The New Tascam IM2 Stereo Condenser for iPhone
I received a TASCAM IM2 microphone for my iPhone for Christmas from my dear wife Deborah. Here's my take on it so far:
This is a higher quality microphone than the one installed in the iPhone and uses the iPhone's battery to power it, since it is a condenser and needs phantom power.
My first impressions are that it is a much more "musical" mic, meaning it
captures the frequencies of my instruments better than the native mic. It is "warmer." It contains dual mics which allow it to record in stereo which the iPhone sadly lacks. You can also spin the direction of the microphones 180 degrees to "aim" at your sound source and capture the sound most accurately without picking up as much ambient
sound.
Unfortunately, there is a low frequency hum with the TASCAM mic that is quite noticeable with headphones. I will have to experiment a bit more to sort this out.
The native iPhone mic is a bit noisy itself, but more so on the high end frequencies and is a lot "hotter" mic. I actually had to turn down the gain on the input (on the software app) so it didn't overdrive the software. TASCAM gives free recording software that you download from iTunes. It's a nice little stereo recorder app that gives a direct link to Soundcloud so you can wirelessly up load your tracks as I did for this demonstration.
Ultimately I will probably use this mic for recording homilies at Mass non- obtrusively and adding stereo audio to my videos that I upload to u tube.
Here's the internal iPhone mic first:
Internal iphone mic.wav by Russ Rentler
Now here's the Tascam mic
Tascam IM 2 mic.wav by Russ Rentler
posted by Russ Rentler, M.D. | 9:00 PM
5 Comments:
A question for you about the Tascam IM2. How sensetive is it to jiggling? For example, I have the Fostex AR-4i and have noticed it is very touchy. Touch it wrong and you'll get the tap sound you expect to hear when moving a mic.
Also am I right to assume that you need to put the iPhone 4/4s into Airplane mode with the Tascam to avoid getting any interference from the GSM radio (that seems to be the case with the Fostex and is definitely true if you plug a mic, like the little Varicorder condenser, into the headphone jack)?
Dear Kenneth, it is fairly sensitive meaning if you rub it or bump it, you will definitely hear it as you would with any studio quality condenser mic. I still think though it is less sensitive than the onboard iPhone mics though.
I didn't consider turning off the wireless/cell signal! After your commnet I tried it and didn't notice a major difference with interference with it in or out of airplane mode.
hope that helps
As an aside, Kenneth, I see you like folk music. i have played with both Gorka and Shindell and have recorded a live DVD with John called the Gypsy Life. see my webpage
www.russrentler.com
Hi Russ, thanks for the review!
I got mine but I have a problem being unable to monitor sound while recording, I'm already using a headphone without mic. Wondering if you know of any app which allows you to do so with IM2.
Thanks
Patrick
unfortuantely I don't. Seems when you plug in the mic, it short circuits the monitoring function of the ear phone output. up to this point I have been just recording on the fly just monitoring by watching the levels in the software that came with the mic.
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