Freelance journalist Christopher Goodfellow has written a blog post recommending Skype for interviews.

His post recommends a call recorder and details the cost-saving potential.

It’s also worth reading:

• 10 fantastic apps, tips and tools for recording audio
• How to record a Skype call on an iPad / iPhone
• How to record phone interviews

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

• App of the week for journalists: SkyRecorder, for recording Skype calls on iPhone/iPad
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to set up a recording studio
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – A great iPhone app to record and edit audio
• Tool of the week for journalists – The Interviewr
• App of the week for journalists – DropVox, for saving audio to Dropbox

On Poynter there’s a detailed ‘how-to’ by Casey Frechette which runs through 10 tips on improving the way audio is produced and presented in multimedia output.

He writes that “sound can make or break a multimedia production”, and as a result offers a collection of tips on getting it right, from understanding and using four different types of audio in projects to introducing “layers to create richer sound”.

Here is his full list.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – driving traffic from YouTube
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – avoiding common video storytelling mistakes
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – apps and tools for ‘facilitating the reporting process’
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – toolkits for journalists
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – key elements to podcasting

If you are interested in advice on how to set up a studio in order to record podcasts or audio interviews, this post from Transform.org has some valuable advice.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – advice for using Skype and recording calls
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – try ScraperWiki’s new screencasts
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – getting into music journalism
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – use Transcribe for typing quotes from audio
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – who journalists should follow on Twitter

Audio Notetaker, software designed to help journalists record interviews, organise quotes and add notes and images to specific points in a recording, has launched a Mac version.

The software, made by UK-based company Sonocent, has previously been available for PCs.

It is also aimed at students attending lectures and people attending meetings with a need to record and navigate through audio.

Both versions offer a 30-day free trial, which allows you to test it out before you buy.

The platform allows you to import or record audio, displaying it as bars (see picture below). The spaces between bars signify pauses where the speaker has taken a breath between sentences.

Audio Notetaker also allows you to re-order and edit the recording.

You can highlight various bars, making it easy to find a quote in the recording, no doubt a useful feature for journalists working on a complex and legally sensitive story as audio can be labelled.

The free trial version comes with a lengthy tutorial introducing you to the platform.

After the month-long period trial expires costs are £47.99 for a once-year licence or £95.99 for a a full licence.

• How to record audio interviews using Facebook’s new video option
• App of the week for journalists – iRig Recorder, for recording, trimming and sharing audio
• App of the week for journalists – Hindenburg field recorder
• Five nifty ideas for journalists using SoundCloud
• Ten fantastic apps, tips and tools for recording audio

In a Poynter how-to Jim Colgan gives a useful run through of three tools being used by journalists working with audio online – SoundCloud, AudioBoo and Broadcastr – and as well as giving pointers on the different ways these can be used for reporting, Colgan also offers plenty of links to examples of how news sites have used each to produce content. Poynter’s post can be found here.

Journalism.co.uk also has more on SoundCloud and AudioBoo at these links.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – using Geocommons to map data
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – getting to grips with programming
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – improving your video journalism skills
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – covering traumatic events
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – working with developers on data

App of the week: iSaidWhat?

Operating systems: Apple (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad)

Cost: £0.69

What is it and how is it of use to journalists? iSaidWhat? is a well thought out audio app that allows you to record and edit clips.

It allows you to alter the recording input level, write a script that you can access from the main recording screen and edit by trimming and arranging clips. You can share clips via email (via m4a or wav formats) or over a wireless network.

Reviews: It gets three stars in iTunes App Store.

Recommended by: ABC NSW political reporter @MarkTobinSydney, ABC news reporters @RyanSheales and ABC journalist @Wendycarlisle

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.

• App of the week for journalists – 1st Video, to record and edit video on your iPhone or iPad
• App of the week for journalists – iRig Recorder, for recording, trimming and sharing audio
• App of the week for journalists – TCoder
• App of the week for journalists – DropVox, for saving audio to Dropbox
• App of the week for journalists – Photoshop Express, for photo editing on the fly

If you’re interested in creating audio and/or photo slideshows on news events you may find some inspiration in the selection collected here by the Online News Association.

The ONA’s post also features a link to a previous article which outlines how to use Final Cut Pro to produce such slideshows, as a possible “alternative to Soundslides”.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – using Soundslides
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – search engines for journalists
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – live streaming on Facebook
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – publishing data online
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – iPad app development

Tool of the week: The Interviewr

What is it? A tool to schedule, record and archive interviews

How is it of use to journalists? The Interviewr has been designed for journalists. It allows you to schedule phone interviews, add notes and questions you want to ask, record and store the audio, and upload related files.

