Good enough for professionals too: this is how the mobile phone becomes a top dictation machine

Many users still buy an extra dictation machine for dictations or interviews. If you have a smartphone, this is actually not necessary. With little effort, you can make good recordings like specialists.

Nobody can remember everything. In the office and in your free time, it is often cumbersome and time-consuming to write down spontaneous ideas or longer texts – with a voice recording you can record your thoughts more easily.

Until a few years ago there was no getting around dictation machines. The earlier models with cassettes have now been replaced by devices with digital storage. Smartphones are an alternative to this: with pre-installed or additional apps, they are also suitable for recording voice memos. But can mobile phones keep up with the compact recording devices, which, unlike the smart all-rounders, specialize in precisely this one task?

Always there

"Classic dictation machines have a few advantages: They are more robust and easier to use. They are cheaper, so it is less of a problem if they fall down," says Jörg Wirtgen from the trade journal "c't". Nevertheless, smartphones would now outperform dictation machines in many ways. "They record digitally and with a huge memory, you always have them with you and dictations are sent directly to the recipient," says the expert. There are also several hundred voice recorder applications in the respective app stores.

Michael Stein, who dealt with the subject of sound recording on mobile devices for the "Service Computer" section on WDR 5, is absolutely convinced of the recording quality of a smartphone. "Anyone who has a smartphone needs neither a dictation machine nor an audio recorder," says Stein. With the right hardware and software for mobile phones, perfect recordings are no problem. Even the built-in microphone can be used for this, although you shouldn't make any great demands on the sound quality. For recordings, the mobile phone should be held horizontally, preferably at a distance of around ten centimeters from the sound source. "The disadvantage here is that room noises are also recorded," says Stein.

Not every microphone fits

An external microphone should be used for better results. You should make sure that the microphone has a special connector for smartphones with four poles: A TRRS jack can be recognized by three rings on the connector. Adapters are also available for a few euros to use other microphones with only three poles. Here are two rings on the jack plug. Anyone who has bought an iPhone 7 does not have a jack input. Here you connect the microphone with the adapter supplied by Apple.

As thin as a pencil and as small as a thumbnail are microphones specially designed for smartphones that are simply plugged into the headphone jack. They are available for around 40 euros. "If necessary, you can even change the direction from which the microphone is to record using an additional angled connector. You can buy a windshield and an extension cable as accessories," explains Stein. In addition to directional microphones the size of a finger, there are also high-quality hand-held microphones – with either a Lightning connector for the iPhone or a micro-USB connector for Android devices.

Airplane mode helps

Anyone who has already bought a high-quality microphone in the past, for example for recording with a camcorder, can make it fit for their smartphone with a preamplifier. "The mini-box is docked to the smartphone with a permanently attached TRRS plug, the microphone and even headphones can also be connected," says Stein.

In most cases, the pre-installed recorder apps are sufficient. Jörg Wirtgen from "c’t" gives the advice to switch the smartphone to flight mode before recording the voice. Dictations are not interrupted by calls or messages. In addition, the apps will not open any advertising banners.

A recommended, free recording software for Android is the "PC world" according to the "dictation device" app. It offers three different audio formats in different quality levels, a variable sampling rate from 8 to 44 kilohertz and can not only record via the microphone, but also record calls. Recordings can also be edited, renamed and sent by email. "Easy Voice Recorder" is also recommended for 4 euros.

Recordings on Apple devices in MP3 and WAV are available for iOS with "Dictaphone – Audio Recorder". The recordings can be made in any length and in stereo. The adjustable microphone sensitivity and WiFi synchronization are practical. Additional features such as an adjustable playback speed or the setting of markings during recording and playback are available via in-app purchases for 99 cents each. A popular alternative is "Awesome Voice Recorder".