What is the iRig app?

These days, journalists with smart phones have a wide array of tools to use in their reporting. For those who need to record and send audio, the free iRig Recorder app for iOS and Android is worth checking out.

I had never heard of the iRig Recorder app until Austrian public broadcasting, ORF, called asking me to do a Q&A on post-election protests in Cambodia, where I’m based. “Sure,” I said, but pointed out that I didn’t have a land line (as relatively few in Cambodia do) and that the audio quality of a mobile phone interview might leave a little to be desired.

No problem, the producer said, pointing me to iRig Recorder, a nifty app that, while not perfect, offers pretty good sound quality, a simple interface, and lots of sharing options. The ORF producer and I could talk via Skype and I would use the app to record my answers and then send the audio to Vienna.

I downloaded the free version from iTunes (it’s also available for Android), and was initially a little worried seeing the middling reviews there. But the ORF producer seemed enthusiastic.

Easy to use

The app has an intuitive interface. On opening it, you’ll see a screen with a large blue RECORD button near the bottom. One touch of that and you’re on. A large time display shows how much you’ve recorded and you can stop the action with the PAUSE button, then start up again where you left off. At the bottom on the screen, a waveform is generated as you record so you can make sure the sound is coming through. I thought the levels seemed pretty low, but found there was a way to boost things later.

When you’re done, touch RECORD again, and you’ll get a list of the recordings on the phone. The default name is the date and the time of the recording. But the app lets you give each recording a unique name if you want. Just tap the file to type.

Then, hit the blue button next to the date and a processing screen opens up. On the free version, your options are limited to boosting your levels. But iRig allows you to determine what percentage you want to the increase the volume and whether you’re working with speech or music.

There are a bunch of optional processors available, such as tone optimization, cleaning up background noise, slowing the speed and changing pitch, among others. But the processing package costs $4.99. If you want to edit what you’ve recorded, you’ll also have to shell out a little cash. Trimming and making internal edits will set you back $4.99. Or, you can buy a package with all the added functions for $7.99.

I didn’t need any of that, since I was sending over my audio to the Austrians, and they edited out my stumbles at their end.

Sharing is simple

Once I’d finished my recording, I hit the EXPORT / SHARE symbol at the top of the file list screen. I could email the audio, use iTunes file sharing, share it on a local wi-fi network, FTP it, or upload it to SoundCloud. Most options gave me the choice of exporting high-quality (.wav file, 44.1 kHz), medium-quality (.m4a file, 96 kbps) or low-quality (.m4a file, 32 kbps) files. The email option limited me to an .m4a file.

ORF had sent me their FTP settings beforehand, and my three-minute Q&A went over fairly quickly, despite my less-than-stellar internet speed.

As you might expect, the audio is not going to be exactly studio quality. You are using your smartphone’s mic, after all. But I found it acceptable, and of course so did Austria’s ORF.

The company behind iRig, IK Multimedia, makes a slew of accessories. The ones most interesting to journalists are the compact microphone that plugs into your phone’s audio jack and a larger handheld version. But they’ll cost you around $30 or $70 respectively.

The downsides

The iRig app is free, so you can’t expect perfection. Some complain that the paid add-ons are almost a necessity to get the quality and flexibility you might need. There is some truth to this. And without a high-quality mic, you’re audio is not going to be top notch, granted.

Using iRig to record my side of a Skype Q&A

Plus, you can’t take a phone call and then turn on iRig to record that conversation. As I mentioned, I Skyped with the station in Europe on my computer and recorded my side of the interview into my iPhone. So you’ll need to be able to work with that limitation.

I had forgotten to put my phone in Airplane mode when I started recording the Q&A with Vienna and got a phone call right in the middle of it, which put a quick end to things and crashed the app. Luckily, we had the time to do the interview again. Be sure to always engage Airplane / Offline mode before recording audio or video with any app.

But overall, for quick recordings, and especially Q&A’s with a studio that has more advanced audio editing equipment and can fix glitches and level problems, iRig is more than adequate. It’s simple to use and has a clean interface.

