Mobile Media Toolkit

Background: Creating Audio Content on a Mobile Phone

What does this article cover?

Mobile phones are powerful devices for capturing multimedia content. This article focuses on how citizen journalists and reporters can use mobile phones to record audio content. This Mobile Media Toolkit article will also show tools for editing and publishing audio content recorded on mobile phones. In addition to showing you how to capture audio in the physical environment, this section also explains how to record phone calls, useful for reporters and citizen journalists alike.

Who is this article for?

This article is for reporters and citizen journalists who want to use mobile phones for recording audio content. This may include people who:

• use audio as their reporting medium (like radio reporters);
• can supplement other kinds of reports (text, photography) with audio reports;
• report using video (they will find useful the techniques for setting up good sound recording stations in the field);
• use phone interviews frequently in their work (they will find the section on recording phone calls helpful);
• report often from the field.

Why should you create audio content on your mobile phone?

Audio is an important source of news and information for many people today. Radio remains an important technology around the world: it is one of the most pervasive and accessible technologies in the developing world, and continues to have massive reach in developed countries like the United States. In the online world, audio slide shows have become a powerful way to use photographs and audio together to tell interesting stories. Reports made on video, a powerful medium both in the form of television and online video, can also be enhanced by audio taken on mobile phones.

Mobile phones have certain features that make them particularly well-suited to audio reporting:

• All mobile phones can make phone calls. With the right tools, these phone calls can be used for audio reporting.
• Because we always carry our mobile phones with us, they can become an instantly accessible and omnipresent audio recording device. This can come in handy for capturing interesting sounds at a moment's notice, getting impromptu interviews, and more.
• Mobile phones offer a very simple way to produce audio interviews even for non-technical users. It is very easy to record a phone interview using your mobile phone, and one that is close-to-ready to be published.
• Some of today's smartphones allow citizen journalists and reporters to edit audio on the phone itself. The combined power of such software, including the built-in microphone and an Internet connection, can make the smartphone an audio publishing studio, in your pocket.

Description: Creating Audio on a Mobile Phone

In this Mobile Media Toolkit section: Recording audio on a mobile phone, how to get clear sound, how to share it with others (using both phone calls and data connections), how to record phone interviews.

Landscape: How is Mobile Audio Content Significant in Journalism and News Production Today?

Recently, two innovative audio programs have started projects where reporters and citizen journalists capture audio reports on their cell phones. Gaon ki Awaaz has reporters who record audio messages which are then re-broadcasted to a large number of villagers in India using robo-calling technology. Another project allows citizen journalists to report content in indigenous languages that is then accessible to audiences over phone calls. In other regions of the world, we have found radio stations using mobile phones for their SMS capabilities--by allowing listeners to send text messages to emcees rather than upload audio content.

Web reporters have produced audio for the web in some individual cases. Tech-savvy journalists have integrated some mobile audio into online newspapers. For example, reporters from the Guardian used the AudioBoo audioblogging service during the G20 protests of 2009 to produce reports such as this one. Others, like David Lee King (who explores some of the tools available for mobile podcasters in this blog post) and Alice Mercer, have started using mobile technology in their individual podcast-based publications.

Lately, social networks that build tools for audio publishing have popularized mobile audio uploads. Services like AudioBoo and Cinchcast integrate social networking with audio publishing among those who own iPhones in the United Kingdom and United States. They host specifically journalistic content in the form of journalists' blogs and radio stations' teaser materials. Bubbly, a service started in India, has been picked up by the BBC for disseminating news content.

How To Create Audio Content on a Mobile Phone

There are three basic ways to record audio using mobile phones: calling a service that records your phone call (as if you were leaving a voice message), by using the phone's microphone to record ambient audio (like a tape recorder), or by using software to record phone calls made on a phone. After recording the audio, it can either be immediately broadcasted to listeners, edited for content and quality and then broadcasted, or incorporated into videos or audio slide shows. We will cover each topic in the following order:

1. Setting up Your Recording Environment: This Mobile Media Toolkit section will describe how to create a good environment in which to record audio. These techniques and tools will help you reduce background noise and get clear sound from the physical environment.
2. Recording Phone Calls: This Toolkit section will describe how to record a phone call on your mobile phone. These tools will be helpful for citizen journalists and reporters who conduct phone interviews.
3. Editing the Audio: This Mobile Media Toolkit section will cover issues, tools, and techniques related to editing audio recorded on phones. It will highlight smartphone tools for editing audio, tools for editing audio after transferring files to a computer, and some ways to enhance audio reporting, like audio slide shows.
4. Sharing Audio Reports with Your Audience: After recording (and possibly editing) audio, you want to share it with the world. This Toolkit section will look at tools for sharing audio content from mobile phones using phone calls, the Internet, and other platforms.

