Quote:
Originally Posted by Rudy4
Yes, that's the entire reason for using the Saramonic preamp. You get a clean preamp that interfaces directly with an Android phone and phantom power for your condenser mic, all at $25. The advantage in this is it's all in a portable rig that you can cart around easily and the audio and video are captured together so there's no "syncing in post" later. (Your RODE shotgun may get you almost the same advantages, depending on how close you can get with a properly framed shot.)
I sometimes shoot video and use a Tascam DR-05 to record the audio, but that does require syncing later in an editing program or DAW. I've done band videos by recording multiple mics with a multi-track recorder and syncing later in my Reaper DAW. Syncing in post isn't difficult, it's just an added step that some might wish to avoid by recording the audio and video with the smart phone.
The disadvantage to feeding better audio into the phone is that the phone may use automatic gain control and/or compression which can adversely affect your audio. It's still way better than the tiny cell phone mic, though. 
I personally would probably opt for a "proper" iRig or better system if there was a need to spend a lot more than the $25 that the Saramonic set me back. As I said before, I'm cheap! |
Thank you for your detailed reply!
Re: syncing- I already seem to have most of the equipment to do this. I even have I believe a Zoom H2 recorder, one of the older models. That said, if I'm at home, I might as well use one of my firewire audio interfaces and shoot video with my cell phone camera. I use Lightworks video editing software and I'm sure there is a youtube tutorial somewhere that will show me how to sync video with audio.
Re: cell phone affecting audio- Very true, I hadn't thought about the gain or compression. My RODE mic came with software that IIRC allows the user to control gain and possibly even compression. I will have to look into it again. I've only used the mic once for a video conference running through my laptop and its onboard camera. However, my cell phone camera is much higher quality so I will definitely research this further.
I'm not necessarily cheap, but my past GAS has caused me to purchase more equipment than I really use so I now find it hard to justify investing in more gear when I seem to already own all the tools I need.
Still, this conversation has given me much food for thought and is helping me organize my ideas for sharing my music. Thanks for being generous with your wisdom and experience!