What else should journalists know about iRig?

Cost: Free, but the add-on packages for audio processing, editing and other features cost between $2.99 and $7.99.

Sharing: It’s easy. You can choose email, iTunes file sharing, local wi-fi, FTP, or upload your file to SoundCloud.

Support: IK Multimedia has an online FAQ and a support contact page.

Language: The interface is in English.

Author: Kyle James

Audio slideshows can be an engaging part of any multimedia package. They’ve got the strength and appeal of photography while the narration adds the power of the human voice, giving context and filling in details that the images might not otherwise provide.

One of the problems in the past was finding good tools to create them. For years, SoundSlides has been the standard but it costs between $40 and $70 and the learning curve, while not Himalayan steep, is a little uphill at first.

Now there are several tools out there that allow you to put together basic audio slideshows in a snap and on the fly, and they won’t break the bank. Sonic Pics for iPhones or iPads is a low-cost one that’s impressive. It’s easy to use, has a simple, clean interface and pretty much does what it promises.

A few simple steps

With Sonic Pics, you choose pictures from your photo library, put them in the order you want and then record audio as you swipe through them. Presto, you’ve got an audio slideshow that you can share with the world or just watch on your device.

After a $2.99 download from iTunes, I decided to give the app a test drive by using some pictures I had taken for a story on rural sanitation and toilets in Cambodia.

Starting a new project, the app asked me for a name and description. Once that was done, I found myself on the screen where I would add the photos.

A touch of + Add Images allowed me to scroll through the photos on my phone. I picked out nine, then realized I wanted them in a different order. Not to worry. Sonic Pics lets you to change the order by dragging them to whatever position you want. Here you can also add a title and image description to each picture, which can be displayed during playback on your device if you want.

That done, the next step is to add the audio. A touch of the red button on the upper right-hand corner opens a screen that puts your first photo front and center. Tap on a red button again, and you’re recording.

Say what you want to say (and it’s a good idea to have a few notes in front of you unless you’re very good at speaking off the cuff). When you’ve finished talking about one photograph, simply swipe it to the left and the next one comes up, and you can start the narration for that one. Sonic Pics remembers which parts of your narration go with which photo. There’s no more need for complicated timing or separate audio imports. It’s all done within the app.

Once you’re done, touch on a share button and the app will ask if you want to save what you’ve done or delete it and start again. I was happy enough, so I saved it.

Then you can touch the share icon again and either send the audio slideshow to your computer (it will give you an IP address which allows you to download a .m4v video file to your computer), send it by email, save it to your own phone’s camera roll or send it to a YouTube account. That’s what I did and you can see the results below. All in all, this audio slideshow took me under ten minutes to make. (Of course, I already had the pictures and I knew the story so I could write up my narration quickly.)

A few drawbacks

I was pretty impressed with the speed that I was able to put together a decent enough audio slideshow and share it successfully in multiple ways. But there’s some room for improvement.

For one, activating the built-in camera that allows you to take pictures from the image addition screen crashed the app every time I tried to use it. It’s not a fatal flaw since I was using photos from my camera roll but one that should be fixed.

Email sharing only allows projects that come in under 10MB, and you’ll reach that size quickly. My project with 9 slides at 1’53” was 23 MB.

Also, there is no way to go in and re-record narration for one single slide, for example if you stumbled over a sentence and wanted to re-do the audio for that slide only. If you want to re-record, you have to re-record it all. That can be a hassle if you have a lot of slides or trip over your words a lot, like me.

Finally, there’s no way to import music to lay down under narration or do any kind of audio mix. You need to be pretty close to your device’s microphone and speaking in a quiet environment to get decent sound quality.

Overview

Cost: $2.99 from iTunes. Once you buy it, you can use on both your iPhone and iPad.

Publishing: Share over a wifi network with your own computer, upload it to YouTube, save it to your own device or email it (if project is no bigger than 10 MB). Using a video out connection, you can also present the shows on bigger screens.

