recording with external mic

[iJames]

Does anyone know which part of the 1/8" headphone plug is for the mic?

I'd like to make a cable that I could plug in to the iPhone which I could then plug a mic into. Ideally I would like to put a volume control on it so I could reduce the input level.

I play in a band and would like to be able to use it to record practices but the levels are way too loud for the phone.

 

[stooovie]

I don`t know, sorry iJames, but I have always thought that there would be an external mic available for iPhone, now that Apple opened the dockport API. That would be wonderful.

 

[bergman]

There is already an external mic made for the iPhone. No idea of the quality, but your post jogged my memory. External mic for iPhone 3GS claims 10x better audio quality | DVICE

 

[iJames]

I got the FiRe field recorder and on their forums someone posted this about making a connector.

Connecting an external mic to the iPhone
Posted by: hudson ()
Date: May 01, 2009 11:49AM

I was able to make an adapter cable to the 3.5 mm 4 pin connector using a broken pair of Apple earbuds and a headphone splitter for parts. The pin out is:

Green: Left audio (Tip)
Red: Right audio
Red/Green: Ground
Copper: Ground
White: Mic

I cut both ends off the headphone splitter and marked one of them as microphone. It had three wires inside, red, white and copper. The red and white are joined together with the white on the iPhone cable,

The other portion of the headphone splitter was wired white to green and red to red. All of the grounds were joined together.

The iPhone cable was odd in that it did not have central conductors with colored sheath like normal wire. Instead the wires are shellacked with the color, sort of like fine gauge magnet wire. Sufficient heat on the soldering iron will melt the coating and allow them to be joined to the headphone adapter wires. Use plenty of flux to ensure a good connection.

I ordered the Blue Mikey after I emailed them and they told me that it was in fact compatible with the iPhone.