Chiff and Fipple Forums

What iPhone/iPad/iPod app are folks currently using to record music at sessions, instructor examples, that sort of informal, not for commercial use? Do you find the Voice Memos app built into the iPhone/iPod sufficient or is there something that might be better?

Thanks and best wishes.

Steve

Steve Bliven wrote:What iPhone/iPad/iPod app are folks currently using to record music at sessions, instructor examples, that sort of informal, not for commercial use? Do you find the Voice Memos app built into the iPhone/iPod sufficient or is there something that might be better?

I currently use the Voice Memos app on my iPhone 6 to record sets from our weekly session. (I use the recordings to play along with at home.) With Voice Memos, it does not work well to listen to the recording using the phone itself (this is because the recording is played back through the same speakers used for phone-calls rather than the speakers used for music), therefore I typically transfer the Voice memo to my MacBook Pro which allows me to listen at a decent volume or slow down the track using Audacity.

I never really got along well with using my smartphone as a recording device for anything other than short memos.

I use a Sony ICD recorder (Which I got for like $30 or $40) which can hold 8 or 9 hours of recordings on the scrap mini-sd card I found lying around, and it works really well. It exports via usb, and there's a "track" button that I hit between sets at session, and when I export, it lets me split the recordings at the track mark.

Apple released a Music Memos app one or two years ago that offers a few more features than Voice Memos. It's still a free app, so you might want to experiment with it.

The included tuner might be worth the download by itself.

I've used iTalk for a long time. Has three "quality" levels (good, better, and best) and does a real good job at all levels. I usually use "better" and it is more than good for most stuff. Only drawback is the file size - it's kinda big!

Pat

I would recommend Presonus Capture One for iPad.
https://www.presonus.com/products/Capture-for-iPad

It's a professional two-track recorder with metronome.
with a Presonus USB audio interface it could be better, but it supports internal mic of iPad as well.

The "Capture Duo" is a two-track recorder which is for free.
while the "Capture" is $9.99 with 32 tracks

Thanks all. I appreciate the input. Since I'm not going for studio quality or multi-tracks—just want to get the basic outlines of tunes to learn—I'll probably go with one of the simpler methods for my immediate needs.

Best wishes.

Steve

The Garageband app on my phone works really well; I prefer it to using the voice recorder for the extra plugins.

musicmarie wrote:The Garageband app on my phone works really well; I prefer it to using the voice recorder for the extra plugins.

Which plugins do you use? Or... can you give a bit more detail regarding how you use it? I am not very familiar with Garageband, but I would be happy to learn if there are particular features that others find useful.

I typically use the voice memo app because it's easy and the quality is pretty good.

For more options, the Voice Recorder Pro app is great. You can specify some file format options, and you can export (cloud & wifi) and/or email the recordings.

For a bit of money, you can buy a Shure MV88 microphone, which has it's own app. The cool thing is it's a multipattern stereo microphone, so you can get directionality out of it. So like if you set it on the table between you and someone else, then you can record them in one channel and you in the other, which makes it easier to hear just yourself, or just them, later. Or at a workshop you could dial in a tight angle and point it at the presenter to reject all the people near you. It can also make mid-side recordings, which can be really great when you're recording videos. In the US it's about $150 now. For the same money you could buy a handheld recorder, but the recordings wouldn't be as good as the MV88.

Shure has a short demonstration video if anyone is interested:
http://www.shure.com/americas/products/ ... microphone