Montuno, I wouldn’t recommend the phone’s built in microphone as a way to judge how you sound... You’ll always get the room sound accentuated, and they are anything but flat, no matter how close to the speakers you put them. Speaking of which, they also tend to distort or at least artificially compress the sound, so you aren’t hearing the truth at all!

That is, unless you have a cheap Lightning or USB-C audio interface...

Me, I use my arranger’s headphones output while my mains go out to the speakers (QSC K10’s, these days). As long as you aren’t overloading the recorder’s inputs, you have a 100% reliable record of what’s going to the PA.

Now, that doesn’t mean after I’ve recorded it, and heard what the audience hears, I won’t tickle the recording with some minor mastering to bring up the level and smooth it all out if I’m going to post it online, but I want that balance as close to perfect before it gets the mastering. That way, my speakers need next to no EQ to sound full, and I can use what little EQ correction the K10’s have to compensate slightly from a dull or over-bright room.

You would be surprised, especially if it’s just you and you have an arranger with a mic in how close to pro you can get everything without needing to hire someone. Plus, of course, all that work pays off in your day to day live sound, not just your posted videos or demos...

My Roland BK-9’s mic in is pretty good, but it lacks compression and delay, so I use a TC VK-Perform to do the initial mic compression and EQ, plus whatever delay I want (there’s a nice easy to use tap tempo button to sync it with each song). But the addition of this one small piece of gear allows me to go direct out from the Roland to the speakers, and forgo having to set up a mixer, making for a very quick and easy setup!

Try either an interface for the phone if you MUST use it (and don’t forget to turn off the phone and text functions!) or just get a real cheap pocket recorder, and perhaps you’ll cringe a bit less, and maybe even save on hiring an engineer. One of the advantages of taping EVERYTHING is that, sooner or later, you are going to have a magic night where everything clicks... And you will have it recorded well enough to use proudly for anything!