Best External Android Microphones

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[00:01:00] Hey and welcome to episode 61 of the podcasting simplified podcast.

[00:01:05] My name is Ross and today we're going to talk about microphones for Android phones.

[00:01:12] So you know your galaxy or your pixel or whatever you have that runs on Android.

[00:01:19] We're just going to highlight a few different microphones for it.

[00:01:22] I've mentioned this before in an episode about iPhones but they have great video quality.

[00:01:30] It's just the audio quality is where they're kind of lacking, but you can easily make up for

[00:01:35] that with some microphones that you plug in right into the headphone jack or sometimes

[00:01:40] they'll have an adapter and you'll just plug it in into there.

[00:01:44] So we're going to run through a few.

[00:01:46] The first option is a Lavalier mic, which is basically a lapel mic.

[00:01:52] You just click clip them onto your shirt and you can use some hands free so you're able

[00:01:57] to, I don't know if you're doing an interview or something, you can clip it on to someone

[00:02:03] and they don't have to worry about holding it too close or even think about it which

[00:02:07] is really nice or for yourself.

[00:02:10] You don't have to think about exactly where the microphone is to clip it on and start recording.

[00:02:16] The other option is a shot gun style mic and these are more directional so you put them

[00:02:25] in and then you can rotate them and point them where you want.

[00:02:30] You can set them up on a tripod or something and then point them at you.

[00:02:34] So, kind of a few different ways you can do this.

[00:02:39] So I'm going to start with the Rode SmartLav Plus and I'm big fan of this one.

[00:02:43] I have, actually have two of them as part of a kit that happens to be for iPhones but

[00:02:51] the microphones are excellent and definitely work great with Android phones as well.

[00:02:59] So the Rode SmartLav Plus is a really popular choice for smartphone recording.

[00:03:05] The jack that it comes with is designed to go into a phone so you don't need any adapters

[00:03:11] and you get excellent sound quality and it's by a Rode which is a really well-known audio

[00:03:18] microphone company.

[00:03:20] And cable is reinforced, comes with a pouch, a clip, a windscreen and a one year warranty.

[00:03:26] So that's a great option.

[00:03:27] Another one is Sure MVL which is really similar and sure as another excellent microphone

[00:03:32] company.

[00:03:33] This specific model has a best in-class signal to noise re-issue, a nice long cord.

[00:03:40] And I think this is a great way to go as well so you really can't go wrong with either

[00:03:44] of those two for lavalier mics.

[00:03:47] And then the other one that I got years ago, this is actually the first one that I first

[00:03:53] lavalier mic that I bought is called the Audio Technica ATR 3350IS and it has a headphone

[00:04:02] jack connection and a TRS connection so you can use it with any device so if you want to

[00:04:06] plug it into a digital audio recorder or your camera or something you can do that and

[00:04:14] it comes with everything you need for that to work.

[00:04:18] And it doesn't cost a ton I think this one is probably less than half the cost of those

[00:04:23] other two but it does require a small battery so you'll need to make sure that you won't

[00:04:30] turn it on before you record but also when you're done recording turn it off so that

[00:04:34] you don't drain the battery and it might be a good idea.

[00:04:37] If you do go this route to pick up a few extras so I find it can be a pain if you run out

[00:04:45] of battery and then you can't use your microphone so that's why I'm not as big a fan of this

[00:04:51] one anymore but it's a great option has a really long cord and I think runs about under

[00:04:58] $30 US so a nice way to go there and then the last Lavalier mic is called the MOVO PM10

[00:05:08] and it's kind of a cheaper Lavalier mic but it is a nice upgrade over the built in audio

[00:05:15] quality on your phone plus you'll be able to get it closer to your body if you want

[00:05:20] to film or something you can film yourself and then record and you'll get a lot better

[00:05:25] audio quality than trying to use the built in version so just another option for different

[00:05:32] kind of different budgets and now the best the shotgun mics we're going to look at are

[00:05:38] the road video mic me which is a really kind of popular one clips into the headphone jack

[00:05:46] and kind of secures you can plug in additional headphones into the back of it so you can

[00:05:51] monitor.

[00:05:54] Yeah, it's about it. It works great. It's small easy to kind of keep with you no matter

[00:05:59] what you're doing and that's kind of the benefit of a lot of these but this one is backed

[00:06:06] by the road name and brand. Now there's a few kind of cheaper ones. One is the Comica

[00:06:13] and they have a bunch different different models. The one I have highlighted here is the CVM

[00:06:18] VS08 I believe they have an 09 2 and this is a Carti-Oid condenser shotgun mic and it

[00:06:27] has adjustable mount on it. It has a headphone jack for monitoring and a windscreen and

[00:06:34] a furry windshield so if you're out in the wind or you're outside or something you definitely

[00:06:39] want to use those those windshields to prevent that kind of rustling sound that can happen

[00:06:46] as wind blows over the microphone. And finally the Saramonic Smart Mic this one has a little

[00:06:53] bit of a it's cheaper but it has a little bit of a pivot so you can kind of position it

[00:06:58] and angle it exactly where you want it which is a nice nice little touch and it's kind

[00:07:04] of all plastic so it's not quite up to the standards and the quality of the other shotgun

[00:07:12] mics I've mentioned but it's a nice cheap option that will elevate your sound a little bit

[00:07:19] above the built-in option so that's another way to go and yeah I know there's probably hundreds

[00:07:28] of different options but I just wanted to highlight a few of my favorites and ones that I have got

[00:07:33] to play around with an experiment with. So that is kind of the highlight of the microphones

[00:07:40] for your Android phone and next week we're going to talk about music, royalty free music and sound

[00:07:49] effects so be sure and stick around and we'll go all into that for you. See you then.