S21 Poor Sound quality (Video recording), bass in events

[HTI]

Hi All,

I recently bought 2 S21 5G devices, went to a few events and recorded music. Both phones have sound quality issues when recording loud sounds and mainly Bass. My S9+ didnt have this issue or even older phones. Is there a fix?

Thannks

[AndrewL]

@HTI: When recording loud music at a gig or event, the quality can largely depend on the acoustics of the venue, and your position in the room. If you're outdoors, the same can be said of where you're stood in relation to the speaker setup. If you're looking for improved audio quality in these instances then you may wish to invest in an external mic. On the S21 itself, try heading to Settings > Sounds and Vibration > Sound Quality and Effects > Equaliser, and having a play around with the settings here. You could also head to the Gallery app > Tap the 3 lines in the bottom right > Videos > Select the relevant video > Tap the pencil symbol to enter Editing Mode > Scroll to the right and tap the musical note > Video Volume, and move the slider to the left to reduce the volume, and the intensity of any bass distortion you may have captured. 

[HTI]

Hi Andrew, thabks for your response. There were pther friends with us with older phones both Iphone and Samsung. Non had the same issue and we were standing in the same place. I will hace a look through the settings advise. Thanks for your help

[Selesyo]

I have a S21 and have exactly the same problem. The bass in festivals/pubs/discos sounds distorted when I record with my S21. Many of my friends have iPhones and even if they record a video  1 meter away from the speakers they don't get any distortion. 

[HTI]

There has been no fix for this issue, I will not be purchasing another samsung phone in the future and will recommend the same to frienda and family.

[HTI]

To just put things in to perspective 7-8 years old phones form other phone brands record loud music and other sounds better than the S21 model which is not even 2 years old.

[Selesyo]

I have done some research and found that some S22 users had the same problem, but it got fixed with an update in May. (Check in Reddit Galaxy S22 "Horribly distorted audio when recording video ?"). Some S21 users have participated in the thread too. 

Since this is a software issue, you can fix the sound problem with third party camera Apps like open camera but the video quality is worse.

This is a shame for a high end device like the S21. Since filming festivals and techno events is very important for me, I am really considering switching to iPhone.

[ItzSebas]

Mine does not sound distorted but there's too much bass on audios. I would like to be able to adjust manually each frequency so I can keep those that I need. For now, it's a bassy mess on my S21 Ultra.

[Parko1234]

This issue still exists in 2023, it's so annoying. Just moved to an S21 from an S9+, and the bass at events makes the audio sound absolutely awful! Never ever had this issue on my S9+. I assume they downgraded the microphone for whatever reason? I'm pretty sure the actual sound card is worse as well, as music on my S9+ with dolby atmos set to "music" sounds SO MUCH better than my S21 that I've kept it just as a music player. Really annoyed about this, will probably be leaving Samsung with my next phone due to these 2 massive issues

[HTI]

My phone has befome slightly better and I've realised that video and sound quality is improved if you do not have the power saving on.