Every year or two, a new technology comes along that promises to make studio-quality recording more accessible to musicians and content creators. First, there were Portastudios. Then DAWs, USB mics, and mini audio interfaces. Then, tools like the iZotope Spire and various iPhone microphones, many of which have their own proprietary apps for mixing and effects.

But where none of these technologies has succeeded thus far, at least for my money, is seamlessly integrating video, studio-quality audio, and in-app editing in a way that makes creators’ jobs actually easier.

Enter Audigo.

Recently I started seeing ads and native content from music creators touting Audigo’s ability to record studio-quality audio and video simultaneously, with in-app editing to boot, and I had to know more. Trying to sync audio and video is a headache, and when editing is taking up way more time and effort than the performances themselves, you know you’ve got a problem.

So I got an Audigo mic for myself (actually, I got two—more on this later) to test out and see if it could revolutionize and streamline my content creation.

What is Audigo?

Audigo is a bluetooth-enabled wireless microphone that mounts to a regular mic stand, syncs to your phone, and simultaneously records studio-quality audio and video, so you get a polished final result just from hitting “record.” What’s more, with the Audigo Studio app (and Studio+ upgrade) you can edit, add effects, and much more, in-app, before you export anything.

Basically, It’s the type of tool that creators like me have been waiting for. But did it deliver? I put it through its paces to find out.

SPECS:

• Microphone type: Wireless mid-side stereo condenser mic with two built-in capsules
• Recording quality: 24-bit/48kHz, WAV format; 20Hz–20kHz frequency response
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi; onboard memory records audio directly to the mic
• Battery life: Up to 6 hours of continuous recording; approximately 2 hours to recharge
• Dimensions: 1.75 × 1.75 × 1.375 inches
• Compatibility: iOS 16+ and Android 10+; some features vary by platform
• App features: Multitrack recording and mixing, adjustable stereo width, five-band EQ, reverb, metronome, audio import, and automatic audio/video synchronization
• Price: $249 for one microphone; optional Studio+ subscription costs $15/month or $99/year

PROS:

• Impressive audio quality
• As portable as can be
• All effects you could reasonably want in Studio+, but the free version is robust as well
• Again, doing every step of content creation in-app is incredibly convenient

CONS:

• Limited flexibility outside the Audigo ecosystem, but that’s kind of the point

BUY IT IF: You’re a musician looking for a quick, easy, and portable high-quality multitrack recording solution, no laptop or interface required. And/or you’re a content creator looking to easily record and edit high-quality synced audio with your video content.

How I tested

I unboxed, set up, and paired my Audigo mics really easily. (Except for the part where I forgot to remove the protective cellophane.) It really was a breeze to integrate them into my regular content creation workflow.

Following the included instructions, I mounted the microphone on a regular mic stand using the magnetic mount. I downloaded the Audigo Studio app (upgraded to Studio+), and paired the device to my phone using my wifi network and Bluetooth.

It was helpful that I already had an iPhone tripod for shooting video, as the Audigo mic does not have a camera built-in—rather, you use the video from your phone, but the audio from the Audigo mic. So I set up my phone/camera, my microphone, hit record, and was off to the races.

I also cut a multitrack demo, recording different instruments and vocals—no video. I wanted to try the various effects and editing tools in the app, judging them on ease of use and sound quality. And of course I exported my work for sharing and posting.

What it’s like to actually use Audigo

Setup

The Audigo mic itself is very small, maybe just a smidge bigger than an iPhone charger brick, and feather-light. It mounts to a regular mic stand using a magnetic clip (that I thought was a great feature—anyone familiar with the endless screwing of mic stand clips will agree). The magnet is just strong enough, although you should still be careful not to knock it off your stand while pushing the power button, like I did.

What rules about having the audio and video coming from separate sources is that it opens up your options for camera angles by basically infinity. Set up the mic to record audio near the source, and then put your camera wherever you like. No longer must you sacrifice sound quality in pursuit of your visual ideals—now you can have both just how you want them.

Recording

Recording audio and video is easy with the Audigo Studio app. There’s a toggle where you can select whether you want audio and video, or just audio. It’s got a built-in metronome, and there’s a soundcheck feature wherein you can adjust the gain on your audio track to suit the source volume (you can even have it do this automatically). That’s pretty much it—hit record, and you’ve got your first track.

