Recording yourself, Part II: Recording with the iPhone

by Joe Miller

As a continuation of my last post about recording quality voice-over, I’d like to take this week to introduce you to one of the many tools that can help get the job done.  And if you’re a fan of Apple products, chances are you already have all the tools you need.

When it comes to recording dictation, there are a number of possible tools available, some of which are available for rent from the CET equipment office, and others you might be using to read this blog post.  Before smartphones started appearing everywhere (and becoming synonymous with having 5 minutes to kill), cell phones made calls, sent texts, and maybe took some low-quality photos that never left the phone.  Cell phones are a little more technologically loaded these days, and in some cases, they can be mobile production units.

While most people are familiar with the unprecedented picture and video quality on the new iPhone, the simple audio dictation application, called “Voice Memos,” comes pre-installed and can be very useful in producing and sharing quick field recordings.  It functions like any other Dictaphone or field recorder, and it captures surprising clear sounding audio.  Immediately after recording a memo, which can be anywhere from one second to over an hour in duration (depending on how much space is available), you can send that recording as an email or as a text message.  This means it’s incredibly simple to get your recordings into iTunes for review or into editing software if you need to cut it down.

Feeling comfortable with using all the tools you have available, like audio recording with the iPhone, can help you be more productive in your projects.  Personally, I’ve used the Voice Memos application to verbally jot down ideas or even quickly hum melodies to songs that I can later revisit.  I often send these memo sketches to my brother, with whom I frequently work on projects, and it allows us to work together from an idea’s conception.  Making use of new production techniques opens up your future projects to new possibilities.