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Palovue iMic - Mid/Side Stereo Condenser Mic Test/Review
Here's a test/review of the iMic by Palovue - a made for iOS lightning condenser microphone. It's like the Shure MV88 but has additional headphone monitoring and charging port. In the video I do a mid/side stereo recording of some acoustic guitar, then convert to stereo using AUM (thanks for the help @j_liljedahl) and Youlean LM Lite.
How do you think it sounds?
Comments
Yowza, sounds great! I had no idea that this mic existed, much less the cool things you can do with the mid/side balance. Thanks for sharing.
Sounds like a toy...
but then it only costs as toy, so no complaints 
(I was expecting a way higher charge)
FYI: It's currently $50 on Amazon.
There's a stereo product at $75 that includes a headphone jack and power port which would be nice for my newer iPhone that doesn't have a headphone jack.
PALOVUE Portable MFi Certified Microphone with Lightning Connector for iPhone iPad, Professional Digital Stereo Cardioid Condenser Mic with Charging Port and 3.5mm Headphones Jack for Recording
Dude, I’ve been playing and recording a long time. That doesn’t sound like a toy. It’s not an AKG or Neumann but it’s not a toy
mike sounds good. btw was that "take a little bit of my heart"?
I get you. I know you revere excellent in mic's and supporting hardware gear.
But I tend to collect toys just because of the reduced prices because collecting state-of-the-art requires competing with pro's on prices.
The headphone port and power port might make my iPhone
a lot more useful device for field work when combined with a battery pack unit.
Today there are some excellent toys... nothing wrong about it for 50 bucks. (as mentioned)
Quote from their FAQ
ps: I picked the category for the bold attitude of the site.
to be precise regarding the sound: it lacks a lot of typical steel string highs and the stereo field is way out of control. At least I can‘t remember similar drama from the few occasions I did mid side (with a ribbon and a cardioid).
Thanks for watching and the comments @lukesleepwalker @McD. For the price I'm happy with this mic, the build quality is solid - not cheap at all. As for the sound quality, I think once I'm used to the sensitivity of the mic (it's very sensitive) and with a bit of post-tweaking, the results should be good. Thanks for listening @Telefunky, you're right, the highs do slope off pretty quick, although that could be the old strings on my Taylor GS Mini - ultra-dead sounding. Will change my strings and do some more experimentation.
Thanks @wag. Yes, that's (Take Another Little) Piece Of My Heart. I recently did an electric version which is here.
Really intrigued by this mic.
Are you able to record into any app that receives audio and has anyone tried it with a usb c ported device via adapter?
Thanks for any responses.
How does it compare to the Shure?
Sorry, I don't have a usb c ported device - only iPhone with lightning port, so cannot test that. I have used the mic with several apps without issue, including the iOS video and voice recorder apps, Neon Audio Editor and TwistedWave. I've also tested recording and headphone monitoring in Cubasis 3, which worked great.
I bought this mic as it seemed very similar to the Shure, but I don't have one to compare it to. The Shure has good reviews, and from a price point of view, I would hope/assume the quality is better.
Which Shure? Do you have a model number or link please?
The Shure MV-88, as mentioned by the OP. It looks almost exactly like this one.
https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/microphones/mv88
@pbelgium and @mistercharlie thanks for the responses. See that now in the original post. Got by me. Sorry
Had another little play with the iMic. Still haven't found the right balance of mic input level and guitar/mic position, but I'm getting there - still haven't changed guitar strings!
Taylor GS Mini -> iMic (Mid/Side recording) -> AUM -> TB Equalizer -> AltiSpace 2 (EMT250 Plate)
Does it have any app that one can plug these types of iMics into an iPhone, have a singer plug a headphone into the iPhone, and record over a reference track?
It‘s tricky because of the mic‘s design (they have a kind of explosion graphic on their site)
The cardioid sits above the fig-8 capsule, which may matter for the small capsule diameter.
I suspect the fig-8 is a 2 element system itself, not a dual-polarized capsule. (budget reason)
That‘s why I assume a lot is done by the onboard DSP, resulting in exaggerated responses frequently.
I‘d focus on the front mic and use the fig-8 with rather small channel (pan) displacement and lower level... or even on a separate „ambience“ stereo pair (if that split is possible).
Hi @RajahP the iMic is made for iPhone (or any device with lightning connector) and can record into any app, such as Cubasis, AUM, etc. You have to use the Palovue app to setup the mic - polar pattern, input gain, noise reduction, monitoring. You can plug in headphones to monitor and record over a reference track.
Thanks @Telefunky. I can hear what you mean now about the stereo field and will try manually processing the mid/side in Cubasis - should give me more control to try out your suggestions. Cheers.
Thanks.. it would be nice if there was a simple app for a singer to just press a button and record a track with a reference source.. hit another button and upload/send his/her vocal track to a producer.. just a thought..
I think @pbelgium’s guitar sounds great.
I’ve had this mic for a while now.
I’ve tried recording singing, playing bass etc. with my phone the same distance/position from me with the Palovue and the phone’s internal mic and I just don’t hear a significant difference.
I must be doing something wrong.
Has anyone else purchased this?
Any tips @pbelgium ?
Just bumping this morning before it gets demoted to page 2👍
An acoustic guitar is probably the most forgiving sound source to capture by a microphone.
I once made a recording with a Behringer C1, which is a plain piece of shite, both capsule and analog part... but it did not sound bad at all.
On another recording (2 identical mics, but different preamps, price ratio 1:10) I hardly could tell any difference.
I have a lot of recordings with cheap dynamic mics, yet the sound was almost always usable, of course with some dependency regarding mix-context.
A current iPhone doesn‘t have a single mic, but an array of (high quality) MEMS transducers.
Even back in the days of the iPad mini-2 you could achieve a 60dB signal to noise ratio with these „electronic microphones“. Iirc there were 3 „mics“ inside.
The main problem is the difficulty to properly address these things due to their position in the iDevice housing, but they are a fairly sophisticated mixture of hardware and software.
A well positioned iPhone may indeed compete with a (possibly) not optimal positioned regular microphone.
(mic position is a crucial part of the recording process)
The Palovue iMic is a very affordable device and does it‘s job well, but it‘s not a technically sophisticated microphone.
Hey @Ben, experiment with position and input level. The Palovue app is not great, it does remember the mic configuration but seems to ignore other bits. You can use an app like Voice Record Pro to adjust levels etc. I keep noise canceling off - might be useful for field recording, but ‘squishes’ the sound too much. With a bit of post-production (eq, reverb) it can work. Hope that helps.
https://www.bejbej.ca/app/voicerecordpro
Thanks for the response. I’ve been experimenting some with mixed results.
I’ll try the app you mentioned.
Could be I’m expecting too much.
A direct comparison with the Zoom iQ7 recording at the same spot would be interesting.
I've been using it since years together with TwistedWave and it works great.
Probably. As @Telefunky says it's an affordable but not technically sophisticated microphone that does the job, and I believe the quality is higher than the built-in iDevice mics - less background hiss etc. as can be heard here. I haven't used it in a while, but I remember placing the mic further away from the guitar because of how sensitive it is - probably about 2 feet (normally I would place a mic less than a foot away). I think I also took the foam filter off.
I would like to get one or the Shure MV88 to compare - both are quite expensive in my part of the world.