<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">I’ve used several SPL apps on iPhones over the years including the Studio Six version and they have all shown a very close tracking to my handheld Triplett SPL meter. I gather that Apple documents their hardware better than the plethora of Android phone makers do so it wouldn’t be surprising if the accuracy couldn’t be counted on with non-iPhones.<br class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2023 07:32:41 -0500</span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">From: </span><a href="mailto:mouse@fieldmousepro.com" style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">mouse@fieldmousepro.com</a><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">To: Stagecraft Mailing List <</span><a href="mailto:stagecraft@theatrical.net" style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">stagecraft@theatrical.net</a><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">></span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">Subject: Re: [SML] Decibel Meter App</span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">Message-ID: <</span><a href="mailto:9a1782235e3d7f6665ae31e14b11421a@fieldmousepro.com" style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">9a1782235e3d7f6665ae31e14b11421a@fieldmousepro.com</a><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">></span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed</span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">Out of curiosity, what's your use case? The reason I ask is that cell </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">phone dB meters are mostly a novelty. There are a few circumstances </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">where a phone app is useful, but they're kinda specific. If you need a </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">measurement that's halfway accurate, get a handheld SPL meter. The cheap </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">ones are actually pretty decent.</span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">The place where cell phone SPL meters usually break down is that they're </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">dependant on the phone's hardware & operating system to give the app </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">it's data. The microphones in a cell phone are incredibly tiny, </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">optimized for voice frequencies, and typically start to distort at high </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">volumes. Also, the phone might or might not have some signal processing </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">on the audio (like compression or nose reduction) before it hands it off </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">to other apps. It's really a crap shoot if you'll get good results, and </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">each phone is different.</span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">In full disclosure, the other reason I dislike cell phone meters is that </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">they're usually foisted on me by angry people who feel that the sound is </span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">too loud, and they're using the numbers on their app as a bludgeon.</span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">Stephen (the other one).</span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><span style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">Stephen E Rees wrote:</span><br style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class=""><blockquote type="cite" style="font-family: LucidaBright;" class="">Does anyone know of a phone app available that is reasonably accurate<br class="">and affordable?</blockquote></blockquote></div><br class=""><br class=""><div class="">
E. R. Casey<br class=""><br class="">Entertainment Sound Production<br class="">Silver Spring MD 20910<br class=""><br class=""><a href="http://www.ESPsound.com" class="">www.ESPsound.com</a><br class="">301-608-2180 office phone<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><span></span><br class=""><br class="">
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