Recording vocals on Android

AudioRec is a free app for Android that supports all the necessary settings to record high-quality vocals with an Android smartphone.

Open the app and follow the steps below to configure my recommended settings for recording vocals with the camera microphone on the back of the phone:

1. Tap the menu button at the top left of the screen to bring up the application menu, then tap on Settings > Recording Setup:

   

2. Change the Audio Encoding, Sample Rate, Channel, and Recording microphone to the correct settings.

   Note: you may get an error message when changing the sample rate. It looks like that’s safe to ignore, so hit OK and verify that the setting was changed.

3. Hit the back button to return to the Settings menu, and tap on General. On this screen, check the Ask filename option, and change the Recording Name Prefix to [voice part] - [name] - section 1 take . Verify that the preview of the filename looks correct:

   

4. Hit the back button until you’re back at the main screen, then tap the Options icon in the top right of the screen, and make sure all the options are configured as follows:

   

Now you’re ready to record!

1. To start recording, tap the red microphone icon (Allow the app to record audio if prompted). When you’re done, hit the stop icon to stop recording.

   

2. The app will prompt you for a name for your recording; rename it with what you’ve just recorded:

   

3. Repeat for any more pieces or takes you want to record.

Once you’ve recorded one or more tracks, you’ll have to actually submit it using the Google Form.

1. Open the link to the Google Form for submitting your audio, and fill out all the fields. In the “Audio Files” section, tap on Add File:

   

2. Tap on Select files from your device. In the Choose an Action popup menu, select Files:

   

The next steps may vary based on exactly what Android phone you have, but the goal is to find your recordings in the audioRec folder on your device’s internal storage. The steps below work for a Google Pixel:

1. Open the three-bars menu on the left, and select your device from the list to see its internal storage (you may need to select the Show internal storage option from the three-dots menu in the top right):

   

2. Tap on the audioRec folder, and select the file(s) you want to upload:

   

3. If you have more sections/takes, tap the Add more files button on the form, and repeat steps 1-2. Once you’ve added all your files, tap the Upload button, and then tap on Submit