The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > RECORD

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 08-17-2015, 09:19 PM
Mtn Man Mtn Man is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 832
Default Best Smartphone for Filming Music?

My plan is getting ready to renew and I'm thinking of upgrading. Right now I use my Iphone 5C to film music, with a Zoom iQ7 external mic. I know the video technology is much better now and I want to get the absolute best phone out there in terms of the following:

1. Video Quality
2. Storage Space
3. Microphone

I would love the ability to record true "professional quality" video with my phone. The problems I have with my current phone are, it won't record past 720P, and it's so limited on storage space. I get very good sound quality with the Zoom iQ7 mic so that's not as much of an issue, but there are occasions where I don't have that mic with me and find myself wanting to record a jam or something.

Right now it's looking like the Samsung Galaxy Edge S6 is the winner over the iPhone 6 Plus because it can actually record as high as 4K. Not that I would necessarily use all that, but dang...4K! It also seems to have a higher gain built in mic than the iPhone 6 Plus.

I would love to continue using an iPhone because that's what I'm used to, and it would be compatible with the external mic I'm currently using, which I'm happy with. But the bottom line is, I want the best thing out there, and if that means switching back to Android I will. So is there something I'm missing about the iPhone 6 Plus? Is there another phone I should consider?
__________________
"Out of all the sincere and well-intentioned attempts of politics, diplomacy, philosophy, religion, and education to get people to be peaceable together, ironically today, the last thing on earth that all seven billion of us agree on is that we like the steel string guitar." -Dan Crary
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 08-18-2015, 02:13 AM
Fran Guidry Fran Guidry is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Walnut Creek, CA
Posts: 3,712
Default

At this point I think you should wait for the new iPhone, either to take advantage of the presumed new features or to enjoy the price reduction on the current phone.

Fran
__________________
E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key in California - www.kaleponi.com
My YouTube clips
The Homebrewed Music Blog
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 08-22-2015, 03:02 PM
Johan Madsen Johan Madsen is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 1,304
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mtn Man View Post
My plan is getting ready to renew and I'm thinking of upgrading. Right now I use my Iphone 5C to film music, with a Zoom iQ7 external mic. I know the video technology is much better now and I want to get the absolute best phone out there in terms of the following:

1. Video Quality
2. Storage Space
3. Microphone

I would love the ability to record true "professional quality" video with my phone. The problems I have with my current phone are, it won't record past 720P, and it's so limited on storage space. I get very good sound quality with the Zoom iQ7 mic so that's not as much of an issue, but there are occasions where I don't have that mic with me and find myself wanting to record a jam or something.

Right now it's looking like the Samsung Galaxy Edge S6 is the winner over the iPhone 6 Plus because it can actually record as high as 4K. Not that I would necessarily use all that, but dang...4K! It also seems to have a higher gain built in mic than the iPhone 6 Plus.

I would love to continue using an iPhone because that's what I'm used to, and it would be compatible with the external mic I'm currently using, which I'm happy with. But the bottom line is, I want the best thing out there, and if that means switching back to Android I will. So is there something I'm missing about the iPhone 6 Plus? Is there another phone I should consider?
My two last videos were filmed with the Nexus 5, you can see it there
__________________
Furch OM 32 SM
Cordoba Maple Fusion 14
Esp Horizon NT
Jackson US Soloist

Youtube - Reverbnation - Twitter - Facebook

Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 09-03-2015, 02:04 PM
Ty Ford Ty Ford is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Baltimore, MD
Posts: 1,357
Default

How do you get the mics into the phone?

Regards,

Ty Ford
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 09-03-2015, 02:16 PM
fazool's Avatar
fazool fazool is online now
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 16,560
Default

Storage is easy - you can get very large micro SD cards so you need a phone that has an SD card slot (not LG and not Apple phones - these do not allow added memory cards.

The video quality you get will be largely determined by the amount of light. These phone cameras have high pixel specifications but are very small lenses so in low light conditions, even a12MP camera will look very very grainy.

If you are using an external mic then the audio quality doesn't matter.

One last thing to maximize is processor speed so processing the incoming audio and video is hiccup free.
__________________
Fazool "The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter"

000-15 / GC7 / GA3-12 / SB2-C / SB2-Cp / AVC-11MHx / AC-240
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 09-07-2015, 03:00 PM
Mtn Man Mtn Man is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 832
Default

Right now I'm looking hard at the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. By all accounts it has the best smartphone camera on the market, recording at 16 megapixels, which is double what you can get with a comparable iPhone. It's also available with 128 GB of internal memory, which is more than enough for my purposes considering I've been making do with 16 GB on my current phone. The Edge+ has the exact same camera as the Edge, but less storage space, so it's out of the running. The Samsung Note 5 also has the same camera but is bulkier because it comes with a stylus, which I don't need.

As far as the built in mic goes, I see what you're saying but there are occasions where I wasn't planning to film, so I didn't have my external mic on me, but something happened that I wanted to capture. At times like those I curse the crappy iPhone mic (perfect example here - these guys were so good, I still kick myself that I wasn't able to get better sound on this video). From what I can gather from online video comparisons, the Galaxy also has a stronger built in mic than the iPhone.

