Record High Quality Audio on Your Smartphone External Microphones and Recording Apps

By Isabella Storyclaire

last updated September 17, 2024

Contributions sourced from

DIY: How To Record High-Quality Sound With Your Phone

When it comes to recording sound, not all equipment is created equal. But even if you cant afford a top-of-the-line audio kit, there is a wide range of devices that you can use to record an interview for your stories. In the end, whether youre using a Zoom H4N or a Fisher Price Cassette Recorder, its still the audio you gather that truly makes your story compelling. This guide will help you get the best audio for your commentaries AND give your instructions to guide your interviewee through recording themselves using one of the most accessible audio recording devices -- the smartphone.

Where to record

IF YOU'RE RECORDING A COMMENTARY OR INTERVIEW: Get to a quiet spot. Record in a small, carpeted and furnished room if possible because sound bounces off of tiles and bare echo-y spaces. Unplug or remove all devices that click, tick, ring, hum or buzz.

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How to record

IF YOU'RE RECORDING A COMMENTARY OR INTERVIEW: In order to get the best possible sound, the speakers need to be about 2-3 inches away from the mouth, held at a 45 degree angle downwards. Make sure nothing is touching the microphone.

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Press record, and make sure the counter is going (if you're guiding an interviewee through this process ask to make sure the device is recording). A red bar will appear at the top of the screen. IF YOU'RE RECORDING A COMMENTARY: Have a glass of water nearby just in case. Whether youre reading the script off of a computer or piece of paper, make sure it wont move or make noise as you record. We recommend printing it out on a piece of paper and using a pencil to mark it up as you read. Either way, make sure the script is easy to readif youre in a dark space, you may want to use a headlamp.Always remember to record multiple times with varying emphasisagain, like we do in the studio. Read it all the way through one time, then each section several times (until youre positive you have at least one good take), then all the way through again. Write down what time you start each take so that its easier to string together (your DIY cut sheet). We recommend doing all of your takes under one long recording, as sending a dozen different audio files over email can get confusing and time-consuming. IF YOU'RE RECORDING AN INTERVIEW: If the interview goes longer than 6 min, tell your interviewee to start another recording. This will make the audio easier to send later. When the interview is finished, have them stop the recording one last time.Make sure to have your interviewee retitle their recordings with their name and number of the recording out of the total number of recordings (for example: KyraKyles_1of5).

Additional Tips and Tricks

Consider investing in an external microphone. If you need to gather higher quality sound, there are many setup options (like this one) that allow you to record and edit via your phone. External microphones can also help if you want to gather characteristic sounds of a particular scene.
Check out some broadcast/recording apps. There are many free or inexpensive mobile apps that allow you to customize the levels and quality of the sounds you record on your phone. Two popular options are Hindenburg and Transom -- though new ones are popping up every day!
Cant go there in person? Record your phone calls. Phoner tape, as its called in audio editing circles, isn't the highest quality sound -- thats why many radio studios use tape syncers (locals with audio equipment who can gather sound in-person) to do remote interviews. But if your source lives far away and youre on a budget, there are still ways to preserve that audio. Check out inexpensive apps like Tape A Call or Recorder. Free options are possible using Skype and Google Voice. If youre doing a phoner, try asking the person youre interviewing if they have a smartphone. If so, they can record using the voice memo option on their device (using the tips above) and then email you the audio afterwards.

OTHER RECORDING OPTIONS

Computer (desktop or laptop).

Built-in computer microphones generally aren't as high quality as the ones in smart phones, but you can always pair them with a good external microphone to get decent sound. Check out

Transoms guide

to setting up a basic home studio for tips on mics and software. Free audio editing software mainstays like Audacity and GarageBand are excellent programs for beginners.

Portable Digital Recorder.

Outside of a professional studio, a high quality portable digital recorder is your best bet to get broadcast-quality sound -- but expect to shell out a few hundred bucks.

Transom

has a comparison guide geared toward professional storytellers that may help you make your choice. Dont forget, for a full set up youll also want to invest in a good pair of headphones and an external mic that fits your needs.

MORE RESOURCESNow that you have a way to gather your audio, check out YR Media's free lesson plan on How To Teach Field Recording.

How to Record Computer Audio in 6 Free Ways

Key Takeaways:

To record audio on a Windows PC, there is a built-in sound recorder for Windows 10 that is capable of capturing your microphone sound with simple clicks. If you work with an older Windows system (Windows XP/Vista), you can use the Stereo Mix.
For those seeking open-source computer audio recorders, OBS and Audacity are good options. But you need a long learning curve to create crystal sound quality.
For your convenience, you can use a professional audio recorder like EaseUS RecExperts, which supports capturing both internal and external sound coming from a computer without background noise.

