Audio in uploaded clips can be heard on a desktop but not on an Iphone

[Artsyvideo]

I have this problem where certain things I've filmed with this specific microphone and camera setup gets mutated/muffled/distorted when watched on an iphone or a tablet, but not on a desktop or laptop. I want viewers on iphones and tablets to be able to hear it exactly the same way viewers on a laptop/desktop hear it. So even if I never use that microphone/camera setup again, the solution I am looking for is "how can I fix the already existing audio?"

Here is a sample clip. With 3 pieces of footage. The clips were filmed with the same exact camera, microphone and settings, but in three completely different locations without any audio adjustments made in Premiere before exporting and uploading. I purposely used clips with 3 different sound qualities. The first is overmodulated, the 2nd is undermodulated, and the 3rd is good modulation (but the speaker has no microphone and is far away). Again, if it sounds fine on a laptop or desktop, why is it totally screwed up on an iphone or tablet?

Dropbox - audiotest.mp4

As you can see here, the problem is exactly the same if I upload it to youtube:

audiotest - YouTube

I dont have a vimeo account or I would have tried it there too. Also, can anyone tell me if you hear it on an Andriod (or other non-Apple) phone or tablet?

Also: I also already tried about six different compression settings/files/tweaks that i added to to the audio track in Premiere before exporting and every one of them had the same problem with no noticeable change in what it sounded like when viewed on anyone's Iphone or tablet.

Oh, Camera; Sony HXR-MC2500

Microphone: Rode NTG-2 Shotgun

Also, I used a female XLR to Male 1/8 inch adaptor to connect the mic to the camera since the camera does not have XLR inputs. i suspect this may be where the problem arises, but again, anyone have any idea what can be done now to the already existing footage?

[Meg The Dog · Accepted solution]

Artsyvideo  wrote

I used a female XLR to Male 1/8 inch adaptor to connect the mic to the camera since the camera does not have XLR inputs.

Doing so likely created an out of phase audio file, where the left channel is 180 degrees out of phase with the right. When it is played back, the two out of phase signals cancel each other out.

This is more apparent when played on either a mono device or a device where the speakers are very close together - like a smart phone . . . and will be less apparent when played on a device with stereo speakers that are farther apart, like a desktop, or when using headphones.

To fix this, in Premiere go to Effects > Audio Effects > Fill Left with Right and apply the Fill Left with Right to the microphone audio clips in your sequence.

Then export and test.

MtD

[Artsyvideo]

Wow. like...wow.

Blown away by the simplicity of both the problem and the solution after hours of troubleshooting over several months in my free time.

again. wow. and thank you.

[Jim_Simon]

will be less apparent when played on a device with stereo speakers

I disagree.  This problem is blatantly obvious in stereo.

I'm continually baffled how people don't hear this as "wrong".

[Artsyvideo]

I am primarily visual. I SEE things all the time that are "wrong" that most other people do not see.  My wife, on the other hand is a classically trained musician, and when we go to hear a live band somewhere, she will hear all kinds of problematic things that most other people do not hear. You are the first person to even point out to me that something is "wrong" despite the hundreds of people who have seen my footage from this camera/mic setup over the past 4 years. So no, I still don't "hear it". I hear other details that are less than satisfactory, but not this "out of phase" thing. That doesn't mean you are wrong, it means I am naiive. I am still baffled and trying to figure out how to "hear it".  If you can suggest some kind of tutorial or online youtube video that would be helpful in helping me to train my ear to hear the problem when listening to raw footage on headphones or other speakers, that would actually be more helpful to me or others whose brains are trained/wired differently than yours.

[R Neil Haugen]

Your point is excellent. When I hear say operatic voices live, I hear things  ... subtle things ... most others in the hall aren't aware of. For example, a tenor did a "spectacular" high ending for an aria, and the house went nuts.

There wasn't any brassiness, rasp, or anything other for most people but powerful high tenor. With a stunning shimmer to it.

Another person was there, that I knew, with ears like mine. We quickly turned to each other with eyes wide with alarm.

In his second or third overtone, there was  ... something  ... out of whack. Seriously. Not vibrating or shimmering with the rest of the sound but against it. We wanted to rush the stage and say stop until you get that trained out ... it was a beautiful young tenor and we were afraid of his career.

When I mentioned it to several other passionate experienced people there, they'd no clue what I was talking about. Talking with my voice teacher a year or two later, she nodded. Yea, a couple of the chorus were peers of hers, and had told her the same thing. They heard deterioration where the rest of the company heard Power.

All experienced highly trained vocalists.

I designed and built a pair of tower speakers, because hearing sound correctly is important to me. Extensively designed and planned, and just as extensively tested. These are flat within 3dB (mostly 2dB) from 16.5Khz down to around 60Hz, where they start a slight rise, with a 4dB peak around 23Hz. -3dB point is probably around 19Hz.

I love the sound of the human voice and orchestral instruments through them. It is ... accurate. Especially when approaching actual orhestral/operatic volume.

Even among musicians I know, most can't hear that much difference between decent speakers and very fine ones. Not a fail, just an inability to distinguish the sound with that degree of clarity.

Normal among humans.

Neil

[Artsyvideo]

Thank you for getting my point. While being classically trained, my wife is also a big fan of the band "Journey", despite, as she says, that Steve Perry is "flat". I don't hear it, but if she says it, I'm sure its there. And just because she hears the "flatness" doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy the music for all the other qualities that they got "right". She loves them despite his "glaringly obvious flatness". On the other hand, after hearing years of live flute music in her studio all day long, I can no longer listen to Peter Paul & Mary's "California Dreamin" without hearing the blatant flatness of the flute solo. But before I met my wife, I NEVER heard that flatness before. But I still love the song. So its affirming to know that people can grow and learn and mature their pallettes in any of the senses, and be made aware of mistakes, without it "ruining" the experience totally.