Line-in Recording for iPad?

I use a 17 inch MacBook Pro for recording special songs and sermons at our church but would like to switch to using my iPad. It sure would be nice not to have to lug the MBP to every service.

I'm not a sound guru. I just plug a cable into the line-in on my MBP and record using QuickTime, convert it to MP3 using iTunes, then podcast it using another software.

All the mics come into a box (mixer?) and then there's this small cable that has a line in for my MBP at one end and it plugs into the "box" with RCA jacks at the other.

What would it take, hardware and sofware-wise, to do the same thing using my iPad that I'm doing with the MBP? (I mean just the capturing of the sound--I can transfer to the MBP at home for converting to MP3 and podcasting.)

MacBook Pro 17" 3GB RAM/Mac Pro 2.66 13GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 24" iMac, MacBook, 32GB iPod Touch, Apple TV, iPad

Posted on Nov 10, 2010 7:06 AM

27 replies

Alan Cook2 Author

Level 3

919 points

Nov 14, 2010 1:28 PM in response to Alan Cook2

I don't have the iMic yet...should be here some time this week. I will certainly let you know what happens when I get it and start testing.

The same rep also said that none of their products were compatible with the iPad. When I challenged him that iProRecorder was working on the iPad he said, well, if it does it's unofficial and not supported by them. He wanted me to let him know how I got along with my proposed setup.

Alan Cook2 Author

Level 3

919 points

Nov 16, 2010 6:26 PM in response to Alan Cook2

I took delivery of the CCK yesterday and the iMic today. Tonight I went down to the church and did some basic testing. The recordings I got from me just speaking at the pulpit desk were very good.

I tried both FiRe and iProRecorder and settled on the latter. It doesn't have as many features as FiRe, but it seems more stable and reliable. With FiRe, I found that if I stopped recording and then wanted to start again, sometimes I had to go into the "Categories" area and select the file again before the "record" button became live.

Also with FiRe, when I tried to convert to MP3, it kept crashing and at one point totally crashed the iPad so it had to reboot.

iProRecorder was problem free. I purchased Peak Express for editing the files. I like how you can just tell iProRecorder to "send file to Peak" and Peak on the Mac immediately recognizes an incoming file and asks you to accept it. I can then edit the file in Peak Express and convert it to MP3 ready for podcasting. So, this is going to be my workflow for now.

Oct 15, 2011 2:29 PM in response to Barbara Brundage

DAW description mentions headset plug is one way of input. Is it possible to record using the headset mic? Or a 3mm cable that is connected to my cassette player and the iPad in order to record from the Cassette player?...

Nov 10, 2010 8:53 AM in response to Alan Cook2

Yes, that's the one. It can create the AAC file and allows sharing via email, wifi, and (if you have a free account there) soundcloud.

Nov 11, 2010 10:35 AM in response to Barbara Brundage

Will that work with iOS 4.2 as well?

Nov 11, 2010 10:39 AM in response to The MacGreg

No one is going to be able to answer that until iOS 4.2 has been released. I believe that the developers who have access to it are under an NDA.

Best of luck.

Nov 11, 2010 11:11 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

Well, yes, we'll see. Thought I remembered reading about some recording solutions for the iPhone that ceased to work with iPhone 4 but that might have been hardware related.

Alan Cook2 Author

Level 3

919 points

Nov 11, 2010 4:48 PM in response to Alan Cook2

Does anyone know if FiRe will work with the Camera Connection Kit/Griffin iMic setup?

Nov 17, 2010 7:33 AM in response to Alan Cook2

Great, I'm glad you got a good workflow figured out for yourself.

Nov 15, 2011 12:56 PM in response to Alan Cook2

AlanCook

So what do you do now? I have an iPad2 and want to use it to record sermons as well.

What app and hardware do you use...if you still use it to record sermons?

Thanks!

krayons

Level 1

0 points

Feb 1, 2012 10:55 AM in response to Alan Cook2

the guitar amp app would technically have to use line in recording capabilities. Does anyone know of specific adapters just for this purpose? perhaps the actual guitar amp adapter?

Sep 30, 2013 6:47 AM in response to Barbara Brundage

Hi Barbara,

I'm a bit confused, is there no way of converting the headphone jack O/p to a Line Jack I/p? On the laptops you can usually do this via system settings.

Umberto

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Line-in Recording for iPad?