- #Using more then 1 mic source with camerafi live android
- #Using more then 1 mic source with camerafi live Bluetooth
- #Using more then 1 mic source with camerafi live windows
But you know what? There’s a good chance you already own an external mic without even knowing: the headphones that came with your phone. Smartphones use the TRRS standard so a TRS 3.5mm pin won’t work unless you use an adapter like the Rode SC4. But while they look similar, they only have THREE conductors on the pin (TRS), not FOUR (TRRS). You might have encountered mics with a similar looking 3.5mm pin for ‚regular‘ cameras. What’s TRRS you may ask? Well it has to do with the number of conductors on the 3.5mm pin. There are two general options: Using a mic with a dedicated TRRS 3.5mm headphone jack connection or using another mic with an adapter. Anyway, if you’re lucky enough to still have a phone with a 3.5mm headphone jack you have a range of options to connect different types of external mics.
#Using more then 1 mic source with camerafi live Bluetooth
Of course this move has also to do with the rise of Bluetooth headphones. In the past couple of years however, more and more phone makers have been following Apple’s lead to ditch the headphone jack (starting with the iPhone 7) in an attempt to further push for a slick enclosed unibody design, leaving the phone with only one physical port, the one that is primarily there to charge your phone.
#Using more then 1 mic source with camerafi live windows
For a long time this was one of THE universal things about a smartphone, be it an Android, an iPhone or even a Windows Phone.
#Using more then 1 mic source with camerafi live android
The most common wired solution for connecting an external mic to your Android device is (was?) the 3.5mm headphone jack, the port where you would usually plug in your headphones to listen to music. But how can you connect an external mic to an Android device? There are four basic options that I will shortly elaborate on: 1) via the 3.5mm headphone jack 2) via the microUSB port 3) via the USB-C port 4) via a wireless connection / Bluetooth. In general, it’s recommended to connect the mic before launching the app as sometimes the app might not correctly detect the mic when you only plug it in after launching the app. Important: Some apps will automatically detect a connected external mic while with others you will have to go into the settings and choose the external mic as the audio input. If you are into video live streaming: Popular platforms like Facebook, Periscope, Instagram or YouTube also support the use of external mics on their mobile apps. There are a few exceptions like many Samsung phones and the (recent) flagships of LG and Sony but with other Android phone makers your only chance to use an external mic for better audio while recording video are third party video recording apps like FilmicPro, Cinema FV-5, Open Camera, Cinema 4K or Footej Camera.
And the good news is that it basically works with EVERY Android phone or tablet! Of course I have not tested it on every single Android device on the planet but so far I have not encountered a single one that didn’t support it and believe me I have had dozens so far! In most cases you will however have to use third party apps since most native camera apps don’t support the use of external mics. But can you work with external mics on Android devices? Yes, you can. And how do you get as close as possible to the audio source? An external mic (as opposed to the internal mic of your phone) will be a big help to achieve that since you probably don’t want to shove your phone/camera into someone’s face. So how do you get good audio for video? Let’s make it simple: Get as close to the sound source as possible with your mic! In most cases you will get better audio with a cheap mic close to the sound source than with a super-expensive mic that’s (too) far away (notice: it won’t work at all however if you use a carrot). Many will agree that it actually still is despite the captioning vogue of late. Before captioning videos for convenient social media consumption on the go became all the rage, everyone agreed that having good audio was an essential element of good video, possibly even more important than the image quality.