Question Mic options? for interviews on an Iphone Xs and a MacBook Air

[orbitrob]

Hi there, I have a client who is looking for a mic to improve sound quality when she's doing:

a) Instagram LIVE interviews on her iphone Xs
b) Zoom & Skype interviews on her MacBook air.

She doesn't want to have headphones visible in the shot. Can anyone suggest any external mics they've been using with these devices to improve the sound?
Thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Thanks, Rob

 

[reezekeys]

Interesting to read your question since I'm helping my wife do something very similar. She's doing Zoom sessions with clients and needs an unobtrusive mic for better sound than what she gets right now (her MacBook Pro's built-in mic). She's a therapist and her work involves moving around so I thought a headset-style mic would be a good choice. Most of the light and not-very-visible ones are quite expensive and designed to be plugged into wireless belt packs. I found one that was very cheap and was hoping to be able to plug it into her MacBook Pro and have it work, using an adapter/splitter. To make an already very long story a little shorter, I got no answer here or in other forums as to whether this particular mic might work. I decided to buy it anyway because, well, it's very cheap (which is actually a positive and a negative!).

This is the mic I'm getting. It's a mic only so you're on your own for listening! No headphones. I should get it in a few days and will report back here as to whether it works or not. Note that the picture is upside down!

In the meantime, you might try any earbud/mic combo. My wife tried a cheap no-name brand, and the quality of her voice was much improved. She didn't like the earbuds being in her ear, plus the mic hangs off the cable in a way that brushes against her clothing when she moves, which makes a noise in the audio. We're really hoping this Pyle headset mic works – and that if we're real careful handling it, it might last longer than a week!

 

[LordVile]

Hi there, I have a client who is looking for a mic to improve sound quality when she's doing:

a) Instagram LIVE interviews on her iphone Xs
b) Zoom & Skype interviews on her MacBook air.

She doesn't want to have headphones visible in the shot. Can anyone suggest any external mics they've been using with these devices to improve the sound?
Thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Thanks, Rob

I would say for the MacBook the onboard mic isn't too bad though you could get a USB mic like a blue yeti or something and use earbuds for audio so you don't get any echo.

 

[reezekeys]

This morning I received the Pyle headset mic and the adapter/splitter (TRRS plug to separate headphone and mic jacks) and can report that it works just fine with both my MacBook Pro and iPhone SE (original).

I'll probably post a review on Amazon (where I bought the mic – link is in my message above), but as of right now I'm pretty happy with it. As I said, my wife will be using it to do online zoom sessions and for various reasons has to stand about 8 - 10 feet away from the laptop. She's in a large room with bare walls, and the built-in mic of the MacBook Pro sounded terrible since it picked up a lot of echo from the room – she sounded very far away. This mic (used with an extension cable of course) sounds much better – which you would expect because the element is so close to her face. As I expected, it seems rather fragile so we'll be handling it with care. The other weird thing is that unless I'm doing something wrong, the mic element winds up touching your face – I'm afraid to bend the thin steel strut that holds the mic. That might be a deal-breaker for some, but I got used to it pretty quick. The headset is really featherweight and you barely know it's there.

Two things – first, you must use this (or a similar) splitter (on both the computer and iPhone) or this mic won't work. Second, you must first connect both the mic and a headset to the splitter jacks, then plug the splitter into your Mac or phone's headphone jack! Tricky, sneaky, the audio "secret handshake", call it what you want – it's gotta be done like this or the headset mic will not be seen!

 

[orbitrob]

thanks for you advice and taking the time to respond reezekeys and LordVile. Reezekeys i'm glad you were able to get a solution that works. I'm also glad to hear the Pyle headset mic didn't turn out to be a "pyle of.....". lol

its amazing that of all the forums i've posted on this one and techist are where i've received help. on the apple forum.....nothing, zero, zilch.

Thank-you. :0)
Rob aka orbitrob

 

[reezekeys]

I just sent my review into Amazon for the Pyle (it hasn't posted yet). So far... so good. For $15 it seems like a steal. We'll see how long it lasts! BTW, to clarify my mini-review above: the mic doesn't have to touch your face. By extending the strut that holds the mic, it can dangle under your chin. Looks a little weird but sounds fine.

its amazing that of all the forums i've posted on this one and techist are where i've received help. on the apple forum.....nothing, zero, zilch.

Not amazing to me. I've found it almost useless to post questions there.