Input Volume very low on iPhone Xs

How to use MultiTrack DAW
10mabo
Posts: 7
Joined: November 25th, 8:43 am

Input Volume very low on iPhone Xs

Post by 10mabo »

Hi,

on the iPhone Xs the input level of the microphone is very very low, so that the recordings are barely visible in the graphical representation of the audio files. I tried all 3 mono microphone inputs of the iPhone Xs and also adjusted the input level to +12 - all with the same result.

IMG_0048.PNG

I used Multitrack DAW a lot with my old iPhone 6 and always had very good input levels with the internal mic. Also, the iPhone Xs records normal with apples Audio-Memos app, that comes with IOS. So it seams to be a problem with Mutitrack.

Unfortunately, Multitrack DAW is not usable for me at the moment. I used it very often and would be very glad, if this issue could be solved.

Regards,
Marc
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10mabo
Posts: 7
Joined: November 25th, 8:43 am

Re: Input Volume very low on iPhone Xs

Post by 10mabo »

I found something in viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2668.
The input level seems to be affected by the "measurement mode" in settings. I turned it off and now it´s normal, like before on the iPhone 6.
Was "measurement mode" introduced in version 5?
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pwnified
Posts: 1565
Joined: August 17th, 9:41 pm

Re: Input Volume very low on iPhone Xs

Post by pwnified »

The Measurement Mode switch has been there for a long time, however the default (ON/OFF) has changed several times. The setting is stored in the user defaults for multitrack, so it gets saved with a device backup. The default for new installs is currently OFF. But there was a time where it defaulted to ON.

The 'Apple Processing' (measurement mode OFF) has different characteristics depending on device and even iOS version. It also affects the output as well on certain devices/versions. But it does work better if you are recording really quiet sounds.

You can also boost the IN fader, to get an extra 12 dB and keep measurement mode ON, if the compressed sound of Measurement Mode OFF starts to become too much or too full.
Image
10mabo
Posts: 7
Joined: November 25th, 8:43 am

Re: Input Volume very low on iPhone Xs

Post by 10mabo »

Thank you for the infos, pwnified.

It seems that measurement mode was on after the installation of the new iPhone from a backup. I don´t remember to have it turned on on the old iPhone.

So, the 'Apple Processing' (measurement mode OFF) adds compression to the input signal? I didn´t know this, but maybe this is ok for recording acoustic guitar and voice, like I do.

By the way, many thanks for this great application! :). Version 5 is very cool and added some really important features like the possibility to create folders, that I was missing.
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pwnified
Posts: 1565
Joined: August 17th, 9:41 pm

Re: Input Volume very low on iPhone Xs

Post by pwnified »

I think you will get the best recording possible with measurement mode ON because any processing being added to the recording could always be done in post processing instead. The apple processing is mostly EQ's, compressors and automatic volume controls, and it has changed quite a bit over time. At first, all iOS devices had a bass rolloff which affected frequencies below 150 Hz, so adding measurement mode with a default of ON was no big deal, all it did was put back the missing bass frequencies.

But nowadays there is a lot going on with measurement mode OFF (or rather, the default sound of iOS which has all the processing). Most noticeable is the noise floor increasing when not making any sound like an automatic volume control (or compressor with fast attack and slow release). So defaulting it to ON is quite a big difference.

The internal hardware has a hardware volume control with the range [0,1] and multitrack maps this to [-inf, 0] dB on the input fader. The remaining range of the input fader [0, +12] dB is done in software, with triangle dithering. So measurement mode ON will be the cleanest possible recording with the iOS internal hardware. And you can always add compressors and EQ's to bring up the signal later, instead of baking it into the recording. But it might be a bit more work to mess around with compressor and eq settings.
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10mabo
Posts: 7
Joined: November 25th, 8:43 am

Re: Input Volume very low on iPhone Xs

Post by 10mabo »

Thanks a lot for this exlpanation. That´s interesting.
I agree with you, that it´s a good idea to have a clean input signal. So I turned measurement mode back on.
I mainly record quiet nylon acoustic guitar. Having measurement mode off, I have to raise the input volume to +12db. Maybe this will get better with an external microphone.