3 basic microphones to help you capture better sound with your mobile phone

Smartphone technology has come a long way since the launch of the very first iPhone in 2007, and their camera technology is now at a point where they are a legitimate video production tool for marketing, social media and beyond. Of course they do have some limitations straight out of the box, after all they are first and foremost a mobile phone, however with a few little extra pieces of equipment they can be made into something amazing.

The problem with your smartphone's in-built mic

Alongside the camera features, the internal microphones of these devices have also evolved and are very good at recording quality sound. However, the sound functionality can fall apart if you’re in an uncontrolled environment.

For example, when you’re recording a video with a mobile phone you naturally have the camera out in front of you: either you’re holding it outstretched in your hand, maybe you’re walking around and talking, or you have it mounted on a tripod or balanced in front of you. The built-in microphone captures audio from all around it, meaning it will capture other external noises. 

When you’re in a quiet environment and are fairly close to your device, the in-built microphone will capture the best quality sound, your voice will likely be the loudest noise and so the audio recorded using the internal microphone will be loud and clear. However when you start to introduce other factors such as outside noise, other people and an increasing distance from your device, the microphone will start to struggle as it is now having to compete with everything else around you, and your voice will start to get lost.

Fortunately, there are a number of microphones you can use to enhance the quality of the sound recording through your smartphone. You’ll most likely have at least one of these already.

Microphone #1 Wired earphones with a built in mic

All smartphones come with a set of wired earphones so that you can listen to music, podcasts and videos in private. Most of these have small microphones built into them, predominantly for phone calls, but they work well as a video recording application as well. On these wired earphones the microphone is usually located near the volume settings - those small plus and minus buttons you have. 

These types of earphones are a great starting point for capturing better quality sound on your phone, and you probably already own them. With the microphone being closer to your mouth it makes your voice much louder and so makes any background noises quieter. 

A word of caution, if you don’t have any earphones and are looking at buying some, make sure to check that the earphones you buy have a microphone built into them - those cheap ones you can buy at the airport for £9.99 probably won’t do the trick. I’d recommend buying replacement versions of those that usually come with your brand of smartphone..

Microphone #2 Wireless earphones

I’m an Apple user and I love my Apple airPods, I use them for calls, for listening to podcasts, for watching YouTube videos, and for recording my own videos. Their wireless functionality is the singular biggest benefit they have over wired earphones. Recording videos on your phone whilst you’re attached via the headphone cable can sometimes be a bit cumbersome and restrictive. 

The wireless feature here allows you the freedom to move around more, which is particularly useful if you have your phone mounted on a tripod. For example, maybe you sell some kind of physical product and want to create a short video demonstrating how the product works. If you were attached to your phone via a cable, it would be challenging for you to move around, pick up the product and show the camera different parts of it - the cable may also be in shot which can look messy.

For those of you with Samsung devices, they have their own version, the Samsung Galaxy Buds, which work in much the same way. There are also other similar products available from other brands as well, including Google, Bose and Huawei.

Wireless earpods are more expensive compared to wired earphones, if you’re buying Apple Airpods or Samsung Galaxy Buds, you’re going to be spending around £130-£200, so if you do bite the bullet and buy some I’d recommend you use them as much as you can to ensure you can justify the expenditure.

Microphone #3 Lavalier (clip-on) mic

The lavalier (also called lapel) microphone is a staple of any professional video production project. These microphones clip onto people’s clothing just under their chin, allowing you to capture crystal clear audio of someone talking, whilst reducing background noise. With this microphone being so close to someone’s mouth it makes their audio so much louder than whatever is going on in the background, and all-but removes the background noise from the recording.

My favourite smartphone microphone is the Rode SmartLav. Rode are a well known microphone brand in the video production industry and make great quality products at affordable prices. They designed this microphone to work specifically with smartphones to enable you to record professional grade audio straight into your phone. The SmartLav retails at about £60 so it’s a fair amount of money, but definitely worth the investment if you’re looking for a more professional audio solution for your phone.

Now the cable on the SmartLav is a little bit short, if you’re sat down at your desk it will be fine, but if you want to be stood up, or have a wider shot, then I’d recommend buying the Rode SC1 extension cable, which provides you with an extra 6 metres of length.

If you’re using an iPhone user, your phone will not have a headphone port, in which case you’ll need to buy the Apple lighting to mini jack adapter for around £10, so that you can plug the microphone into it your phone’s lightning port.

There are other adapters you can buy as well that will allow you to run two SmartLav microphones into your mobile phone. This would be particularly useful for anyone looking to film interviews or discussions with more than one person. The two adapters are the Rode SC6 and  Rode Dual Channel Audio Interface.