Support: The website isn’t all that extensive, although they do list an email address for support questions: support@sonicpics.com.

Languages: The Sonic Pics interface is in English.

General Opinion: For basic audio slid shows, especially for people just starting out with them, this is a nice little app. Even out in the field, you can still put together a package in no time that you can send back to your editors or put up on your site. For those with more experience or who want to use image fades or music and more complicated audio mixes, Sonic Pics might prove a little too basic.

Author: Kyle James

photo by geoffeg / flickr

Nowadays, most journalists carry mobile recording studios with them without even being aware of it. Almost every smartphone can be used for multimedia reporting – anything from short audio clip productions, taking pictures, recording video interviews, or even creating a blog with a combination of these elements.

Using a smartphone for mobile reporting has many advantages. The most obvious one is being able to capture and edit pictures, audios, and videos anytime because you’ve always got your phone with you. In addition, many smartphone apps and programmes now offer editing functions that are so good that the productions have studio quality.

When you’ve collected and edited your content, you can send or publish it immediately from your smartphone, as long as it has access to mobile networks and the internet.

Many journalists choose Apple’s iPhone

As far as smartphones are concerned, the iPhone is becoming more and more popular among mobile reporters, because new apps are being developed on a regular basis. That’s why we are going to present you ten of the most popular and effective apps for mobile journalism.

1. ProCamera (Photos)

ProCamera has similar functions as the Camera+ app, which many mobile journalists use. In contrast to Camera+, this app can be used for shooting videos as well.

photo by yto / flickr

ProCamera offers several useful tools that help improve the quality of your photos and videos. Therefore, it is not only suitable for amateurs but also for experienced photo journalists.

There is an AntiShake option that helps you stabilize your photos, which is especially helpful while taking pictures with mobile phones. ProCamera also offers a separate adjustment of lighting and a tool that allows continuous shots in high resolution quality. This is especially interesting for sports journalists, who often shoot objects that move very fast.

Just like other apps, ProCamera also allows sharing through your social media accounts.

ProCamera is a nice app if you want to use your iPhone for taking pictures or making videos professionally. The extra assets like separate lighting and the grid-system which helps you get the objects in right angles are very useful features.

2. Instagram (Photos)

photo by philcampbell / flickr

The Instagram app is especially attractive as it is available for free. With the help of this app you can take a photo and then add a filter to it. Accordingly, you can change the mood of the photo and give it a certain touch.

Instagram also allows you to share the photo with your favourite social media channel, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr.

Basically, Instagram works like the website Picnic did, just for your mobile. You can easily modify your photos in order to enhance them, but you cannot do major alterations or very refined changes, as with Photoshop.

3. Hipstamatic (Photos)

photo by ingolf2 / flickr

Hipstamatic is an app that lets you play with special effects, just like Instagram. Its trademark is that it brings back the look from the past, as most of the results are reminiscent of old Polaroid pictures.

With a single swipe of the finger, you can change the lens, flash and film of your camera. You can try out different combinations, as each adds a unique and unpredictable touch to your picture.

With Hipstamatic, you get the desired effect as soon as you shoot the photo and do not need to edit it later. It is a nice app if you like to play around with different effects.

The Hipstamatic app has even found its way into journalism: in autumn 2010, Damon Winter won prizes for photos he took in Afghanistan using the Hipstamatic app.

4. AudioBoo (Audio)

photo by whatleydude / flickr

AudioBoo is an app that enables you to record voice clips and share them on the web.

With the free version, you can record clips of up to three minutes length. You can capture and publish high quality recordings quickly and even attach an image and text. The recording is automatically saved to your account, from where you can easily publish it to any website or blog.

You can also share the recordings directly through social media sites like Facebook or Twitter. Here you can add further pictures, titles and tags to your recording.

5. VC Audio Pro (Audio)

VC Audio Pro

This app lets users record as well as edit audio files on mobile phones. VC Audio Pro is therefore especially useful for reporters who need to turn raw audio files into news stories while still in the field. The produced files can be sent instantly using WiFi or a cellular connection, but can also be uploaded to any website.

