Comparison of Sound / Audio Recording Applications on Android LG Revolution

Here are some notes i took while comparing the features and audio quality on four Android audio recording applications I just tested on my LG Revolution phone.

The good news is that with a high quality recording app, the microphone on the LG Revolution turns out to be quite good. Mono, of course.

========== Audio Recording Apps

==== High quality voice and music recording

RecForge (Lite/Pro)
	Folder/File selection is on main screen
	By default records to SD Card: G:\RecForge\*.wav, *.mp3  after first installation
	If you navigate elsewhere, it will record there.
	If you quit from the menu and reenter, it will return to where you were located in previous session, and record there unless you cd
	WAV, MP3, or OGG formats
	Sample rates of 8, 11, 22, or 44 kHz
	16b
	Mono/Stereo
	Good capture of highs/sibilants
	Very good quality with either mp3 or wav
	Mono MP3 is 485KB/31sec:  16KB/sec
		Can auto convert WAVs to MP3, optionally deleting WAV
	Lite limits the time of compressed recordings
	Cons: 
	    ~three second load time
	Pros:
	    .WAV capable
	    Folder structure is explicit in the UI.


Hi-Q MP3 (Lite)
	MP3, bit rates of 128 (CD), 96, 64, or 32 (voice) kbps
	Records to Recordings folder on SD card
		Internal  G:/Recordings/*.mp3
	.MP3 file/codec (high quality 44kHz sampling available)
	633KB/40sec:   16KB/sec
	Good capture of highs/sibilants
	Very good quality with mp3
	Pros:
	    Instant load time (but dialog for free version must be dismissed)
	    Input gain control (“experimental”)
	Cons:
	     Record button-to-record delay:   about 2 seconds on first recording
	     Doesn’t offer an uncompressed format
	     Little or no control of where recording files are put.


==== Voice recording – low quality, loss of sibilants and highs

Rehearsal Assistant
	Compressed, or WAV
	Records to Internal G:\urbanstew.RehearsalAssistant
	Configural Email default settings
	Projects
	.3GP file/codec
	Some loss of highs/sibilants
	Very small file:   Mono, 68KB/22sec ~= 3KB/sec

VoiceRecorder (Preloaded on my LG Revolution)
	AMR   (use AVS Audio Converter or the like on PC to convert)
	Records to either internal memor or SD card
		SD Card F:/my_sounds/*.amr
	Some added warble/vibrato
	Loss of highs/sibilants
	.AMR file/codec

============ AMR audio info
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Multi-Rate_audio_codec
• Sampling frequency 8 kHz/13-bit (160 samples for 20 ms frames), filtered to 200–3400 Hz.
• The AMR codec uses eight source codecs with bit-rates of 12.2, 10.2, 7.95, 7.40, 6.70, 5.90, 5.15 and 4.75 kbit/s.
• Generates frame length of 95, 103, 118, 134, 148, 159, 204, or 244 bits for bit rates 4.75, 5.15, 5.90, 6.70, 7.40, 7.95, 10.2, or 12.2 kbit/s, respectively
• AMR utilizes Discontinuous Transmission (DTX), with Voice Activity Detection (VAD) and Comfort Noise Generation (CNG) to reduce bandwidth usage during silence periods

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