Knowing how to record computer audio will always be greatly helpful, especially when you want to record podcasts, interviews, streaming music, audio calls, and more. This post will discuss some excellent computer audio recorders and provide step-by-step guides for recording sound on a computer. Additionally, you will explore some tips for sound recording here. Without further ado, lets get started now!

Method 1. How to perfectly record audio from computer system and microphone

Compatibility: Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11 & macOS 10.13 and later
Operation difficulty: Easy
Best for: Both novices and professionals deal with multiple audio source recording and editing on PC and Mac

EaseUS RecExperts is an ideal tool to record audio from your computer, including the system sound, speaker, external audio from microphones, or all simultaneously. That means you are free to record streaming songs, your own vocals, or speeches easily. Besides, it offers a special silent recording mode that can start recording sound on your PC while its in silent mode, which is best for someone who works or studies in a relatively quiet place.

In addition, it also provides other tools to help improve your recording experience and guarantee audio recording quality:

Start and stop recording music on your computer automatically
Adjust the volume of your recording at any time during the recording
Provide an AI noise remover to reduce and even eliminate the background noise
Save your audio recordings to MP3, OGG, WMA, and other audio files

Here is how to use EaseUS RecExperts to record sound from a computer:

Step 1. Launch this software on your computer, and click Settings in the top right corner to adjust your audio recording parameters. Here, you can choose to record computer audio to MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG, or other audio files freely. Also, choose the right audio bitrate and sample rate and hit OK.

Step 2. Click the Speaker icon on the left panel to choose the audio source. If you select the System sound for capturing internal sound from the computer, you can hit the nearby down arrow to choose Record silently. That means you can record audio files while your computer is in silent mode.

Step 3. For microphone recording, you can also enable advanced recording features by clicking the down arrow: Microphone Boost and Microphone noise reduction. Enabling these features will guarantee high-quality audio recordings.

Step 4. Next, click REC to begin recording audio files on your computer. Once done, you can trim or compress the recorded audio files as you like.

Method 2. How to record the sound coming from PC exclusively on Windows 11/10/8.1

Compatibility: Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11
Operation difficulty:
Best for: Users who only want to do simple sound recording tasks without editing needs, like recording singing, vocals, and more

For users who want to record audio files on Windows 10 or 11 without installing any third-party software, the Windows Voice Recorder (now called Windows Sound Recorder in Windows 11 OS) is a great option. This freeware lets you capture sound on your computer within 3 simple steps, and its regarded as one of the easiest solutions for recording yourself singing, talking, taking voice messages, etc.

If you are working in OneNote and need to capture audio, you can directly record computer audio via OneNote to save time.

Here are the steps to record sound on a computer on Windows 10 with Windows Sound Recorder:

Step 1. Open the Start menu and enter Voice Recorder in the search box to open it.

Step 2. Next, click the blue microphone in the center to start your voice recording.

Note: For Windows 11 users, you need to hit the red button or use Ctrl + R to begin your audio recording.

Step 3. To end your recording, click Stop. Once done, you can find the recordings saved in MP3 on your computer.

Method 3. How to flexibly record on Windows 7 and earlier

Compatibility: Windows 7/Vista/XP
Operation difficulty:
Best for: Windows users who need to record music and songs on an older computer, like Windows Vista, XP, etc.

Another way to record your favorite songs and music from a computer is to use the Stereo Mix, which is a special computer audio recorder provided by your sound drivers. If your sound driver contains this tool, you are able to use it to capture all sound coming from your computer, including the system sound, microphone audio, game audio, and more.

To capture sound on a Windows PC using Stereo Mix, you need to know some basic settings in the Windows system first, which will take about 20 to 30 minutes.

Here is the tutorial for capturing audio on a Windows computer:

Step 1. Open the Control panel, then click Hardware and Sound > Sound.

Step 2. Next, in the window that appears, choose the Recording tab, where you can find the Stereo mix button.

Step 3. Then, right-click Stereo Mix and choose Enable. Click OK to apply the changes.

Method 4. How to record audio on computer for free via Audacity

Compatibility: Windows & Mac & Linux
Operation difficulty:
Best for: Users who want to record and edit audio professionally for producing songs, podcasts, and more for free.

