How to Record on your Smartphone

I use my smartphone for nearly all of my daily needs. It is a co-dependant relationship for sure, but I like to highlight when the device is a total benefit. Everyone knows smartphones have microphones (it’s how they hear all your secrets), but did you know with a few considerations, you can use your smartphone (or tablet!) to record fairly good voice audio? Whether you are recording for a podcast or audio for streaming content, sometimes you just need a quick and clean short audio of your own voice. Follow the steps below and you will be well on your way to saving some time.

And of course there are a number of whiz-bang magical microphones that either plug-in to or wirelessly connect with your smartphone. This article is specifically how to record well with only a smartphone or tablet.

Locate a Voice Recorder App on your smartphone or tablet

iOS has a quality built in app called Voice Recorder, and additional apps are available in the App Store. Search on Google Play for ‘voice recorder’ and select the app you like the best; all are great, but each has their own features. Most of the free ones will allow you to do the very basic - record your voice - but may also offer some editing features or ability to sync with your preferred cloud storage account. But for down home simplicity - all you really need is to record directly from the device.

Anything else is an added benefit or feature. And if you decide to use a paid app with additional features (I have purchased several), then just be sure it is worth the initial cost or any residual (or in-app) costs.

Location, Location, Location: Use a good environment for recording

Where you do what you do is a key priority for any audio professional or hobbyist. But as mentioned before, you can’t always get what you want. And what you need, is a goo place to record.

Rooms with more fabrics and soft surfaces are best (think bedrooms, closets, cars). Especially if you can quickly add softer material in the near space around you. In fact, an old trick for traveling radio reporters is to record in a hotel closet under a heavy blanket. Or, in a total pinch for time and space: under your suit coat.

Key is to avoid rooms with hard surfaces or echos (bathrooms, kitchens, garages). Also, avoid all noise making devices (appliances, open windows and doors, pets and other people) - be sure to also silence your phone! Airplane mode can save you from an alert, or text or call from ruining an otherwise perfect take.

Place the device on a surface 6-10 inches away from your mouth (about two fists away) - a dresser or shelf is perfect. Holding it like a microphone may be tempting and obvious, but the noise from handling the device is hard to edit out. There are a number of stands made for purchase but consider a creative way to prop up your smart phone. With any stand solution, be sure to point the microphone directly at your mouth. NOTE! Pay attention to where the built in microphone is on your smartphone. Most likely it is located on the bottom of the device, but not always.

Try out several spaces where you are frequently. It is always great to have a few available to you and know the pluses and minuses of each. I suggest reading the same text in each space so you can fairly compare each space. And note the big differences (time of day; general activity around the space; noises that happen at specific times of the day, etc.).

Recording

Press record and take a deep breath - then begin speaking in a normal speaking voice. And just like in the studio or in front of your usual recording microphone, sometimes is helps to have your thoughts written out or at least an outline. True, your phone is very likely to have the text you want to read AND be the device on which you want to record that text - the co-dependency again reveals itself. But again, any creative solutions or purchased ones will be part of your discovery. If it were up to the device makers, you would use one to record, one to read from and a third to dim the lights perfectly.

Don’t be afraid to start over or take pauses between longer passages. And consider leaving information in the recording for whomever is going to hear the raw audio. Little notes simply explaining the situation and environment can be a godsend in the editing phase of any project. Say something like “I’m here in my bedroom at 7 AM and going to read the intro for the episode on vampires.” It is like a vocal warm up and productions notes all rolled into one task! See - already more efficient!

Once you are done - press ‘Stop’. Most apps will immediately save the file, but get very familiar with your chosen app. The last thing you want is to take all the right steps and end up with an unsaved file.

Send the Voice Memo

Most Apps will have the ability to send the file directly from the app. Look for the usual icon for sending or sharing and follow the prompts.

Some apps give you an option to record at a high quality (WAV), but more than likely your audio will be closer to the quality of an mp3 - even though it may have a different file extension. For example, in the Apple ecosystem, audio recordings are default in a format called m4a, which is an audio specific format under the MPEG-4 codec. Nerd talk, but note that it is best practice to record at the highest format available.

The downside of higher quality is the file size. Simple ratio: higher audio quality means a bigger file size. So texting to attaching to an email or IM/DM message may not be possible or ideal. But if you confirm with the intended recipient that the audio as an attachment or sent via a messaging program is okay, then send directly to them from the app.

Alternatively, and a bit more organized, is to save all audio recordings to a specific storage space. Keep in mind that space on a device is always an issue. The magic of the cloud can help you in this case. Most of audio recorder apps will offer some sort of sync with either DropBox, Box, Sharepoint, Google Drive or iCloud - and if that is a feature you desire, you can find an app that fits well into your workflow. Just be sure you understand how its posting your audio recording to the cloud (it may be using your data plan) AND how much your are storing. No one ever knows when their voicemail box is full until someone tells them. Be a good audio content gardner and stay organized!

Rinse and Repeat

Now you know. Hopefully you can now record on the go or when ever you need to a a more formal recording set up is just not possible or practical. You won’t get the top shelf voice audio you would get in a great recording environment, but you won’t be creating audio whose quality is distracting and unpleasant to the ears. The over all goal is to share through audio - not turn away your audience.

If you are someone who works with with bookmarks, keep this page handy as I update it on occasion. And feel free to download or link to this document - a stripped down one-sheet for this topic.