Cell phone recordings

[guscave]

I really wouldn't count on an iPhone recording to give you much traction. If you're using a mac or ipad, you can use Garageband which comes free on those systems. If you're using a PC, there are a few free alternatives to get you started.

http://routenote.com/blog/the-10-best-f ... available/

[mojobone]

To be perfectly precise, it really depends on the phone; if you have an iPhone, a camera connection kit and the right app, you can connect to an interface that accommodates professional mixers, microphones and audio processors. There are Android, Chrome and iOS apps that will record 16-bit, 44.1kHz WAV or AIFF format PCM digital audio, which is pretty much the minimum professional standard, though these days, most of us are at 24-bit 48kHz BWAV,which is broadcast/DVD-standard. Apps designed for dictation/notes sre not gonna get you there, IMO.

Lightning and USB offer better options, but I still think you'd be money ahead with the Zoom handheld I mentioned above, because of accessories; stands and and cabling and whatnot, and then there's storage-you're lucky if you have 16G onboard and quality high-resolution audio files take up lots of memory. Some Android phones feature removable storage, but without a fairly robust microprocessor, it's unlikely that you can run very many instruments while simultaneously recording audio. OTOH, if you're doing electronica, maybe you only need a few instruments/tracks and a way to record vocals, but the bottom line is that the microphone in your handheld is probably not adequate, certainly not ideal and the same goes for the op-amp driving the earbuds, and yep, those earbuds, too.

Screen real estate is maybe also an issue; a beefy tablet or laptop might be the best option, but either way, you'll need peripherals; an interface/mic preamp/headphone amp, a decent mic (plus cable and stand) and a great set of headphones. Now have a look at the Zoom; four simultaneous channels of recording in pro formats up to 24-bit, 96kHz BWAV, an onboard XY condenser mic pair, two excellent mic preamps with 48V phantom power, a great headphone amp, file management/MP3 conversion utilities; pretty much one-stop shopping, except for some headphones, and the fact that you can't plug in a MIDI keyboard, though you can use the 1/8th in input to record the instruments/music apps on your iOS or Android phone. You can also record from any keyboard's audio outputs or instrument DI. (bass, acoustic /electric guitar) It's a dedicated standalone recording solution that also functions as an interface/ class-compliant USB hard drive under Mac/Windows, at about the size of a paperback novel and a little over $200 plus the headphones, it'd be the first thing I'd get, if I were starting out from scratch.

[andygabrys]

to be honest, its not the iPhone that's the problem.

the problem is how many tracks or sound sources you are capturing simultaneously.

Take the music by Kimye Dawson from the movie "Juno" - its lo-fi. If that is your aim, you might be able to capture a simultaneous vocal / guitar performance that gets close to that vibe.

Anything more, it has be captured on separate mics / channels and treated in particular ways during mix to get a more produced sound.

[jfrowland]

This brings up a related question:

Song demos - at least in the country music world - usually get re-recorded by an artist. When full length songs are submitted for a movie or TV, is the song used as submitted, or do they re-record it?

[mojobone]

Film and TV stuff is almost always used as-is. If you're on Spotify, here's a useful link to some Nashville-style songwriter demos, so you can tell where the bar is. https://play.spotify.com/album/50xzFAGmrbaWBUEffGcmnT