Today I did something I have never done before. I broadcast part of my live radio show, using my Android phone as my broadcast microphone.

How did it sound? True, it wasn’t in the league of a high-end Sennheiser or AT. But it worked, and it was clear.

This is a very lo-tech solution. I used an app called ‘Microphone’ designed by Gaz Davidson. To connect to the computer I used a cable with a 3.5mm mini jack at each end. My computer’s microphone socket has a volume boost option, which I needed to use.

Of course, I was using RadioBoss broadcast software. RadioBoss allows you to plug in a single microphone and broadcast live. All I needed to do was choose the computer’s microphone input as the source of broadcast microphone. RadioBoss even allowed me to add a couple of dB volume boost to the microphone.

Before going live, I do recommend that you record your voice first, and work out which end of the phone to speak into. I also recommend that you don’t talk directly at the phone, as this will create a lot of wind noise. Treat it like an end-on microphone, and hold it at 45 degrees to your mouth.