Handheld Mic for iOS Devices

It's the perfect look for a handheld interview microphone. People start talking right away as soon as you point it their way! Also, because it hears what it's pointed at and rejects sound from the sides and rear, you hear far less street noise. It makes people easier to understand. You will hear some wind noise if it's windy. Get a windscreen cover or one of those hairy "dead cat" covers for the windiest days.

I love this little mic. Sure, it's not the best sounding mic, but it is a hard worker. I use it for going out into the field doing interviews. I love that I can just take my iPad and not be weighed down by hauling around pounds of equipment. It is also a much more forgiving mic to interviewees who don't have the best mic technique. However, as a voice over artist, I would not use this microphone for recording auditions on the go. For that, I'd recommend the Apogee MiC. It's a sweet little mic. I've used it in the field for interviews too, but again - it's not as forgiving of bad mic technique and it isn't a mic that someone can hold in their hand. So, it really just boils down to what you're going to use this mic for. :)

I'm becoming a fan of the IK Multimedia products - they're reasonably priced and the quality is decent. I think most of their products are manufactured in Italy, which might cut down on the issues associated with Chinese made things where they're great if they work, but 30% of what's sitting on the shelf has some kind of defect. For what it is it's pretty darn good. You're not getting the audio quality of an $800 mic for sure, but in terms of general build quality, convenience and digital connectivity this is hard to beat. I would give it 5 stars if it weren't for the terrible software (IK Multimedia seems to be much stronger on the hardware side). Thankfully, it integrates well with every third-party app I've used it with so that hasn't been a big deal.

This Mic worked just like I expected. There was a video review I saw that showed it in action and that is what helped sell this to me, and mine is working just like the one in the video. I'm sure there are better ones, but this one fit our little budget and does just what we wanted it to. In our case, it was for our elementary school's "news" show. We plug this right into the iPad2 and the kids can do simple news interviews with it while another kids does the filming on the iPad. The cord is about 6 ft. long so it works great for this. The first time I plugged it in, it did some popping noises, but it only did it that one time, and it's been great since, and we've used it enough that I can say it's great. Not expensive, and it shipped to me very quickly too.

First, this microphone WILL NOT work with MANY video apps on iPad or iPhone. It is mainly for audio only pod casting, I guess. I don't know if this is an Apple issue or a mic issue, but if you are looking for a mic to improve your video projects, this is not for you.As a mic it is just OK, frequency range is adequate, and pick up is good.The switch is NOT an on/off switch, it is an attenuator pad. It doesn't seem to do much. It is overpriced for what you get.

We ordered this mic to use for a teen band performance. We were using an app on an iPad for a vocal effect and needed the ability to have an external mic for use with the iPad and then run it through the sound system. The way the mic plugged into the iPad and then came with an adapter to output the sound was just what we needed. The ability to have the different settings on the mic was a nice feature as well. It worked perfectly for the performance. The video below is the performance and the back up singer is using the mic with the special effect on her voice.

The video review someone put up here gave me hope that this was indeed a good mic, so I ordered one for some YouTube interviews I had planned to try with an iPhone 5, a tripod, and an interview mic. It arrived in a timely fashion = 1 star. The mic would not work with an iPhone 5, an iPad (4th gen), a Galaxy SIII, or a Nexus 10...all of which the mfr website states this mic would work with. The instructions bordered on useless. The mfr website was equally useless for troubleshooting. The only conclusion I could come to was that the mic was defective. I rarely get defective items through Amazon, but I never go in for a second chance. Thankfully the Amazon return experience was quick and painless. I read through some of the other reviews and I note that a couple of people realized that you had to install the app to get this to work. That didn't work either. And no where in the instructions or website did "You must install the app" appear. In fact, what passed for troubleshoot FAQs had such complicated "fixes" as making sure the mic is completely plugged in and that your iPhone is turned on.

I work on a podcast and recently needed a means to record interviews at a recent trade show. With the iRig mic, my iPad, and the free iRig recorder app I got hours and hours of high quality content. The three settings on the microphone allowed me to record one on one interviews with practically no background noise being picked up, or to successfully record roundtable discussions within a single room. Great sound quality, portability, and ease of use all in one attractive package. Love this mic!

I really like this Mike but it only lasted about a month and a half now it’s got major interference and it may be fixable because I’m not sure that it’s entirely broke. I just haven’t really even messed with it since it started acting funny. I sing with it a lot too the sound is great. I don’t know. I’m gonna try to fix it at some point. I bought a different one yesterday so…. Use this mic on Smule and StarMaker and it worked great. I guess I want to continue using electronic devices I’m gonna learn some basic maintenance stuff like that. I usually avoid such things because Finesse and I don’t coexist on electrical or mechanical issues.

I purchased this mic the first week it came out. It lasted about 2 weeks before the cable came loose from the base of the mic. BTW, the cable is attached to the mic. It is not an XLR to mini cable. I knew this going in, so it was not an issue for me, but some folks might want to have that information repeated. I sent it back, partial refund because the instructions were not included in the return. (as if they were going to turn around and sell a broken mic. hmm...) I bought a new one. This one was a dud out of the box. Just didn't work. I sent THAT one back, and thought it had to be a coincidence...that I just had the bad luck of having the only two defective mics from the lot. Wishful thinking. The third one lasted about 10 days. I sent it back and obviously will not be purchasing this mic (or any other hardware) from IK until their hardware department shows as much promise as their software department does. Here are three things that I understand about this mic, and want to just say in fairness to the company: 1) I am a professional singer/songwriter. I use my iPad a lot on stage, and was hoping to use this mic on stage with the iPad. That didn't happen, because none of them lasted long enough for me to rehearse a decent performance with the mic, but I did try to get it to work for a performance, which meant that I used the mics every day for several hours...sometimes on a stand, sometimes hand held. So, I might not be the target end user of this mic. The target end user might be a casual singer, or someone who bought the mic because they had to have the latest iPad gadget, but never uses it, I don't really know. But I *do* know that the target end user is not a professional musician. 2) The mic is under 60 dollars. There are no "pro" mics on the market that are 60 dollars new. If you are singing into a 60 dollar mic, you are either at karaoke, or it was purchased used. I recognize this as a limiting factor to the quality and longevity of a mic. But when the longest lasting mic of 3 is around 2 weeks...well, you get what you pay for usually. In this case, I got much less than I paid for. In essence, I rented what amounts to a Radio Shack mic for 2 weeks for 60 dollars. 3) During the short time that the mics worked, they worked pretty well as a unidirectional mic. Outside noises were kept at a minimum, and mainly the voice that was directly behind the mic was the only one heard. There are three quite confounding setting on this mic: 1) completely and utterly inaudible, 2) I can almost hear what you are saying, could you speak up slightly?, and 3) OMG STOP SCREAMING AT ME!!! when the person holding the mic is barely whispering on the "higher" setting. In some applications, there were ways to modulate the output of the mic, but on less sophisticated apps, this mic was useless. I agree with other users. The onboard mics for the iPad/pod/phone are at least as good as this mic, maybe better. No need to get another mic. At least not until the cables come apart from the mic, so they can be replaced without replacing the entire mic. I'm looking forward to seeing their G2 of this mic.