leave you with a very noisy result.