In this step-by-step guide, you will learn how to connect your phone to your audio mixer and your audio mixer to your phone. You will be able to play audio from your phone or stream the output of your audio mixer with your phone.
First, we’ll show you two ways to connect your phone to your audio mixer. One solution is unbalanced, and the second option is balanced.
Next, we’ll show you four ways to connect your audio mixer to your phone. There are lots of options here, depending on your requirements. Read each option’s pros/cons section to find the best solution for you.
Select the option that you’re looking for below.
How To Connect Phone To Audio Mixer
Let’s start with two ways to connect your phone to an audio mixer. This is useful if you want to stream audio from your phone (music, video, etc.) to your audio mixer.
Option 1: ⅛” To Dual ¼” Breakout Cable
Option 1 is the easiest and most simple way to connect your phone to an audio mixer if you want to play music from your phone on your audio mixer.
This option is unbalanced, so it only works well if you use a shorter cable than 10-15ft (3-5m). If you need to connect your phone further than 15ft, then you can use option 2.
How To Connect Phone To Audio Mixer Using Breakout Cable
- Connect the headset adapter to your phone:
- Lightning To TRRS Adapter
- USBC To TRRS Adapter
- Connect a breakout cable to the headset adapter
- ⅛” TRS to Dual ¼” TS cable
- Connect ¼” jacks to a stereo line-level input on your audio mixer
- Turn up the channel level to set the desired volume
Pros:
- Inexpensive
- Easy To Setup
- Doesn’t Use (precious) XLR Inputs on Audio Mixer
Cons:
- Unbalanced signal: shouldn’t use a cable longer than 10ft (3M)
Connect Phone To Audio Mixer Equipment
- Lightning To TRRS Adapter: http://currentprice.io/lightning_18in
- USBC To TRRS Adapter: http://currentprice.io/usbc_trrs
- 1/8″ TRS to Dual 1/4″ TS Cable: https://currentprice.io/14_to_dual_18
Option 2: DI Box & XLR Cable
This option is great if you need to extend the length of your connection to longer than 15ft (5m).
You can add a DI box to the previous option to balance your audio signal. This will convert it to XLR and can go a long distance (up to 1000ft, 300m) without audio degradation.
How To Connect Phone To Audio Mixer Using DI Box
- Connect headset adapter to your phone:
- Lightning To TRRS Adapter
- USBC To TRRS Adapter
- Connect a breakout cable to the headset adapter
- ⅛” TRS to Dual ¼” TS cable
- Connect the breakout cable to your DI box
- ¼” cable should be connected to left/right inputs
- Connect the DI box to your audio mixer
- Using XLR cable.
- Turn up the channel level/gain to set the desired volume.
Pros:
- High-quality audio
- Balanced audio: Run up to 1000ft
Cons
- Expensive
Connect Phone To Audio Mixer Using DI Box Equipment
- Lightning To TRRS Adapter: http://currentprice.io/lightning_18in
- USBC To TRRS Adapter: http://currentprice.io/usbc_trrs
- 1/8″ TRS to Dual 1/4″ TS Cable: https://currentprice.io/14_to_dual_18
- Radial Pro D2 DI Box: https://currentprice.io/radial_prod2
- XLR Cable: https://currentprice.io/xlr_cable
How To Connect Audio Mixer to Phone
Next, let’s look at how we can connect our audio mixer to our phone. This is useful if we want a clean recording or to stream live on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc., with a clean audio feed from our mixer.
Software
If you want to use streaming software, you can use any of the options below with the connection methods described in this guide. Sometimes you may need to connect your audio mixer after opening the software, and for some apps, you will need to connect the audio mixer before launching. You may need to experiment with this a little.
Streaming Software:
- YouTube
- Instagram Live
- Facebook Live
- TikTok
- Etc.