Setting up Your Recording Environment

If you are recording audio around you, it is important to know how to best record clear content. Regardless of your intent for the audio files, quality audio capture is a necessary step when recording from your mobile phone or computer. The New Media Lab at Rhodes University has some tips for recording from a mobile phone. It is important to keep in mind the size and type of your recording space. If you are able to record from a home or office, place the mobile phone so it faces the subject, or yourself if you are recording self-spoken audio. Remember that the microphone is usually at the bottom of the phone. The New Media Lab suggests that you have your subject repeat the question as part of the answer. This may also make editing easier if you plan to edit the piece.

Cut Down on Background Noise

Mobile microphones tend to pick up the loudest noise, so beware of spaces with dead background audio or too much background noise. Often, this includes noises from fans, air conditioning, refrigerators, or computers. If possible, turn off or deactivate these noise sources. An article on Suite101.com suggests that experimentation is important to help cut down ambient sound. Practice with test clips before you produce and disseminate the material. Another tip is to connect and use an external microphone with your mobile phone. An external microphone may help you achieve a better sound than by using only the built-in handset speaker.

Set up Your Hardware

External microphones can drastically improve the quality of audio. However, mobile phones' audio jacks are designed for headset-based microphones; it is often a bit challenging to get them to work with normal external microphones. One resources to get mobile phones to work with traditional external microphones is a forum page at MacOSXHints.com, which deals with iPhone external mic issues. If you are regularly planning on recording audio on a phone, consider buying a microphone designed for mobile phones. There are some vendors who sell microphones made especially for iPhones and other devices with 3.5 mm headset jacks with four pins (see some phones with such jacks at GSMArena.com). A comparison of the Vericorder Mini Mic (3.5mm), Brando Mini Capsule Microphone (3.5mm), and Blue Mikey (iPhone-specific) is available in this YouTube review by user DizzyDougTV. Microphone adapters useful for other phones may be available at KVconnection.com.

Find Good Recording Spaces

Freelance radio reporting on a mobile phone often occurs on the spot where you might not have access to a studio, home, or office. Journalist Victoria Foley suggests that you record from inside a car, which provides great audio insulation and a makeshift sound booth. If you have more time to plan for a recording, Audiobag.com gives tips on how to set up a home studio. Some tips include putting pillows against nearby walls to decrease wall reverberation noise or placing a windscreen on your microphone to knock out more noise. You can also create a makeshift sound booth inside your home or office using cushions. Just build a three-sided structure, cover it with a blanket, and pop your head inside to start recording on your mobile phone.

Make Sure the Signal Strength is Good

Especially if you are recording live or uploading content immediately after recording, make sure to find a space with good signal strength. Poor signal strength can result in poor audio quality. Finding a good signal is sometimes as simple as moving to a different location. A post on WiseBread.com also suggests five rather creative and inexpensive ways to help increase signal strength. For a potentially more reliable (and costlier) signal boost, there are many external network extenders and mobile boosters that may help improve voice reception and signal strength. A review of several wireless extenders is available at cnet.com.

Recording Phone Calls

Mobile phones can also be used to record phone calls, which may be useful for recording phone interviews or to supplement note-taking. However, recording phone calls is a tricky issue, both legally and ethically. It is always advisable to tell the party you are speaking with that the call is being recorded. In many cases, this is a legal requirement. Legal issues in the United States are detailed by the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press. Rules for India, Canada, United Kingdom, and Germany are listed in the the WorldLawDirect wiki. You may have to consult local law for your specific situation, and Poynter.org has a handy checklist for going through what kinds of issues you should think through before recording phone calls.

With these caveats in place, we will now describe the tools to record phone calls. If you are in the United States, Google Voice lets you record any incoming or outgoing phone call very simply (here is a guide). Outside the United States, you can use your smartphone to record phone calls. Call recording software is available on Android (list of Android call recording applications), Windows Mobile (resources are described here and here), Symbian (list of Symbian call recording options), and Palm (list of Palm call recording options) operating systems. BlackBerry and iPhones do not support recording phone calls and there are no apps that allow for recording phone calls on an iPhone. But popularity of the iPhone has led people to create workarounds. In the US, iClarified offers a call re-routing service to record outgoing calls from iPhones, and technically intensive do-it-yourself hardware solutions are also available. SustainableJournalism.org has tips on how journalists should record all. Finally, if a software solution is not available, a final way to record phone calls is to use the speaker-phone option on the phone, and record the conversation using another recording device.

