Blue Mikey – Microphone for iPhones and iPods (and iPads)

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I recently purchased the Blue Mikey (Blue Microphones Mikey iPod Recording Microphone with Speaker) as a solution for portable recording for the Amateur Traveler. I had previously had a Zoom H2 portable recorder but had accidentally fried that in Europe by connecting it to 220V. I was looking for a replacement that would provide good sound quality and preferably take less space than the Zoom. I was also looking for a better user interface than on the Zoom H2. Enter the Blue Mikey which is from Blue Microphones which has also produces the Blue Snowball microphone that many podcasters swear by.

The Blue Mikey attaches directly to the bottom of an iPhone or iPod using the iPod dock connector. It turns your iPhone or iPod into your portable recording device. Of course an iPhone already has a microphone so the following clip compares how that microphone, a cheap pair of ear buds and the Blue Mikey do in a noisy environment as well as in a quiet environment. These samples were all recorded on the same iPhone which is an original iPhone. The newer model iPhones allow recording at higher bit rates and should produce better recordings.

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The Blue Mikey also comes with an App called Blue Fire which is developed by Audiofile Engineering for Blue Microphone. I cannot recommend this program.

• The only way to get the sound files out of the program is to ftp them up to your ftp server.
• At least for me on the original iPhone the program more often than not records at the wrong speed so that the sound file comes out sounding like Alvin and the Chipmunks… who have always annoyed me.

The microphone is an improvement over the built-in microphone or over the ear buds but I did have intermittent issues with recording on my iPhone where the recording was blank. This seemed to be an issue with the iPhone or with the Voice Memos app rather than with the microphone. For best results on the iPhone you need to put your phone into airplane mode to prevent the GSM signal (from the Edge network) from interfering with the audio.

Here is a sample recording from my recent trip to Maui done with audioboo. This recording is from a talk at the Maui Ag Festival.

One issue that I do run into with the Blue Mikey is that you need to make sure the microphone is seated securely in the iPhone dock. I am liking having a microphone in my pocket but I am curious to see how the Blue Mikey will perform on a newer iPhone. If you happen to run into me when you have a newer iPhone and I am carrying the Blue Microphones Mikey, let’s find out.

This microphone should also work with the new iPad but I have not tried that yet.