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I’m not about to invest in a bunch of professional gear, but I’m wondering in there’s a better app out there for recording compared to a standard android phone.
I’m working on dynamics and playing very pronounced differences but it all sounds the same recorded. Loud and clunky. You can even hear me breathing and it’s not like I have a cold…
Any suggestions? Thanks!
After some googling, I think this isn’t a thing. I think the problem is the microphone in my phone. I need a condenser mic?
I don’t want to pay a couple hundred dollars for posting videos on RC101, but anyone know if the cheap mics are worth it? I might consider something like this. Do I just plug into my phone and record as usual but with less clunky sound?
https://www.amazon.com/ZaxSound-Professional-Condenser-Microphone-Recording/dp/B017SQ8MN0
Have you messed with your recordings with Audicity or one of the other audio programs? I’m not sure what free ones are compatible with what OS though. I record with stuff on a Windows 10 netbook so can’t help you if you need something Apple or Android. (Think you said you don’t have windows?)
ANYWAY! The software can ‘fix’ some noise. If you research and experiment you can ideally make stuff sound really nice by doubling tracks, putting different effects on the tracks etc.
Soon as I get off my butt and hook up the new stuff I just got and get some time to record, you can hear my “45$ most inexpensive recording gear (I found) available, but with many many hours of research behind it” at work. – using sub par things I already had in some cases like broken playstation headphones with an adapter as my headphones, my mic stand is a pvc pipe and tape.. lol… Cruddy gear shouldn’t matter, my virtuosic ukulele skills should shine! (Please visualize some meme here, of someone laughing hysterically and falling off their chair.) 😇
The only reason I mention the stuff I’m using and what I attempt to ‘do’ to my recording on my submissions is it either might help someone or someone might be like “Hey, try doing this instead..” lol.. Hasn’t happened yet but meh lol! Only been at this for a few months so far! I expect I’ll get better at both. 😁
Anyway, good luck. Rambled on quite a bit while letting the dogs out for the night. 😁 Have a good night/day!
Lisa, I use my laptop for recording the challenges. Because of allergies, I tend to breathe through my mouth a lot which the mike picks up and I hate it. I’ve tried to play like Andrew with his stiff-lip approach but the stuffed nose sound is worse. LOL I’m watching old Esther Williams movies to practice holding my breath longer.
Seriously though, if you don’t have a laptop or notebook, consider getting one. They all have built in mics. Do you have a desktop or are you accessing RockClass with your phone exclusively? External plug in Mics are available for desktops as well.
I’m on an Android phone and Android tablet entirely these days. I haven’t had need of a full laptop in a couple of years so didn’t replace my old one when it died. I’m not sure a laptop would record any cleaner than a phone?
A laptop would give me more software options, but it seems silly to buy all that stuff for my little amateur playing. I could put that money toward a new uke, lol.
Audacity looks interesting, but again not for Android. I downloaded a bunch of apps last night and none of them did anything noticeable.
I’m so tempted on a little microphone as a first step but I don’t know how much it’ll help. I suspect if I ask at the music store they’ll try to sell me hundreds in equipment, plus tell me I need a laptop. All I want at this stage is to soften the recording so I can hear dynamics and it doesn’t always sounds like I’m plucking strings hard enough to break them.
Thanks for the thoughts, folks. Much food for thought.
Edit: ok, the one I have that did android was nch wavepad. (Only get wavepad from NCH website. They’re an Australian company.)
https://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html
Wavepad is pretty nice, (I haven’t looked specifically at the android version since I have it on windows) you will probably get the full version as a trial if you try it. MAKE SURE you save your recordings as a unmodified file FIRST, and then play with wavepad stuff and save it as another file. If you use full version/pro things they might stop working when the trial ends. Don’t take chances with your master recording. (That’s kind of obvious, but needed to say it just in case.)
Once the trial ends it’s annoying, it doesn’t make picking free intuitive but you can go in options and downgrade the software to the free version. (I can help you if you can’t find it, if you try it.)
Free still has normal stuff you would use on a recording and some good effects, but they lock some of the fancy stuff. It also comes with voice modulation which was fun lol. (I have me playing a zombie for the walking dead theme in October. I just never added them for my submission! lol)
I saw some other companies have mobile versions. FL think it stands for fruity loops? Then stagelight 4 but I don’t know anything about them. Maybe someone else does? You’d need to look and see which does what you want. Check on the one Andrew uses too. They might have a mobile version but I don’t know.
I saw nch wavepad had a kindle app and downloaded it on my Fire because im running around with it now.
It works and has pretty much the same features as the pc version as far as I can tell. I’m not crazy about touch app interfaces but if the Android is the same, you should have some fun with it. (It comes with voice mod! yea!😎) I tried a quick noise removal on my test wav and it removes tablet mic hissing perfectly from the track. Did a couple default value effects and some filters and it applied them really fast. Faster then on my netbook!
Anyway good luck!
Hmm. I downloaded the app and I see I have another learning curve ashead of me. I have no idea what I’m doing. The cleanup button made me hopeful, but I don’t know what most of the options mean and I still have the hiss. Will play around more.
Yes, I’ve tried with the tablet and I get a little hint of dynamics but the whole sound is muffled. Crappy microphone I guess.
Thanks for the tips Team Uke!
Recording directly in wave pad gives me dynamics at last! I lose video of course. I’m not sure what to do with that.
Lisa -If you mess with the upper menus in wavepad the kindle one does drag back and forth, showing options off the screen. There’s pretty good tutorials they put out for wavepad, worth looking at them. I have no idea what a lot of the things do yet either btw. I’ve only messed with a small portion of the abilities and effects.
In your wavepad cleanup you should have options to analyze for noise. If it makes you select a portion of the noise, pick the beginning or end silence with the hiss, so you don’t erase your whole track lol. Done that! 😱
I haven’t gotten to video yet. I need hours of “me time” to start down that rabbit hole…. Ideally I think if I record video along with the audio track on two devices they will probably line up. That’s my theory anyway. I need to find a good free video editor that can add audio tracks first that isn’t impossible to use too. Might just say forget it and submit help videos you can barely hear in the meantime.
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