Editing Audio

Depending on how you will be sharing your audio content with your audience, there are various methods of audio editing available. If you are creating content by calling into a recording service, there is no opportunity to edit content. If you are recording content on a phone, however, there are two main ways to edit content. One is to do it on the phone itself, and other to do it on a computer after transferring the audio files.

Editing options on most phones are limited to audio-clipping software. However, audio-clipping software can be a perfectly good audio editor. Journalist Christian Payne suggests that mobile podcasting may actually benefit from minimal editing. "As far as editing goes, a top 'n tail should be more than enough for [an audio] micro blog. It should all be about ease of posting and the immediacy of it going live. A non edited piece of audio sounds more intimate and less premeditated ‘programmed’." Such editing (top 'n tail editing, or audio clipping), are often available through ringtone production software such as the Nokia Audio Suite or BlackBerry ringtone makers.

More sophisticated audio editing software is available for the iPhone. Vericorder's VC Audio Pro and Hindenburg Mobile both allow iPhone owners to splice together clips from multiple audio recordings, adjust levels, and more.

You can also edit audio after transferring it to a computer. Hongkiat.com lists 25 digital audio editors that are worth knowing about. One popular and free option is Audacity, guides to using which are available at GuidesAndTutorials.com and Tactical Technology Collective's "Message in-a-Box" toolkit. For computer-based audio editing, you may need to deal with audio conversion issues. The online tool Zamzar is a useful tool to convert to an audio format your editing or publishing software requires. You may also find other tools listed on our video reporting page.

Finally, when publishing online, you should consider using your audio in videos or audio slide shows. Audio slide shows combine photographs and audio to tell compelling stories online. Many resources for making (and publishing) audio sound slides are available online, as you can see in this comprehensive list of resources about audio slide show production from Campfire Journalism.

Publishing Audio Reports

To publish your audio reports to a wider audience, there are many tools available depending on the resources at your disposal. The following is a scenario-by-scenario guide to publishing audio. You may also want to look at our articles on sharing multimedia content online and delivering audio content to mobile audiences for even more.

I have a mobile phone without Internet access, and I don't have a computer.

If you have a basic mobile phone that can make phone calls but doesn't have Internet access, you can use services that allow you to record your audio via a phone call. To make this audio available to others, you will need to either use call-based publishing services or enlist the support of a friend or colleague with Internet access.

In India, you can use a service called Bubbly. Bubbly works by call and record and requires no Internet connection. Bubble Motion, the social network provider behind the service, explains Bubbly as "like Twitter, with a voice." It's a voice blogging service for mobile phones, where users “click, talk and send.” Anyone with a phone can follow your "Bubbles" and listen to your broadcasts. A Wireless Week article goes into more detail on the process. “Users enter a short code and start recording their messages. To follow another voice blogger, users dial the Bubbly phone number for whomever they want to follow. Whenever there's a new audio update, followers are notified via SMS with instructions on how to listen. Bubblers can also control who is able to listen to their messages and have the option of masking their actual phone number to prevent followers from calling them directly.” The service is expanding to Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Brazil (see an article in Advertising Age).

A similar option that is available in more countries is BubbleTalk, which is a voice version of an SMS message. To send an audio message to multiple parties, however, you must first establish 'groups.' A review of BubbleTalk on Engadget.com says that pricing sits in the middle between texting and using regular phone minutes.

In the U.S. or Canada, you can use RecordiaPro, which allows you to record messages and phone calls on any cell phone and store them on the RecordiaPro website. Once you set up an account, you can call in audio and an organization or colleague can then access the content online.

It is worth noting here, however, that these kind of recordings take up phone minutes, so you need to be aware of your mobile phone plan or pre-paid minutes, as well as your talk allowance.

Another option is to have your organization set up an IVR system. This is a technically much more involved process, however. For more information on IVR systems, have a look at our article on delivering audio content to mobile handsets.

In the U.S. and U.K., there are even more options. Two services known as Jott (U.S.) and reQall (U.K.) were set up to record phone messages for yourself as reminders. However, features such as the ability for audio content to be sent to yourself or other contacts (and in the case of Jott, to be sent to the blogging site LiveJournal) can be used creatively for reporting purposes. Outside the U.S. and the U.K., the blog logfile.ch suggests using Rebtel to generate low-cost international calls. Rebtel works by creating a local landline number and routing the international call. To share or forward your recording over the web with these tools, however, you will ultimately need Internet access.

