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How to Make Something Not Sound Like It Was Recorded on a Phone

Modern cell phones have an impressive range of applications and tools. One tool that is particularly useful for musicians is the voice recorder. When you're out and about and an idea comes to you, your cell phone may be the only place you can record it. While the cell phone can be a handy tool, the sound quality is often poor. You can manipulate and edit the sound file from your phone to make it sound like it wasn't recoded on a phone.

Things You'll Need

  • Music production software
  • USB data cable
  • Computer
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Instructions

  1. Preparation

    • 1

      Save the file to your computer. Connect a your cell phone's USB data cable to the USB socket on your computer. When prompted, select "Transfer Data" or "Back Up Files." The option you get depends on the make and model of your phone, but both options transfer files from cell phone to computer. Save audio files to your desktop.

    • 2

      Open your preferred music production software, such as Logic or Cubase. Double-click the desktop icon. It may take 20 seconds for the program to fully load. If the icon is not located on your PC desktop, click "Start", select "Programs" and select the program from the list. If using a Mac, hover over the dock at the bottom of the screen until it enlarges. Click the "Applications" folder and select the program from there.

    • 3

      Import the file into your music production software. Select "File," "Import File" and the select the file from the desktop. This process opens the file in your music production program, from where you edit and alter it.

    Cleaning Up the Sound

    • 4

      Click "File" and select "New Audio Track." Drag the cell phone audio file into the track channel strip.

    • 5

      Equalize the file. From the tools menu, select "Equalization." This lets you cut out bad frequencies and enhance good frequencies. Tweak the frequency band sliders until the sound becomes clearer.

    • 6

      Add reverb. Select your preferred reverb type from the "Effects" menu. A reverb toolbar will open. Increase the "depth," "time" and "decay." "Depth" governs the intensity of the reverb. The higher the "depth" setting, the stronger the effect. "Time" governs the length of time the effect lasts for and "Decay" governs how abruptly or slowly the effect fades away. Cell phone microphones heavily compress the sound, so your file is already very compressed. You can't remove compression that is added at source, but reverb softens the edges of a compressed sound.

    Disguising the Source

    • 7

      Add compression. If you add sufficient effects and processing, the characteristic audio qualities caused by using your cell phone won't be audible. By adding further compression, a listener will hear the compression as a creative effect, rather than the shortcomings of your cell phone.

    • 8

      Click "Effects" and select "Delay." Set the "Delay Time" low and "Feedback" parameter high. With the parameters set high, delay causes a sound to repeat on itself. Because the delay time is low, the repeats overlap. The feedback setting dictates how many times the sound repeats. This combination will hide the beginning and end of the source sound, often the biggest giveaway that something was recorded on a cell phone.

    • 9

      Add a noise-gate. Open "Tools" and select "Gates and Limiters." Set the "Threshold" low and the gate will clip off the start of the sound. Set the "Decay" high and the gate will cut off the end of the sound. This will hide the residual noise of your cell phone.

Recording Music

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