I’m looking for a simplistic app to record my music & singing on. Any suggestions?
Nancy 83…Older than dirt
Hi Nancy - Personally I just use my phone most of the time. It works quite well - you could certainly get better quality using nicer mics and preamps, but that starts to get more expensive and more complicated.
Most of the recordings I share on this site are just me propping up an iphone and hitting record - super simple!
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Dolby On?
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If you’ve got an iPhone - Voice Memos is very simple, and you can even turn on Lossless audio quality in settings.
For something a bit more feature rich, and therefore a bit more complicated, Garageband.
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Hi Nancy, like Paul @mathsjunky and JK @jkahn I just use my iPhone. If just recording sound then Voice Memos is very simple to use. If you want video as well then the Photos app does the job. If you get “the bug” then there is a huge amount of very good information and advice available within this section for more complicated (and expensive) ways of recording your progress. Good luck.
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That’s been my go-to! I do have the Tonewood Amp2 that sits on the back of my guitar that gives me some variation for my own ears, that I’m enjoying.
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Older iPhone, no Dolby.
Again, older iPhone, no Lossless audio quality. I’m just into simple so Garageband is out.
I also think the phone is the simplest.
The other suggestions require a computer and some mentioned particular software like GarageBand that is only for Mac as far as I know. Then you need a mic as well.
I was skeptical about using the phone and I have bought more expensive equipment but find the phone to be the easiest and most convenient and the sound quality is surprisingly good. I play (electric guitar) and sing and the most important thing for me was to position myself correctly next to the amplifier and make sure the amplifier wasn’t very loud, as my voice is quite weak.
You didn’t mention why you want to record yourself. That might be important. If it’s just so that you can hear how you sound, in order to improve your playing and singing, then the phone works great. If you want to make high quality recording then its a different matter.
It’s just for myself, but I would like to record something for the Justine site at some point.
I’m getting a Polar Go as a x-mas present. It has good stereo mics built-in and connects to your phone to automatically sync with the video. I haven’t tried it yet but will be using it for this and other recordings. Lots of good reviews online. Seems like the simplest option with good audio quality. No computer necessary.
Although there are several (mostly iPhone) suggestions to recording your singing & playing, your query was for a simplistic app, which to me means a software program (app) that runs on a PC or Mac…or did I miss something here?
A simple and free "app for a PC or Mac is the recording program called Audacity
Plug an inexpensive mic into your PC, strum and record. If you are playing an electric guitar you’ll have to get your electric output into the PC with a cable similar to this one, which I use.
If you really wanna get into a very cool digital recording app, again free, check out Fender Studio. You can add backing tracks, other instruments and jam away to your hearts content…Have fun. How this helps
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For one small step up from the voice recorder app on the iPhone is an app called “Voice Recorder: Audio Editor” (not a very stand out name) for just a few dollars.
I got this because it offered a couple of features I wanted that the built-in app didn’t offer (they might have been added since). I wanted something to help me figure out strumming patterns so I wanted to be able to record audio and play it in a loop and also be able to trim down recordings that I’d made.
I appreciate these extra features don’t sound like they’ll fit your use case but they might help someone so I thought it worth a mention. It’s a very basic app so doesn’t require learning complex software but just does a little more than the standard app
Another vote here for using your phone. The video/audio quality on an iPhone is more than good enough for self analysis and for posting your performance here on the Community.
It just takes a bit of experimentation to get the video framing correct and the audio balanced between guitar and voice.
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Dolby and lossless don’t matter for just doing simple recordings.
How old is your iPhone?
I had some problems recording with a 6s, but I have had good results with an XS Pro and 11 Pro.
The microphones on these old phones are pretty good, but the playback on the tiny phone speaker - not so great. You will get a much better idea of how you really sound with an external speaker or headphones.
One other tip… I bought a cheap tripod, phone mount, and Bluetooth remote off Amazon… Less than $40 Canadian, IIRC. This makes setting up and finding the recording sweet spot for both your guitar and your voice much much easier!
OBS Studio is free on Windows and is able to record video and audio. But you need an interface for it.
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Let me now how that well that works!
I’m curious to know if u like the Polar Go?
Do you have a computer with internet access and a USB data port? About 2 years ago I bought a ZOOM Q2N video recorder because I wasn’t thrilled with the recordings from my phone. $209 on Amazon w/ a tabletop tripod and a 32 GB Scan Disk memory card. It records stereo audio up to 24-bit / 96 kHz and video up to 4K. (Whatever that means) 
It also has a built in card reader so you can easily transfer recordings to your computer. I also use the free version of Moises for backing tracks. After recording, I upload to a free video editor called Clipchamp. (Microsoft) Free online video editor | Microsoft Clipchamp You can edit out the start and end of the videos, adjust volume and add titles and such. I’m not sure if this is what you meant, but these work well for me.
That doesn’t sound simple to me, but someone will find it useful! Thanks for the info.
Nancy
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