If you prefer a free and professional tool to record computer audio, take a look at Audacity. As one of the most popular audio capture software, it is widely used for any purpose of sound recording, including recording vocals, creating songs, capturing voice calls, and others.

This freeware functions in capturing system audio, recording multiple tracks at once, applying filters to recordings, and more. That means you are able to record and edit your audio files at once and then export them to MP3 or other formats. If you just use this freeware for basic audio or vocal recording, you can start the task once you open it. However, to create high-quality music files, you need to take time to learn the advanced settings and install the necessary plugins.

Here is how to record internal and external sound from a computer using Audacity:

Step 1. Download and install Audacity on your computer, then open it.

Step 2. Click the Audio Setup option in the top toolbar and click Host > Windows WASAPI.

Step 3. Next, choose the Audio Setup button again to select the recording device.

Step 4. Then, click the red circle button to begin your recording.

Step 5. Once your audio recording is done, click File > Export to save your audio recordings to MP3, WAV, or OGG format. (By default, your audio recordings will be saved in MP3 format.)

Method 5. How to record computer audio on Mac free with OBS

Compatibility: Windows & macOS & Linux
Operation difficulty:
Best for: Advanced users who want to do audio recording and streaming on various platforms

OBS Studio is another completely free tool that can help you capture sound coming from your PC, Mac, or Linux. This software enables you to flexibly choose your target audio sources, like the system sound, capture card sound, microphone sound, and more. Besides, it provides options for adjusting audio bitrate, sample rate, and channels for those professional music creators who want to create fantastic songs here. Similar to Audacity, this freeware also allows you to install plugins if needed.

However, it is a little difficult to use this free audio recorder because of its complicated UI. According to our teams testing statistics, a beginner needs a long learning curve (3 4 hours for basic settings and functions) to handle this tool.

Now, lets see how it works for recording computer audio on Mac and Windows:

Step 1. Install and launch OBS Studio on your PC or Mac.

Step 2. Next, in the windows upper-left, click File > Settings > Audio to set your audio device input. Besides, click Output to select the audio format for your recordings.

Step 3. This freeware simultaneously records the visible screen and audio by default. To record computer audio only, you need to check the eye symbol to disable the visual capture.

Step 4. When everything is ready, click Start Recording to begin capturing PC audio now.

Method 6. How to directly start recording computer audio online

Compatibility: web-based (Windows & macOS & Linux)
Operation difficulty:
Best for: Windows and Mac users who want to record songs and voice on computer audio directly without any app.

For those who want to record computer audio on a PC or Mac without any app, Chrome Audio Capture should be the first choice.

It is regarded as one of the easiest ways to record audio from a PC or laptop. Whether you are going to capture audio from your speakers, the internal audio coming from your computer, or others, you can get the task done with this extension effortlessly.

Here is how to record computer audio online:

Step 1. Add the Chrome Audio Capture extension.

Step 2. Choose the audio input that you want to capture and click Start Capture. To end the recording, you can hit Ctrl + Shift + X hotkeys on your keyboard.

Bonus: How to record sound from a computer in high quality

To help you create a high-quality audio recording on your PC or Mac, you can take a glance at the useful tips below:

#1. Choose an excellent computer audio recorder

First of all, a professional computer audio recorder is a must. While selecting the tool, you need to focus on its recording options, like microphone sound, computer internal audio, sound card, etc.

#2. Use A good microphone

Most users prefer to use the built-in microphone on laptops for recording computer audio, as it is convenient. However, the quality cannot be guaranteed because of the distance. So, youd better find and use a professional external microphone for recording.

#3. Create a quiet environment

Any background noise (like talking, typing, coughing, etc.) will affect the quality of your audio recordings. Thus, you also need to choose and create a relatively quiet environment for recording sound from a computer with a microphone.

How to record computer audio FAQs

1. How do I record audio from my computer browser?

To record audio from your computer browser quickly, you can choose to use some online computer audio recorder extensions, like Chrome Audio Capture, Notta, and more. All you need to do is to install this tool and choose the audio source that you want to capture. Thats it!

2. Can I record streaming audio on my computer?

Sure! You can record streaming audio on your computer as long as you have the right streaming audio recorder. For example, the EaseUS RecExperts will help you capture streaming audio on your Windows or Mac computer. Besides, it can export the recordings in up to 10 different formats for later sharing.

3. Does Windows 10 have an audio recorder?

Of course, yes! There is a built-in audio recorder on your Windows 10 system, and its called Voice Recorder. This freeware will help you capture microphone sound from your PC. Keep in mind that it is not capable of recording the internal sound on your computer.