Zoom IQ6 mic

[FinnDave]

Just wondering whether anyone here has any experience of the Zoom IQ6 microphone for iPhones. I have been trying to record some demo video with my phone, and while the picture quality is fine, the sound is thin. I am fairly sure this is down to the phone mic, and googling suggests the Zoom plug in mic as a significant improvement. However, it's not cheap and I'd appreciate some feedback from anyone who has (or used) one of these before buying (or not!).

Cheers.

[Ghost_Bass]

From my experience iPhone mics are one of the best for audio capturing when compared to other smartphones. Check and see id you're not covering any of its 3 mics with your hand / bad phone cover or if you have the mic holes filled with dust/filth (happens frequently). Of course if you're expecting something more prefessional you should consider a better tool for the job, like a proper HD camera and sound recording card or even those Zoom Q3, 4... etc. units.

Edited November 9, 2017 by Ghost_Bass

[FinnDave]

No, the phone is on a stand and definitely clean. I've gone ahead and ordered a zoom mic for it anyway (patience has never been my strong point!) and I'll try it on the weekend. Basically experimenting with recording sound & vision of myself playing, trying to put a kind of showreel together for when I am looking for a new band. Prompted by someone recently asking me for just that, and all I could offer was other people's footage of me playing in various bands, but not exactly advertising myself.

Anyway, it's a little project to keep me busy for a while.

[MoonBassAlpha]

Dave, aren't you in enough bands already?

[FinnDave]

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1510255756' post='3405138']
Dave, aren't you in enough bands already?
[/quote]

Only two at the moment, I had a bit of a cull and quit five!

[Dood]

The Zoom recorders offer a significant improvement over the sound on any smartphone microphone. The iPhone isn't bad and thus I agree with the post above, but it's just not designed to record full range stereo audio. You'll notice that you'll only ever get just the left hand audio channel and everything under 100hz (from memory) is missing.

I expect the Zoom add on to be easily as good as the H1 which is a brilliant little audio recorder. I own the Q4, Q8, H2n and have in the past owned the Q3HD.

[wateroftyne]

The iPhone is OK for a smartphone, but as Dood says, Zoom mics will give you a night-and-day improvement.

[FinnDave]

Thanks, hopefully I'm not wasting my money then! I should have it tomorrow with luck, so will report back once I've tried it.

[FinnDave]

No able to report on the improvement until next week, I managed to be out when the next day delivery arrived, so now have to wait until Monday.