What you said about low light is a revelation to me. I was not aware of that but it makes perfect sense. Definitely something to keep in mind as a lot of the stuff I film (late night jams and performances) is in low light.
__________________
"Out of all the sincere and well-intentioned attempts of politics, diplomacy, philosophy, religion, and education to get people to be peaceable together, ironically today, the last thing on earth that all seven billion of us agree on is that we like the steel string guitar." -Dan Crary
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 09-07-2015, 03:15 PM
Ty Ford Ty Ford is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Baltimore, MD
Posts: 1,357
Default

Good lighting is 90% of good video.

Here's a video I shot in a dark bar for friends so they could put something up on their facebook page to show prospective venue owners what they look and sound like.

I shot a full set, knowing that said venue owners would never watch all of it. The only added light was a bar of four blue bulbs, stage left and about 7 feet up.


I was actually surprised that I got sort of a colorful "Mardi Gras" effect with it and the other lights in the venue. I used stereo AT mic instead of the camera mic because the camera mic picks up he noise of me handling the camera.

Regards,

Ty Ford
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 09-12-2015, 09:15 AM
Elisdad Elisdad is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Kernersville, NC
Posts: 186
Default Best Smartphone for Filming Music?

I have been using my iphone 6 and the original iRig Mic. As someone mentioned, the lighting makes a HUGE difference. Here is one of my videos:



I suspect the iphone 6s that was just released, should give better reaults.
__________________
My youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/elisdadster
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 09-24-2015, 08:22 PM
Mtn Man Mtn Man is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 832
Default

One of the issues I have with smartphone cameras is their zoom capability. On my iPhone 5C, for instance, it's ok if I'm right up on the subject, but if I'm some distance away and have to zoom in, it immediately loses clarity and looks like, well, a video shot from a cell phone. The zoom stinks.

This is a major issue for filming live music because oftentimes the best sound is back where the sound guy is. If you get too close to the stage you lose the "sweet spot" of sound.

In other words, with a smartphone you have to make a choice in these situations: Do I want good sound, or good video? That's why all of my best videos are up close and personal, literally 10' or less away from the subject. If you're filming someone onstage at the typical Bluegrass show, 10' away from the stage you're barely going to hear the speakers. They might even be behind you. Good zoom gives you the freedom to set up where the best sound is, then use the zoom to frame the perfect shot.

All that said, in all the research I've done it's pretty clear that Samsung has the best camera on the market, hands down. It can actually record in 4K which is double the resolution of the best iPhone. The Note 5, Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, and S6 Edge+ all have the same camera and it's phenomenal.

Still, there are certain limitations to a smartphone camera that can't be overcome, specifically the crappy zoom and the issues with low light, due to the size of the enclosure. So I'm looking at a real camera. My wife's on board with this because she wants to be able to take better pictures.

Enter the Sony RX10 II. The reviews on this sucker are really promising. It's basically a camera that's geared for people that shoot a lot of video, so it's kind of a video camera first and a stills camera second. And the zoom is killer. Check this out for a taste. And here's another one showing how you can take some incredible "pro quality" video with it. Make sure you go full screen and max quality for the full effect. I'd be tickled to be able to produce anything even close to this quality.
__________________
"Out of all the sincere and well-intentioned attempts of politics, diplomacy, philosophy, religion, and education to get people to be peaceable together, ironically today, the last thing on earth that all seven billion of us agree on is that we like the steel string guitar." -Dan Crary
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 09-25-2015, 04:28 AM
SalFromChatham's Avatar
SalFromChatham SalFromChatham is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 7,726
Default

I use an iphone 6 and an Apogee MiC:

__________________
i got tired of updating my guitars.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 12-01-2015, 10:08 AM
merlin666 merlin666 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Canada Prairies
Posts: 2,957
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by fazool View Post
Storage is easy - you can get very large micro SD cards so you need a phone that has an SD card slot (not LG and not Apple phones - these do not allow added memory cards.
I think the LG G3 and G4 are the only current higher end phones on the market that still have an SD slot and exchangeable battery. I have heard that the G4 also has a pretty good lens for camera/video.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 12-28-2015, 01:17 AM
Mischief Mischief is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 582
Default

I have been pondering something similar as I want to get easy high quality audio video onto you tube without a bunch of post edit mixing.

I have the iPhone 6+ and I must say I'm quite happy with the camera. Using garage band I'm even happy with the onboard microphone and have made some nice recordings. But it's too much hassle recording video splitting the audio adding a bit of reverb etc and putting back together. Plus I know it could be a lot better with external mic

I've been thinking of running my mic to Acoustic Play mono out into an Irig pre so I can have any effects I want while I record video. I don't know if there's a better way? I was hoping I could buy something like the apogee one have it all set up and record video but looks like I would have to use a separate camera or post edit to get effects as in video it will just record dry vocals and guitar.

Maybe I'm missing the obvious here. I'd prefer to be as simple as possible
I wish I could just export the audio off a video easily to garage band tweak and send it back to the video but it does not seem as easy as that.

Thanks for any advice


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 12-28-2015, 06:08 AM
Ty Ford Ty Ford is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Baltimore, MD
Posts: 1,357
Default

The Zoom Q4 awaits!

http://tyfordaudiovideo.blogspot.com...-and-2496.html

Regards,

Ty Ford
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > RECORD

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:44 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=