If you want to record a video using your audio mixer, you can use the following apps:
Android Camera App:
- Open Camera – Open Settings, Video Settings, Audio Source, and select “external mic (if present)”. This will make the app automatically.
iOS Camera App:
- Default Camera App: Open your camera app, swipe to “video”, then connect your audio mixer. It won’t notify you, but it will take the clean audio from your audio mixer.
- Pro Movie: Open audio settings. You will see a list of available input sources. By default it will automatically select the most recently connected audio source.
Audio Mixer Outputs
When you connect your audio mixer to your phone, you can use the following outputs.
- Stereo XLR Output: High-quality copy of your main stereo mix. This works well if you only use the mixer for your live stream.
- Stereo ¼” TRS Output: High-quality copy of your main stereo mix. This works well if you’re only using the mixer for your live stream.
- Monitor ¼” TRS Output: High-quality copy of your main stereo mix, but you get an independent volume knob for this output, making it ideal for streaming a live event.
- Aux Output: Mono signal, but you can customize the feed to the camera.
- USB Output (If available): Digital connection with a copy of the main stereo mix.
Option 1: Headset Breakout Cable
This is the least expensive option for connecting your audio mixer to your phone. It will only give you a mono feed, so it’s not recommended for any music-related live stream. If you’re planning on capturing music, use options 2-3.
How To Connect Audio Mixer To Phone Using Headset Breakout Cable
- Connect the headset adapter to your phone:
- Lightning To TRRS Adapter
- USBC To TRRS Adapter
- Connect the headset breakout cable to your headset adapter
- ⅛” TRRS to ⅛” TRS & XLR (link below)
- Connect XLR Input on breakout cable to XLR output on audio mixer
- You can also use an XLR to ¼” TRS adapter if you need to connect to your Monitor outputs or aux output.
- Adjust the output volume of your audio mixer, as desired.
Pros:
- Inexpensive
- Easy to set up
Cons:
- Mono input from the audio mixer
- Sending line-level feed from your audio mixer to a mic-level input on your phone.
Connect Audio Mixer To Phone Using Headset Breakout Cable Equipment:
- Lightning To TRRS Adapter: http://currentprice.io/lightning_18in
- USBC To TRRS Adapter: http://currentprice.io/usbc_trrs
- Headset Breakout Cable: https://currentprice.io/trs_to_mixer
- XLR Cable: https://currentprice.io/xlr_cable
- XLR To TRS Cable: https://currentprice.io/trs_xlr
Option 2: Audio Mixer USB Output
If you need a stereo signal on your phone and your audio mixer has a USB output, this is the most simple solution to send a high-quality signal from your audio mixer to your phone.
Not all audio mixers have this option.
We also recommend adding a “camera adapter” to your setup, this will allow you to plug your phone into power while it’s connected to your audio mixer. This way you don’t have to worry about any battery issues if you’re capturing a long video file or hosting a long video stream.
How To Connect Audio Mixer To Phone Using USB Cable
- Connect the camera adapter to your phone:
- Lightning Camera Adapter
- USBC Camera Adapter
- Connect the audio mixer to the camera adapter
- Using USB Cable (USBB to USBA)
- Adjust the output volume of your audio mixer as desired.
Pros:
- Easy to setup
- Inexpensive solution
- Stereo Signal
Cons:
- Not all audio mixers have a USB output
Connect Audio Mixer To Phone Using USB Cable Equipment:
- Lightning Camera Adapter: http://currentprice.io/lightning_usb
- USBC Camera Adapter: http://currentprice.io/usbc_usb
- USBB To USBA Cable: https://currentprice.io/usba_usbb
Option 3: iRig Stream Interface
If you do a lot of live streaming and your audio mixer doesn’t have a USB output, we recommend using an iRig Stream. This purpose-built device was engineered to connect an audio mixer to your phone and it’s very easy to use.
The iRig comes with three different USB cables, depending on what device you plan on connecting it to.