According to the makers of this app, the tools have an easy-to-use interface that is compatible with newsroom systems, so that you can instantly integrate and play-out your audio files.

The VC Audio Pro app also allows you to import multiple files from your library into the app simultaneously and lets you produce stereo audio projects with recorded and imported files.

photo by Neil Boyd / flickr

6. Hindenburg Field Recorder (Audio)

With the Hindenburg Field Recorder, you can record interviews and produce whole radio programmes.

The integrated Hindenburg Call Recorder even allows you to record interviews via Skype. While recording a call, you can also play back pre-recorded sound-bites to the interviewee for commenting.

The good thing about the Hindenburg Field recorder is that both voices in an interview are recorded separately, which makes editing easy. The new version also offers options to share through SoundCloud and iTunes.

7. iMovie (Video)

iMovie is an app that allows you to create videos directly on your iPhone. You can open different videos that you have made or stored on your iPhone, add photos, music and sound effects.

The editing as such is simple. You only have to drag your finger along the time-code of the clip and crop where you think it is necessary.

photo by Wesley Fryer / flickr

In order to zoom in on the timeline, you just have to pinch it. This way a detailed clip-to-clip editing is possible.

The iMovie app is not free, but it comes with a lot of extras like trailers, themes, music and sound effects. These can be added easily and the volume can be adjusted where necessary with simple finger movements. When you have finished your video production you can either upload it to your social media accounts or just save it on your computer.

All in all, I would say even though this app costs a little bit of money, it is worth the price. Most of the functions are self-explanatory. Working with iMovie may take a little getting used to, but once you know the ropes, producing videos is quick and easy.

8. 1st Video (Video)

photo by Colin ZHU / flickr

The 1st Video app lets you create HD movies and share them on your YouTube channel. Using the two video tracks in the editor, you can mix or overlay videos and pictures. In addition, you can mix in two extra audio tracks with sound or background music. After finishing the production you can easily upload the video to YouTube, or transfer it to a computer.

Basically this app is an extended version of iMovie. It offers more, but it is also more complex. Just by taking a glance at the menu and the editing settings, you will see that 1^st Video is almost like working with a little editing studio. This app is better than iMovie for clips that need a professional touch, or in which you have to work with different channels simultaneously. The down side is that it also requires much more experience and practice.

9. Tumblr (Blogging)

Many users may already know Tumblr as a blogging site, but there is also a Tumblr app, which is available for the iPhone.

photo by Glenn Batuyong / flickr

Basically, the Tumblr app has all the functionalities of the web application and is very simple to use. Once you have taken photos, edited audios or produced your own small video clips, you can easily upload your material via Tumblr. You can upload content with a single click, and then add and edit information, whenever and wherever you like.

You can give your blog an individual look by not only choosing a theme, but also by altering the colours, sizes and fonts of the script.

The good thing about Tumblr is that it also connects you with other Tumblr users. So you can communicate directly with them and also look at their work and get inspired.

10. WordPress (Blogging)

photo by Titanas / flickr

In case you already have a WordPress blog or site, you can easily update and manage it from your iPhone with this app. You can not only add and edit comments to existing posts, but also edit entire posts or even create new ones. In addition, this app allows you to add images and videos from the library of your phone.

The WordPress app has a spellcheck function and also allows you to place links without having to type in HTML. By rotating the phone, WordPress adjusts automatically and provides you with a widescreen layout.

The WordPress app is easy to manage and just as professional as the web version

One gadget is all you need

All in all, producing journalistic content with a smartphone is practical and cheap. Practical because you’ll only be carrying one device – there is no need for a separate audio recorder, photo camera, video camera and a computer for editing.

In addition, a smartphone also costs much less than buying all this traditional reporting equipment separately.

And that fact alone makes mobile reporting with smartphones particularly relevant in the developing regions of this world – be they in Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America.

Author: Rachel Baig