Multitrack recording is as simple as hitting record again—it creates a second track automatically, rather than recording over your first track (which I discovered by very happy accident). When I’m recording a demo, I get into sort of a creative frenzy and really can’t be bothered with tech—so super-intuitive app design like this is a godsend as it allows working very quickly. Plus, you can actually monitor with bluetooth headphones like Airpods, which is another major benefit in my book.

There are a lot of factors that go into sound quality besides the mic you use. While I have no complaints with the sound quality—it’s markedly better than the iPhone’s built in mic—I think Audigo’s strongest value prop is the in-app editing and ease of use rather than the quality. That’s not to say the quality isn’t strong. It’s just that you can get solid sounds from any number of iPhone mics. The features that are unique to Audigo are what really make this product worth it.

Editing Audio and Video

Editing audio in the Studio app is really intuitive. Mixing occurs in an interface not unlike other ones I’ve seen before, wherein the track is represented by a number positioned in the top-center of a grid. The up-down axis is the level, and the left-right axis is the stereo image. Use your finger to drag the track icons around until you like the mix—simple as that.

Video has less control than audio, at least in the free version. It takes a Studio+ subscription to “mix” multiple separate clips for edits. (Kind of confusing verbiage used by Audigo: “mix” here means something more like “splice.”)

Also in Studio+, you get a whole suite of effects including compression, delay (with options like Doubletrack and Slapback), EQ, and Move Reverb. The free version is less robust, but still considerable—with 6.0 you get reverb, compression, delay, and automatic soundcheck.

Multi-Mic Recording with Audigo

Finally, you can use more than one Audigo in concordance (up to four!) to create true stereo recordings, all synced to one phone. It’s perfect for full-band recording live, when you don’t want to multi-track but still want to get multiple instruments down in a fully mixable format.

Audigo sent me two mics for review, so I tested this by setting up one mic in front of me for my vocal, and one mic in front of my guitar amp on the other side of a baffle. Then, I miked up my drum kit with one Audigo on the snare and one on the kick.

It was super cool getting (mostly) isolated tracks to work from, in a format that’s no harder to use than the voice memos app. Everything still synced perfectly, which was pretty amazing for anyone used to trying to even monitor a Voice Memos recording with Airpods. There’s always a lag somewhere, but I had zero issues with my Audigo.

You could definitely create a full album just within Audigo (I wonder if anyone has done this yet?). Not to mention capture the entire process on video.

New Features in Audigo 6.0

New in Studio +:

Audigo seems to update their software pretty frequently, so the app is continuously improving. In the time that I was testing my unit, Audigo 6.0 was unleashed, so I got to dive in and try the new additions for myself.

The new features in Studio+ get you even closer to a proper recording software suite: there’s now Vocal Tune, Vocal Separation, and a Stem Mixer that you can use to create ever-more complex studio compositions and have more control over your mixes.

New in Audigo Studio Free:

The free version got some upgrades, too. Lyrics on Screen (good add, obviously you see everyone doing this now), plus compression, delay, automatic soundcheck, a duplicate track function, and connectivity updates are all new the free version of Audigo 6.0.

Is AUdigo worth it?

Audigo is definitely the best product I’ve tried thus far in the vein of multi-use tools for content creators. At $249, it’s not what I would call cheap, but its combination of an easy-to-use, mega-portable, and actually good-sounding microphone with a super well-thought-out editing app is pretty unbeatable and I think you’ll quickly get your money’s worth (if not actually earn it back!).

The free version of the Studio app is probably enough for most video creators. But I highly recommend the upgrade to Studio+ ($15/Month) if you’re looking to get more in the weeds on your audio editing—finally having access to this kind of effects studio in an editing app is a godsend for music creators like me. It’s useful not just for creating videos and content you want to post, but also for creating fully fleshed-out demos on the fly without having to boot up the DAW and hook up the interface. That alone is worth the price of admission in my book.

Add to that instantaneous syncing to video and easy exporting, and I think we’ve finally got the Swiss Army Knife of content creator tools.

Related: The DJI Mic 3 Is an Affordable Audio Upgrade for Vloggers and YouTubers