How to Record Two Separate Mics While Shooting with Your iPhone

iPhones have some frankly impressive video quality, arguably the best of the smartphones out there. They are, however, far from user-friendly. One good example is that there is a single input, the Lightning port. This means that all those nice accessories like microphones need a dongle or other solution to get working. And not all dongles are made equal.

A not uncommon example where this is an issue is when you have two audio sources. Could be an interview or a two-person scene or any other situation where having two mics is important. In this case, the iPhoneographers have found the Rode SC6-L Audio Interface for iOS devices.

A very good reason to want to record different tracks is to have multiple, separately editable inputs. One could be a lav and the other could be a basic scratch track, or you could have two distinct mics. That’s where the SC6-L comes in handy. It has two separate 3.5mm inputs plus a headphone jack for monitoring.

You will want to make sure it works with your video app, like FiLMIC PRO, but it should be plug-and-play. 

How it works is to split the left and right channels of the iPhone’s video capture into the different inputs. In any NLE you can either split or sum them into a single track. You just get the benefit of more control before you get the output.

It can happen where one person speaks at a different level than the other and having them on the same tracks just won’t work. With this device, you can easily configure a multi-mic solution that will upgrade your iPhone video production.

Seriously, don’t count the iPhone out as a serious filmmaking tool. It might take some finagling and extra accessories, but something like the SC6-L can work wonders.

Have you used the iPhone for any video projects?

[source: iPhoneographers]

Order Links:

  • Rode SC6-L 2×2 Lightning Audio Interface for iOS Devices (B&H, Amazon), Adorama)

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate partner and participant in B&H and Adorama Affiliate programmes, we earn a small comission from each purchase made through the affiliate links listed above at no additional cost to you.

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