Using a Radio Mic with your iPhone/ iPad Mojo kit…
November 13, 2013 7 Comments
*******NOTE: I have not personally tested ALL of these combinations so if you have discovered any issues with any of these set-ups please comment below and I will modify the post*******
If you need to use a Radio Mic with your iPhone / iPad Mojo kit there are several options available to you. The first thing to consider is what Radio Mic are you connecting.
I’ve used the Sony UWP kit which is the standard Radio Mic set we use in our Video Journalism kits. It comes in three versions:
A lapel transmitter / receiver pair UWP-V1 (Indicative Price €599)
A Reporter Mic transmitter / receiver pair UWP-V2 (Indicative Price €599)
An XLR adapter , lapel transmitter / receiver pair UWP-V6 (Indicative Price€990)
There is also a comparible set available from Sennheiser EW100-eng (Indicative Price €725-€999) and other manufacturers
Its important to know the different properties of the microphones in questions- the lapel mic is ideal for indoor interviews, to use it in an outdoor environment you will need to add a Rycote windjammer to reduce wind noise. Its important to remember that in most of the solutions below the iPhone will ONLY record the sound from the radio mic so if you are conducting an interview where you want to hear both your questions and the interviewees answers than its not the best solution.
The reporter (handheld) mic is ideal for run-and -gun interviews like Vox Pops and where you need to hear both sides of the conversation. The XLR adapter means you can turn just about any professional microphone with an XLR connector into a radio mic and use it in a cable free environment. I’ve never tried it but it could potentially mean that you could connect it to a rifle mic like this Sennhesiser ME66 and use it wirelessly away from the iPhone and radio receiver.
Now to get to the options to connect the Radio Mic to the iPhone. The first thing to note is that most of the Radio Receivers come with two connector cables and a cold-shoe mount.
In theory you can use either cable to connect to the iPhone but with different adapters. Lets deal with the mini-jack to mini-jack first.
This cable will need to adapted from a Tip Ring Sleeve (TRS) to a Tip Ring Ring Sleeve (TRRS) to be used directly with the iPhone. Cables for this purpose are available from http://www.kvconnection.com/category-s/8682.htm
Alternatively you could use one of these audio adapters: NOTE ALL these adapters offer a STEREO / DUAL CHANNEL input as they connect via the 30pin / Lightning DOCK connector on the iPhone.
Fostex AR101 http://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/products/AR101.shtml
Fostex AR4i http://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/products/AR-4i.shtml
Tascam iXJ2 http://tascam.com/product/ixj2/
Alternatively you could use the XLR cable from the radio receiver
to connect via these adapters
Top left: IKMultimedia iRig PRO http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigpro/
Top right: Tascam iXz http://tascam.com/product/ixz/
Bottom left: Griffin MicConnect http://store.griffintechnology.com/micconnect-mic-interface-ipad
Bottom right: iKMultimedia iRig Pre http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigpre/
Note the iRig PRO is the only interface of these which connects via the 30pin/Lightning dock and as such it is a fully digital interface. All the other three are analogue interface which connect via the mic/headphone socket.
About vjmentor
Glen Mulcahy's -Mobile Journalism Blog 
Happy to test with the Sennheisers, if you want to compare set ups?
That would be great Stephen, Thank you 🙂
Drop me an email – journalism at stephenpritchard dot com – be good to try to do as ‘like for like’ as we can.
Very interesting read, but not quite sure what scenario would require a radio mic’ and an iPhone together? Still, very interesting to read and really useful to know!
Heres a few examples:
The limitation of cabled mics is that it restricts movement. So from a price point of view using a lapel mic like the AKG 416pp will give you great interview sound (on a budget) in a seated/standing still situation but will be a pain in the ass if you are trying to conduct a dynamic “action” interview where your interviewee is moving while answering questions. In a situation where proximity is an issue- say a press conference where you want to tap the public address system a radio set will give you the freedom to get the best shot without being (literally) tied to the sounddesk by the length of your XLR cable. Make sense?
I understand that cables can restrict movement, but it was the use of the iPhone that was puzzling me, however as you mention press conferences, I can see how useful it would be in recording the audio from such a distance (and of course for other similarly set-up events).
Thank you!
Ahh the iPhone is part of a mobile journalism project Im involved in for newsgathering. Cheers