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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1877
REVIEW
108 MacDirectory
PRO AUDIO IN YOUR POCKET > FIRE & MIKEY
When I was taking film classes in college, I
quickly became enamored of the little
Nagra IV-L we used for sound. With this
compact, reel-to-reel recorder slung over
my shoulder and a small assortment of
mics, I could go anywhere and bring back
Hollywood-quality location sound. The first
few recording applications for the iPhone
caught my eye, but they were quite
limited in capability and quality. But this
spring, almost simultaneously, two
products appeared that brought both to
these devices. I was close to having my
little Nagra back.
The first out of the gate was
FiRe
by
Audiofile Engineering, the first true
stereo recording application for the
iPhone. The words that best describe this
program are "focused" and "feature rich."
It does one thing and does it extremely
well: it records sound. However, to
accomplish that task, it includes a feature
set that pros need as well as a couple they
may have never dreamed of.
The program offers three levels of
recording quality with sampling rates from
11.025 kHz to a music-friendly 44.1 kHz.
Before you start recording, you can check
the sound levels with the VU Input meters
and, once recording starts, the levels are
mapped by a graphic waveform. The
display flips 180 degrees when you turn
the phone over. FiRe takes advantage of
multi-touch gestures to navigate through
a recording. The program lets you add
markers to tracks while you're recording
(like when you hear the instructor say,
"…and this will probably be on the mid-
term…") or insert them during playback.
There's also an overdub mode and
countdown feature (but you may want to
opt for Sonoma Wire Works'
FourTrack
).
FiRe stores audio data in Broadcast WAV
format, allowing you to add a wealth of
metadata, including geo-location
information via the iPhone's GPS. Using
the program's Bonjour-friendly web/FTP
server it's quite easy to export the audio
files to your computer or you can choose
to upload them to a SoundCloud.com
account. The only limit on the size of your
audio files is the amount of storage on
your device.
The fact that FiRe is designed as
professional tool rather than an ultra-
friendly iApp is apparent in some of its
quirks, as well. Should your display go into
sleep mode while the tape transport
screen is up, the program keeps running
whether recording is paused or active.
Should this go unnoticed, you will find
your phone warming and your battery
depleting quite quickly. Hopefully an
upcoming update will provide the option
keep the phone awake while FiRe is
recording. Also, when the program
launches, the iPhone reports that the
Mikey "is not made to work with your
iPhone" and then considerately asks if you
want to go into Airplane Mode to avoid
interruptions and the likely electronic
interference from the 3G phone circuitry.
One thing that makes FiRe unique is the
fact that it's the first recorder to support
stereo. One of the two microphones it can
use is the remarkable new
Mikey
from
Blue Mic, a pro audio company that rose
to fame with its ever-popular Snowball
USB microphone, a virtual podcasting
standard. Mikey is a powered condenser
mic/speaker combination that plugs into
the iPhone/iPod docking port (it also can
be used with most current iPods). It's
hinged so it can either lie flat or tilt down
to face the music (so to speak). A switch
on the back offers three sensitivity levels,
a range that should take you from the
back of a classroom to the expensive seats
at a rock concert. Apple has a "don't-
touch-me-there" policy with microphone
circuitry so Mikey can offer some of the
level control that FiRe lacks. Mikey does a
wonderful job of capturing the subtle
ambience of an outdoor environment, but
I found it to be quite sensitive to wind
noise (it would benefit greatly from a low-
cut filter or wind screen). And even
though the mic fits securely into the
docking port, it won't tolerate much
heavy jostling before coming loose.
In spite of its modest price tag, this is a
professional quality microphone, with
sound quality comparable to anything in
the sub-$200 price range. In a variety of
environments the sound is rich, accurate
and detailed, providing natural stereo
separation. The ultimate test, moving the
recording to an audio CD and playing it
back on a good audio system, was quite
impressive, considering that the entire
studio fit in my pocket. The recording
was precise and the sound was as clean as
the acoustical environment permitted.
And, it was nice to know that I could,
once again, bring good sound back from
just about anywhere.
WORDS BY RIC GETTER
Product Mikey
Made by Blue Microphones.