Does using an external mic mute the internal iPad mic?

[outbackyak]

I use an external microphone connected through the headphone socket on my iPad 1. But this doesn't seem to mute the built in internal mic on the iPad - if I click next to the internal mic it shows up as a peak on the input monitor. This kind of defeats the purpose of using an external mic.

Is there anyway to mute the iPad's built in mic? Or am I missing something really obvious?

[Anorton]

Does the jack that goes into the iPad have three rings?

[outbackyak]

Does the jack that goes into the have three rings?

Yes it's a standard 1/4inch balanced plug to balanced 1/8th inch jack. 3 rings on the jack. What it's actually designed for is to connect standard stereo headphones to the 1/8th inch stereo plug that the iPad uses.

And in that job it works superbly - listening to my iPad tracks on my Beyer DT150 headphones has been a revelation - far better than any earbuds I've tried. Of course the Beyers are a bit less than the ideal portable system - they weigh 250grams - but damn they sound good!

But from everything I've read (and I've scoured the web pretty thoroughly) Apple in their wisdom have never considered that anybody might want to turn off their bloody awful in-built mic. Everybody says it can't be done.

I've sent an email to Apple suggesting that a simple software switch in the "Settings" would solve the problem and should be easy enough to implement ... I'm not holding my breath, though.

I did receive a suggestion on another forum that might work - tape a small piece of high-density closed-cell foam over the mic aperture. If it works I'll report back - it can't make it any worse, and it might make a significant improvement. It will look horrible, but I can live with that.

[outbackyak]

OK, I've tried a rough and ready experiment on blocking the internal microphone with some closed cell foam. It really helps!

I cut a small cube approximately 5x 5 x 5 mm and taped it over the mic input hole with gaffer tape. The difference was considerable, although you could still just hear the finger clicks I was using as a rough test. But without the foam the finger clicks were loud enough to clip the input of the track.

Now I've got no data on the dB difference between the two tests but the difference was huge. All the tests were done in MultiTrack Daw, with the input set at 0dB. I might try using a metronome to try to quantify the difference more accurately, and upload the results to SoundCloud so you can judge for yourselves.

And this wasn't anything special in the foam - it was just some stuff I had laying around for another project. Nor was the gaffer tape anything special - in fact it's really cheap stuff, Norton Bear Brand, which is about as cheap and nasty as you can get.

I'm going to see if I can get some really high quality heavy duty acoustic closed cell foam, and my plan is to glue it over the mic hole using silicone sealant. I'll have to be really careful to make sure that the sealant doesn't get into the hole itself in case I ever want to remove the foam.

Of course, for a more permanent (and no doubt more effective method) you could also inject the mic hole with silicone sealant - a hypodermic syringe would probably do the job well. But I wouldn't like your chances of ever getting it out again.

Hope that this helps other people with this problem!

[Thatbastarddon]

Does the jack that goes into the have three rings?

Yes it's a standard 1/4inch balanced plug to balanced 1/8th inch jack. 3 rings on the jack. What it's actually designed for is to connect standard stereo headphones to the 1/8th inch stereo plug that the iPad uses.
And in that job it works superbly ...

I think when he asked about the number of rings, he may have meant the number of black rings on the 1/8th inch plug. For a plug to be able to do both stereo headphone and mic it should have 3 black rings and four metal segments of silver or gold color. One more carrier segment than a stereo headphone plug, or standard balanced plug.
They can be seen in some of the pictures of breakout cables in the interface thread in this forum.

http://forum.harmonicdog.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6

On the first page, fourth product down, kVconnection cable.
Does the connector you are using look like that?

[outbackyak]

Does the jack that goes into the have three rings?

Yes it's a standard 1/4inch balanced plug to balanced 1/8th inch jack. 3 rings on the jack. What it's actually designed for is to connect standard stereo headphones to the 1/8th inch stereo plug that the uses.
And in that job it works superbly ...

I think when he asked about the number of rings, he may have meant the number of black rings on the 1/8th inch plug. For a plug to be able to do both stereo headphone and mic it should have 3 black rings and four metal segments of silver or gold color. One more carrier segment than a stereo headphone plug, or standard balanced plug.
They can be seen in some of the pictures of breakout cables in the interface thread in this forum.

http://forum.harmonicdog.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6

On the first page, fourth product down, kVconnection cable.
Does the connector you are using look like that?

No it's not for a headphone/mic rig - it's just for connecting a mic, so it has two black rings. I don't need to monitor the recording so I don't need the headphones. This is just for location interviews with my clients so I can use the interviews for recording customer satisfaction and suggestions for improvements.

I tried using a written customer satisfaction survey, but it was a real hassle for my clients, and many didn't complete the form. Also, those who did complete the form tended to be the ones who loved my service - I REALLY need to know what the people think who are less than satisfied too.

With the iPad I should be able to get all the info I need in around 5-10 minutes and with much less hassle, both for me and - more importantly - for my clients.

[pwnified]

A regular stereo mini TRS (3 connector) will only access the headphone stereo outputs. You need a TRRS (4 connector) to access the mic input. Take a look at the Input options thread for a connector that splits it out and has components to allow connection of a (non electrolet) microphone.