Can't record audio with external mic

[JarvisJo]

Hi

I have been spending the past week ordering items and trying out combinations to no avail!
My phone is the s20
I am trying to use an AKG microphone, via a scarlett 2i2 interface as audio input, and nothing seems to work.
At first I naively thought that I all had to do was plug the USB audio interface into the phone via USB: as some of you may have already experienced, it produces a horrible screeching sound!
So I assumed that it would work instead with audio cables, that I would plug into my phone via a jack 3.5 to USB-C cable, so I bought both of those, plugged it in and... Nothing.
After hours of searching I found out that I had to buy a signal splitter, to plug the audio cable into the mic female jack and that would then connect to the jack to usb-c via a TRRS jack... So I buy that...
And still nothing!

I read that USB audio player pro has a driver that can bypass the phone's USB driver, so I purchase it... I still can't record audio when I record a video! 
I have exhausted every options, find nothing else on the internet, and can't understand WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT to just record USB audio with this device??
I must also tell you that

-all of this works perfectly with my previous phone the S10 with the audio plugged via the headphone Jack
-My headset microphone works fine when I plug it in via the 3.5 jack to USB-c cable, or when I plug it into the microphone jack of the signal splitter. So the problem doesn't come from the cable.
-When I try to record I can hear through my interface's direct monitoring the sound picked up by my AKG microphone through my headphones. So the mic works, the interface works and sends the right signal. But that is still not the audio signal recorded by the phone! 
-When I press record on the phone, I get the notification "recording audio through headset", so it DOES detect my microphone but then it still record audio through the built-in mic. WHYYY??
What do I need to do, to connect my audio interface to my phone and get it to record the audio that comes from it?
I feel like I've exhausted every possibility, and I can't believe that there wouldn't be a solution??

Thank you very much to anyone who could help.

[IvyC]

I'm having the same problem. Anyone can share any solution? 

[dickymoore]

I have the same problem: I need to plug an external microphone into my phone, an S20+. This was easy when the phone have a jack port.  It's a massive failure if by introducing the usb-c port the phones have lost functionality.  Why did I upgrade? 

[l___luke]

would like to know samsung's solution to external audio input to the s20.  I need this

[Je655]

This issue reminded me of when I was using an iPhone to test a game and there was no headphone jack. I had a Bluetooth transmitter and when I connected the wired headset to the adapter I could chat with others using the wired headset as a Bluetooth device. 

Taotonics Bluetooth transmitter and receiver 3.5 mm adapter Looks similar to the one I had but I can't find the one I had at the moment. Maybe you can get your mic to work using the 3.5mm to Bluetooth adapter? 

[dickymoore]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think bluetooth will do it because of the latency it causes

[JarvisJo · Accepted solution]

Ok so I'm back with... I don't know if I can really call that a solution or more of a workaround?

But basically it was down to the audio-usb adapter I was using.
The first one that I bought was a standard one that worked perfectly fine to listen to music through my jack headphones, but didn't work to record sounds (as explained in the original post).

I then went online and looked for adapters that SPECIFICALLY said "Compatible with Galaxy S20", and not just "Compatible with Android".
I settled for one that has got a built-in DAC chip. I don't know if this is what makes  the difference, but at least I can say it works: I can record stuff using my microphone via audio interface!

The specific product that I bought is this one: ESR 2-in-1 USB-C PD Headphone Jack Adapter, Type-C to 3.5mm Audio Adapter, for Aux, Stereo, Earphones, Headset, Headphones, Compatible with Galaxy S20
However I must say that it comes with a rather annoying flaw: I don't know if it's because of the DAC chip but the adapter keeps taking control of the music player on my phone and start playing music without me doing anything! Luckily it hasn't interrupted my recording, but the minute I stop recording, the music starts playing and it's very annoying.
Depending on what you use and how you want to record, this might actually prevent you from using it altogether!
So I don't know if that's an issue with the adapter, the DAC card, or the phone but I haven't found a solution for that yet.
In the menatime tho, I am able to record audio through my microphone and that's all I wanted to do, so I consider this case solved. 🙂

[Je655]

Well everything is a workaround when you no longer have a headphone jack lol glad you were able to find a working USB-C solution. 

[lavexia]

hey, i'm stumbled into the same problem to with my audio interface. can you specified things you need to make it work?

[SeanTaugher]

I bought the samsung usb-c adapter and it doesn't work. I'm so disappointed; this was the whole reason why I upgraded from my old dinosaur phone.