Using rew with iPhone

[Arianoxx]

Hi, on HouseCurve in iOS, there is an option to compensate for the low and high frequencies of the iPhone mic. It’s saying, “The boost curve is +6 dB at 30 Hz, tapering to zero at 60 Hz. Likewise, at 16 kHz, the boost is zero, and this increases to 6 dB at 20 kHz”. I would like to know if it is possible to do the same on rew (maybe using a calibration file), considering that you can select your iPhone as a microphone to make measurements while near a Mac

 

[Keith_W]

It may be possible, but I would not expect any great degree of accuracy from it. It would be useful for the most rough corrections.

 

[Arianoxx]

It may be possible, but I would not expect any great degree of accuracy from it. It would be useful for the most rough corrections.

Yes, it would be, at best, as good as the HouseCurve app. But many users who tried this app said it was good enough for some basic corrections. So if it is possible to make the same compensation even with rew, it would be even more useful

 

[DVDdoug]

I can understand trying to save money but if you can afford an iPhone you can probably afford a proper measurement mic. There is a fair amount of time commitment too so it's a shame not to be able to do it "right".

maybe using a calibration file

Every individual measurement mic has it's own individual calibration file (or it's individually measured & verified to match the calibration curve, within tolerances). Your phone is not calibrated.

Or, you can send a mic to a calibration lab to have it measure/calibrated but I don't know if they calibrate phones.

 

[kemmler3D]

Yes, it would be, at best, as good as the HouseCurve app. But many users who tried this app said it was good enough for some basic corrections. So if it is possible to make the same compensation even with rew, it would be even more useful

If you can find a compensation curve file for your model of iPhone then you could import it into REW.

As for using an iPhone as a mic, I am not sure how to do that, but I suppose it should be possible, if nothing else you can make the recordings on the iPhone and import them to REW as .WAV?

As others have said though, maybe more trouble than it's worth. If you're taking the time to use REW then it's probably worth using a proper mic. The pickup pattern and such will be different, so your high-effort result with an iPhone will be surpassed by a low-effort result using a UMIK.

 

[Arianoxx]

I can understand trying to save money but if you can afford an iPhone you can probably afford a proper measurement mic. There is a fair amount of time commitment too so it's a shame not to be able to do it "right".

Every individual measurement mic has it's own individual calibration file (or it's individually measured & verified to match the calibration curve, within tolerances). Your phone is not calibrated.

Or, you can send a mic to a calibration lab to have it measure/calibrated but I don't know if they calibrate phones.

But it’s not about money; it’s more about buying something that I’m definitely not going to use a lot. I would like to just correct some room mode, specifically because I’m going to use wiim amp to do so (and it has just a 4 band peq). I’ve heard from many people that the iPhone mic is pretty reliable for making this (obv within its limit), especially by many users that are using HouseCurve on iOS. The only things is the sensitive at certain frequencies. The same developers of the HouseCurve app said, “


The average built in iPhone/iPad is reasonably flat, but begins to roll off below ~60 Hz and above ~16 KHz. Internal Mic Compensation applies a moderate boost to correct this. The boost curve is +6 dB at 30 Hz, tapering to zero at 60 Hz. Likewise, at 16 KHz, the boost is zero and this increases to 6 dB at 20 KHz.


It’s worth keeping in mind that the iPhone/iPad can still “hear” below 60 Hz and above 16 KHz, it’s just not as sensitive. Internal Mic Compensation brings the measured response closer to what you would get with a calibrated extrnal mic.”

 

[Keith_W]

I bought my mic thinking I wouldn't use it a lot. I was wrong! I went crazy with it. Many questions can be answered with a mic. It is really THE most useful and valuable tool I have in my collection of home tools. I use it more often than my screwdriver or my electric drill, for e.g.