To record sound to a video camera when flying, I have been using this analog preamp with this mike which is tucked into the headset earcup.
The output of the preamp then plugs into the external mike socket of the video camera.
This has worked fine since 2006, and the quality is very good, though the camera really needs to have a manual audio gain setting, and the sub-£1000 models rarely have that.
I would now like to try it with the Nokia 808 phone which does excellent 1080P 30FPS video recording, but its external mike input is via USB. So I will need something like this, and there are loads of such products.
I can plug the mike directly into that, or I could plug the output of the analog preamp into it, which would give me a level adjustment.
One issue is USB power consumption. I don't know what the phone can supply but probably no more than a few mA. It even complains about some flash sticks drawing too much current... the solution would be to connect the USB device via a powered hub.
Does anybody have any experience of these audio-USB converters? I don't mind buying some at £10 to see if they work, but not at £100.
There are generic USB audio cards available for less than £10. Here is a full-size USB one, and here is a micro-USB one with a built-in microphone.
Being impatient I ordered this, but seeing what you found I obviously missed a trick by not getting one with micro-USB connector :smile?
Fortunately there is a converter cable for the 808 phone, from its little micro-USB connector to a full USB.
OTOH the mike I have is really good and the company says it's definitely compatible with that adaptor.
I've never really been into the different mike types. Most of the little ones are capacitor ("condenser") types and need something like 30V power. I think it's called "plug in power".
Most of the little ones are capacitor ("condenser") types and need something like 30V power. I think it's called "plug in power".
I believe nowadays they are mostly electret-based, requiring no external power.
Speaking of USB connectors, the main shortcoming of full-size connector is not its size but rather its reliability - a regular grade full-size connector is rated for 1500 disconnection-reconnection cycles, as opposed to 10000 for microUSB.
This is just an update in case anybody finds this one day...
I bought that Andrea USB interface. Not cheap especially buying it from the USA.
The 808 says it is only partially supported, and (as usual with everything I have plugged into the USB port) it says it is drawing a lot of power.
I tried the traditional solution to "not enough USB power" which is to connect it via a powered USB hub but the 808 says it does not support USB hubs! That leaves only one option which is to make a USB-USB breakout cable which breaks out the +5V rail, so one can power the USB device from +5V without the phone having to supply any power.
So, no working solution as yet.
And some googling suggests that the 808 video camera is hard coded to use only the built-in mike
I think Job #1 will be to see if USB can record movie sound at all.
The analog audio input (the 3.5mm hands free kit socket) definitely doesn't work for movies, which is a really stupid decision by Nokia. I'd imagine this has been done on most of their modern phones.
Update: the alternative camera app CameraPro does use the 3.5mm hand-free-kit external mike input! So there is a usable solution. I am not going to spent any more time on this, although bluetooth would be nice... no mike cable.
