How to Use Airpods as Bluetooth Mic on Phone

Introduction:

What is up everyone? And welcome back to another smartphone filmmaking tutorial. Today, I'm going to show you how you can use the AirPods as a Bluetooth microphone, and other options to capture the audio with your smartphone. Keep in mind that there will be a timestamp below to skip or go back to a particular part in the video. With that said, let's get right started. We should kick directly off? Was that acceptable English?

Camera Setup:

So I'm first going to talk about the setup I have going on over here. So I'm using the iPhone 12 Pro Max as my main camera. The application I'm utilizing is FiLMiC Pro. The reason why I like using FiLMiC Pro is I have more control over my camera. And I'm also able to monitor the audio. Since the audio levels are displayed on the right side. 

This way I can avoid the audio levels peaking. The gimbal I'm using is the Home Isteady 2 gimbal. The reason why I like this gimbal is because it has an AI tracking sensor. This way you can track the subject, regardless what app you're using. FiLMiC Pro doesn't have a tracking feature. So combining it with the Home Isteady 2 gimbal, I'm able to track myself. So by doing the okay sign, it will automatically start to track me. Which is quite magnificent. And to stop tracking, I can just hold up my hands. Now, if you have the DGI OM 4, you can use the memo app to track yourself. But the downside to it is that you don't have the audio levels displayed and you also can't use it with the AirPods.

Internal Mic:

The first mic we will be using is the most obvious one, is using the internal mic on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. But before we get into it, I'm going to show you the settings I use in FiLMiC Pro.

Camera Settings:

So I currently have the selfie camera enabled, and I have the auto white balance locked. Uh, I'm shooting in 4K 25 frames per second. And the exposure, the ISO is set to 23, which is the lowest. And the charter speed is one over 50. Now, if you're recording with the selfie camera, make sure to select in the audio settings, the front microphone. So let's now do an audio test. So this is how it sounds like using the internal mic on my iPhone at 12 Pro Max. 

That is the audio quality you get out of it. As you can see, I'm quite close to the microphone. And I find that using the internal mic, especially if you're recording at home is a great option. The downside to using the internal mic is that you can't be too far away. Otherwise you will introduce a lot of echo-y and distorted sound. So, if I go further away, you will hear that the audio is more echo-y. So if you're using the internal mic, make sure to be close to the camera.

Earpods:

So the second option would be using the wired earphones. I can simply plug this into the side. Like so. I'm going to check in the settings to make sure that headset microphone is selected, I'm gonna enable tracking. All right. So this is how it sounds like using the wired earphones on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. As you can see, I have tracking enabled and the wires aren't in the way, and I can also move a little bit further away from the camera and still capture, you know, decent audio quality. With the internal mic, I probably can't move this far away. 

What you also could do is get to the microphone closer to your mouth. This way it might sound a bit better, but I like having the freedom to just, uh, you know, move my hands around when I need to point at things. Make sure to use the gain control on the right to adjust the audio levels. You don't want the audio levels to peak, like right now. Um, you want it to be in the orange, uh, yellow area sort of. Now what if you want to do more instructional videos where you have to move around a lot. Then probably a wireless, uh, mic would be the better option.

Airpods Pro:

So the ones I'm using right now are the AirPods Pro, which I borrowed from Gabriel Donka colleague. Keep in mind when using the AirPods is that you can only use one ear piece. It will listen to only one of the microphones. Now, unfortunately you can't use the second ear piece to record an interviewee, for example. Hopefully Apple will update that in the future. 

That will be a distinct advantage. Now, when putting these on, I can actually hear my voice and it sounds so weird. I have to take it out. So when using the AirPods with FiLMiC Pro, you want to reduce the volume on your phone to avoid hearing yourself through the AirPods, because that is super annoying. So to use the AirPods, you want to make sure to head over to settings, audio, and make sure Bluetooth microphone is enabled. 

So let's test it out right now. Lets enable tracking. Following is empowered. So this is how it sounds like using the AirPods Pro with the iPhone 12 Pro Max. As you can see the Home Isteady gimbal is tracking me. And the great part is I can move wherever I want, and it will still capture the audio. As you can see, when I walk around the, gimbal still tracks me and it does a really good job at it. The fact that you can just, you know, take it out, put in your ears and connected with FiLMiC Pro is so powerful. So let me know what you guys think of the audio quality of the AirPods Pro. 

I mean, for instructional video, this is really a great option. Now audio for me is very important because I always say that audio is half the viewing experience. But if you might happen to have, you know, AirPods at home, and you're starting out making videos with your smartphone, this is absolutely a great option to get started. 

RODE SmartLav:

So the fourth option would be to record your audio separately and sync it in post. So if you happen to have a second phone, you can use the Rode smartLav+, with the voice memo app. So I'm going to plug this in and it's super easy to use. I can just plug it in using the right adapter and open up the voice memo app. And in FiLMiC Pro, I can just use the internal mic as a reference. So I'm going to select audio, make sure.

 I have the front microphone selected. And once I'm ready, I can start recording over here. Test, test. All right, I can see the wave form, and I can start recording over here as well. And I'm going to clap (claps) to sync the audio later in post. This way you will see a peak in the wave forms and this way you can align both of it to have the audio sync. This is how it sounds like using the Rode smartLav+ with the iPhone 12 Pro Max. And I can also walk freely without having to worry. And the gimbal will track my face wherever I go. So pretty awesome. Right? So the writing is on the wall.

End:

These are the four microphone recording options I have for you. As you can see the setup isn't that complicated. And depending on the type of video you're shooting, one of these microphone might be the right one for you. Let me know what you think about these four options. Try to leave a remark beneath. 

On the off chance that you partook in this video, try to leave approval. Now, if you're new on this channel, make sure to subscribe because we are soon reaching 100,000 subscribers. And for those who have been a subscriber for a very long time, thank you so much for your support. Now, if you're not part of a smartphone filmmaking group, I created one for myself on a Facebook, make sure to join. As you can share your work and get feedback from others and here and then I go live to talk about smartphone filmmaking.

If you haven't checked my free smartphone filmmaking guide, make sure to do that as well as this guide will show you how to get started recording quality videos with your smartphone. Again, thank you so much for watching, take care guys. Furthermore, I will see you in the following article.