IK Multimedia has a whole big collection of iOS-friendly products, and iRig Mic Studio is one of the best product they have released till now. With specs like 24-bit A/D Convert with 44.1/48 kHz sampling, low noise, high-def preamp built-in and great sound pressure level (SPL) ratings, the quality iRig Mic Studio delivers is quite impressive. With design improvements from its previous version i.e. iRig Mic HD, Mic Studio has a larger diaphragm, specifically a 1″ diameter back electret condenser capsule. It’s a highly sensitive mic, can capture even lower floor noise, hence can be used for a varied number of applications.
iRig Mic Studio Review
Other than the Mic, in-box contents are a number of wires like Lightning-equipped cable to connect iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, micro-USB cable to connect with android/windows phone and a standard USB cable to connect it to PC. If you have an old iPhone or iPad, you can buy a 30-pin Dock connector separately from IK Multimedia. There’s also a studio mount and a portable tabletop too (in the box) with a storage bag to cover the mic when it’s not in use. All these cables included are of one meter in length.
There is a headphone output in the mic itself for onboard monitoring directly from the mic, and you can control the volume level of the headphones alongside the gain control from the mic itself. It has a multicolor LED between the adjusting knobs, which provides connection/power status as well as produce different colors for the gain adjustment.
Connecting to the mic is pretty simple and forward. Just plug in the mic with respective wire to the individual device i.e. iOS or Android or Windows PC. iRig Mic Studio will automatically draw the power from the USB and would be ready for recording immediately. iRig Mic Studio uses Core Audio compatibility; that means you can use the mic with any iOS recording app, ranging from iPhone built-in Voice recorder, or you can use apps like GarageBand or IK Multimedia apps like VocalLive or SampleTank. Same way, you can install apps on Android phones and move ahead for recording. On the Windows PC, you can use free apps available like Audacity, which is one of the best solution for audio recording, or use any app which supports audio recording.
If you don’t have much idea about the third party apps for it, there is one specialized app from IK Multimedia, i.e. Mic Room, which allows a user to create microphone profiles for more creativity. That means you can apply different profiles to other microphones too from various manufacturers along with recording the pure sound from iRig Mic Studio. This way, this app offers more versatility for using the mic in a diverse variety of recording applications.
Overall, iRig Mic Studio construction is impressive, and since I have been using this for last two months approx, I am pretty sure that the mic will stand up for lots of use and with due care and attention, it ought to give extensive services to a user.
iRig Mic Studio Review: Performance
As I explained above, setting up the Mic Studio is relatively straight forward and regarding general performance, the results I obtained were excellent. This product is a perfect microphone for casual recordings, for voice over of videos, instrument recordings and much more. I used Mic Studio for recording voice using Audacity application in Windows 10, and it worked perfectly. I even tried IK Multimedia own VocalLiveApp on iPad, and the results were excellent.
This audio sample is the recording of above paragraph.
For the best results in recording, I stick with 44.1kHz and 24-bit in settings, and anything beyond that would be overkill for an average home or project studio. I tried some audio recordings apps like sung vocals, spoken voice, acoustic guitar and in all cases, I was impressed with the audio quality iRig Mic Studio delivered for me. Also, I checked the manual thoroughly, but couldn’t find any information regarding the polar pattern used, but I do believe that it’s some form of cardioid, which means it’s super sensitive to any sound coming directly in front of it. Thus, it becomes a sensible choice for music or vocal recording anyway.
Overall, in my usual recordings, audio was crisp, clear and superbly detailed, that you can understand each and every word quickly within the room. If you’re concerned about other aspects of the recordings like sensible mic placement, acoustics in your room, pop-shield, the iRig Mic Studio delivered some excellent quality audio recordings to me.
iRig Mic Studio Review: Final Verdict
If you’re a singer or plays an instrument or a YouTuber, iRig Mic Studio will serve your purpose in most cases and is a nice travel companion. It gives the flexibility to do recording using most common devices most people have these days, whether it be an Android device or of an iOS or having any laptop would work. All you need to give some attention to mic placement, have a quiet and decent space and then you could do some pretty awesome recordings with this microphone.