- Lightning – For Apple devices
- USBC – For Android devices
- USBA – For computers
In this guide, we recommend using the USBA cable to use a camera adapter with our phone. The camera adapter will allow us to connect an external power supply, so our phone doesn’t run out of battery.
How To Connect Audio Mixer To Phone Using iRig Stream
- Connect the camera adapter to your phone:
- Lightning Camera Adapter
- USBC Camera Adapter
- Connect the iRig Stream to your camera adapter
- Using USB Cable
- Connect your audio mixer to the iRig stream
- Using a dual ¼” TS to dual RCA cable
- Set the input on the iRig to 50%
- Adjust the output volume of your audio mixer, as desired.
Connect Audio Mixer To Phone Using iRig Stream Equipment:
- Lightning Camera Adapter: http://currentprice.io/lightning_usb
- USBC Camera Adapter: http://currentprice.io/usbc_usb
- iRig Stream: https://currentprice.io/irig_stream
- 1/4″ TS to RCA Cable: https://currentprice.io/ts_rca
Option 4: Audio Interface
If your audio mixer doesn’t have a USB output, and you don’t like the iRig Stream, you can use any home-studio audio interface to connect your audio mixer to your phone.
This is the most expensive and complicated option for us to set up. Still, it works well if you already have an audio interface or are looking for a reason to justify buying an audio interface.
Most phones cannot power an external audio interface like this by themselves. You need an externally powered USB hub (link below) to solve this issue.
Just like the previous options, we still recommend using the camera adapter to have a reliable way to charge our phone for the duration of our stream.
How To Connect Audio Mixer To Phone Using Audio Interface
- Connect the camera adapter to your phone:
- Lightning Camera Adapter
- USBC Camera Adapter
- Connect the external USB hub to power
- Connect the powered USB hub to the camera adapter
- Using provided USB cable
- Connect your audio interface to the powered USB hub
- Using USB Cable
- Connect your audio mixer to the audio interface
- Using balanced ¼” TRS cables
- Set the input of your audio interface as desired
- Adjust the output volume of your audio mixer as desired.
Connect Audio Mixer To Phone Using Audio Interface Equipment
- Lightning Camera Adapter: http://currentprice.io/lightning_usb
- USBC Camera Adapter: http://currentprice.io/usbc_usb
- Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface: https://currentprice.io/scarlett_2i2
- Powered USB Hub: https://currentprice.io/usb_hub
- USBC To USBA Cable: https://currentprice.io/usbc_usba
Additional Equipment Used For This Guide
- Yamaha MG10XU Audio Mixer: https://currentprice.io/mg10xu
- Rode Rodecaster Pro II Audio Mixer: https://currentprice.io/rodecaster2
- NEAT King Bee II Condenser Microphone: https://currentprice.io/king_bee_ii
- Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro Headphones: https://currentprice.io/beyer_dt_990
- XLR Cable: https://currentprice.io/xlr_cable
- TRS Cable: https://currentprice.io/trs_cable
- Mic Stand: https://currentprice.io/desk_stand
- Rode PSA1+ Boom Arm: http://currentprice.io/psa1_plus
- Quality Acoustic Treatment Panels: http://currentprice.io/soundpanels
Connect Phone To Audio Mixer (Both Ways!) Topics
- 0:00 – Introduction
- 0:30 – Price & Specs
- 0:45 – Connect Phone To Audio Mixer
- 2:36 – Option 1: 1/8″ To Dual 1/4″ TS (Unbalanced)
- 4:08 – Option 2: DI Box & XLR (Balanced)
- 6:09 – Connect Audio Mixer To Phone
- 6:19 – Software Setup
- 7:00 – Audio Mixer Outputs
- 7:54 – Option 1: Headset Breakout Cable
- 10:24 – Option 2: Audio Mixer USB Cable
- 12:13 – Option 3: iRig Stream
- 14:35 – Option 4: Audio Interface
- 18:03 – Summary
- 18:40 – Final Thoughts
