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Showerthought: holding your phone sideways at a show gets you better audio than any clip-on mic
I keep seeing people in this group dump hundreds on lapel mics and wind screens when the real fix is stupid simple. Last month I recorded a loud punk set at a 300 cap room in Denver, phone in my shirt pocket pointed sideways at my chest, and the low end came out cleaner than my buddy's $180 setup sitting on the rail. The reason is your body blocks the wind and the pocket muffles the crowd scream right behind you. I've done this at 14 shows now, small clubs and one arena, and the sideways pocket trick beats the fancy gear most nights. The mics aren't bad, people just clamp them in the worst spot and blame the gear. If you've tried the pocket thing, did your bass come out muddy or clear?
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willowroberts23d ago
Oh wow, I totally used to roll my eyes at the pocket trick and thought it was just people being cheap! I spent way too much on a clip mic last year and kept getting this awful booming bass that ruined every recording, and I blamed the cheap phone crowd for "not caring about sound." Then I tried the sideways pocket thing at a tiny basement show in Portland just to see, and honestly the low end was way tighter than anything my mic ever pulled. What sold me was hearing the playback in my car, the kick drum actually sounded like a kick drum instead of mud. I was wrong about the gear being the answer, it really is about where you put the mic and letting your body do the work. Your 14 shows have me sold, I'm never going back.
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