I have a mobile phone with Internet access.

If you have a mobile phone with Internet access, you can record audio on your handset using web-based services or smartphone applications and share the content with others by forwarding or posting to audioblogging sites. With a phone that is not a smartphone, but has Internet access, you can record audio and make it accessible to listeners on the web. Even without a smartphone, you can publish, share, and receive audio programming through services like Blogtalkradio, an entirely web-based social radio network. It’s a free radio forum and may be useful for short-form radio news bursts. You’ll also be able to forward and share messages you create through services like Jott and reQall that we described above. Many smartphones have free voice recorder applications and you can also use paid services like RecordiaPro to share content.

With mobile phones with Internet access, you can post audio to online hosting tools in many ways. Tools like Shozu and PixelPipe allow mobile phones (both smartphones and feature phones) to upload various multimedia including audio. On smartphones, services like Audioboo and Cinchcast provide apps that link to social media audio sharing platforms. Audioboo is a mobile and web platform that allows you record and upload audio for others to hear, available on the iPhone and Android phones. Cinch helps you create audio posts to broadcast on most social sites including Facebook and Twitter. To create a "cinch," you use an iPhone application or call a U.S.-based number from your phone. After your "cinch" is uploaded, you can search, share, and interact with other cinches. Another tool is iPadio which allows a user to broadcast from any phone live to the Internet. iPadio is integrated with social media and blogging sites.

My mobile phone has no Internet access, but I have access to a computer that does.

If this is the case, you can record audio on your phone and transfer it to your computer. To transfer audio from your mobile phone to your computer, connect a USB cable from your phone to the computer. On most mobile devices, you'll select media transfer as the connection mode, then select items or files to transfer and drag and drop to your computer. Some phones have a memory card slot that you can use to transfer files to a computer. You can also use a blue tooth file transfer to send files from your phone to your computer. Another option is to transfer audio content from phone to phone. This way, you can record from a phone without Internet and transfer to a phone with Internet to upload and share audio content.

I don’t have a mobile phone, but I have a computer.

If you don't have a mobile phone, you can still record audio content directly to your computer as well as edit it (see above for editing options). If you have Internet access, you have several options to share your content through web-based services or audioblogging sites as well. A how-to article on Intel.com includes information on recording directly to your computer and suggests you “just think of your computer like one big tape recorder that creates tapes that anyone who's connected to the Internet can play.” You can speak directly into the computer speakers, or you can attach an external microphone. A USB model microphone is widely available and relatively low in cost compared with professional recording equipment. You can also record directly to the computer using Internet-based services like Phonecasting. Once you’ve captured the sound, you can use free, open-source software like Audacity for sound editing. The article on Intel.com walks you through the basics of sound editing with Audacity. Once the audio is where you want it, you can use many of the above-mentioned web-based tools to share your content with others.

I have other recording hardware, too.

Outside of mobile phones and computers, you can record using hardware such as minidisc recorders and digital voice recorders. Depending on your resources, these tools may work in conjunction with your handset or computer for dissemination of the audio content. Traditional methods of recording outside a studio include minidisc recorders, digital voice recorders including Marantz, and computer hardware like a USB microphone. Minidisc recorders were introduced as a replacement for analog cassette recorders. They are typically moderately priced and have long recording times that may be useful for impromptu or multiple-source field reporting. However, if you use a minidisc recorder, be sure the files can be manipulated. Many early models can only record and play so the message cannot be copied to a computer or shared via mobile phone.

A voice recorder is another option. It is typically smaller than a minidisc recorder, making it light and useful for field recording in a number of situations. Files are usually readily converted and many come with built in microphones, though the sound quality may not be as high as with the minidisc version. A Marantz or similar professional digital recorder is a high quality tool often used by professionals. Files are easily transferred, but the cost of a digital recorder may be prohibitive. Use what is available, but be sure you’ll be able to transfer and manipulate the audio file after you’ve recorded it.

Limitations of Creating Audio Content on Mobile Phones

• Recording high-quality audio requires a good external microphone. However, it is often difficult to use mobile phones with microphones popularly available on the market.
• Recording phone interviews comes with a set of ethical and legal concerns. It is essential that such concerns are considered before recording phone calls.
• Not all phones support recording and saving of audio files. You will need to find a phone with such functionality.
• Audio recording applications on mobile phones are often not very user-friendly, as audio recording doesn't seem to be a mass market feature.