Free to use, the Intreviewr uses Twilio to power the recording of phone calls. After entering your phone number (with a +44 at the start, if you are in the UK) and the interviewee’s number (again with the country code), both will receive a call at the scheduled time and the conversation will automatically be recorded. You will then be able to download it and play it back.

The Interviewr is still in beta and is developing a subscriber service. There is also an iPhone app (priced at £1.99), allowing you to start the interview and playback the audio from your phone.

• App of the week for journalists: SkyRecorder, for recording Skype calls on iPhone/iPad
• Tool of the week for journalists: Transcribe, a Chrome web app that saves time
• How to record audio interviews using Facebook’s new video option
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – advice for using Skype and recording calls
• Ten fantastic apps, tips and tools for recording audio

App of the week: iRig Recorder

Operating systems: Apple (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad)

Cost: £2.99 (there is also a free version)

What is it and how is it of use to journalists? iRig Recorder is a fantastic audio app, an essential for broadcast journalists, podcasters and anyone wanting to turn their iPhone into a high quality recording device.

The huge benefit of this app is the ease with which it enables you to trim audio and upload it, making it easy to edit out a fluffed introduction or an interruption at the end of an interview.

You can also clean the sound before exporting to SoundCloud, uploading to FTP, transferring to iTunes, by email or over a wireless network.

At Journalism.co.uk we use this app to record face-to-face interviews, immediately uploading the audio to our SoundCloud account (where we have acquired almost 4,000 followers).

Reviews: It gets three stars in iTunes App Store.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.

• App of the week for journalists – DropVox, for saving audio to Dropbox
• Five nifty ideas for journalists using SoundCloud
• App of the week for journalists: SkyRecorder, for recording Skype calls on iPhone/iPad
• App of the week for journalists – VC Audio Pro, a must-have for radio journalists
• Ten ways journalists can use SoundCloud

App of the week: Voddio

Operating systems: Apple (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad)

Cost: Free (you will need to pay £2.49 to unlock the sending and sharing functions)

What is it and how is it of use to journalists?

Voddio allows you to record and edit audio and video in multitrack and produce audio slideshows.

It is the latest app from Vericorder, which makes apps for journalists, and combines the functionality from its other paid-for apps – 1st Video, VC Audio Pro and Showcase – in a single app, which is free to download.

Voddio has has the ability to produce richer slideshows than earlier app Showcase, introducing titles and transitions for images.

After testing and creating audio, video and slideshows users can then opt to pay to unlock the sending and sharing functions.

Reviews

There are not enough ratings to display an average star rating.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.

• App of the week for journalists – Showcase, for creating audio slideshows
• John D. McHugh ‘War in multimedia’ – livestreamed from the Frontline Club @ 7pm
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – audio and photo slideshow inspiration
• App of the week for Journalists: DropSync for Android – syncs with DropBox
• App of the week for journalists – 1st Video, to record and edit video on your iPhone or iPad

App of the week: TinyVox

Operating systems: Apple (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) and Android

Cost: £0.69 / £1.27

What is it and how is it of use to journalists? TinyVox allows you to record audio, add text and share the mp3 recording via email, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and SoundCloud.

Designed to look like a dictaphone, the app is a handy way for journalists to record interviews or memos and add associated written notes.

It is worth clicking the settings button and making recordings “high quality”, if you want broadcast-quality audio.

Audio is also posted online to a unique URL (the app should not be used for confidential recordings), which includes additional sharing options and the ability to embed the player within a post.

Ratings: Apple has not yet received enough reviews to rate the app.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.

• App of the week for journalists – DropVox, for saving audio to Dropbox
• App of the week for journalists – Voddio, for slideshows and video
• App of the week for journalists – iRig Recorder, for recording, trimming and sharing audio
• App of the week for journalists – VC Audio Pro, a must-have for radio journalists
• App of the week for journalists – Showcase, for creating audio slideshows

Audio platform SoundCloud has been around since 2007 but it is only this year that it has really taken off as a space for the spoken word as well as music.

Here are 10 ways it can be used by broadcast and digital journalists:

1. Record and share audio. You can do this from a computer or your smartphone or tablet. SoundCloud has apps for iPhone/iPad and Android but consider using one of the third-party iPhone apps that allow you to edit or trim before uploading directly to SoundCloud.

VC Audio Pro (£3.99) (a previous Journalism.co.uk app of the week) allows you to do a full multitrack edit before uploading to SoundCloud.

Try iRig Recorder (free for the basic app, £2.99 for the one with full functionality) and FiRe Studio (£2.99). Both allow you to trim and alter levels before uploading.

At Journalism.co.uk we’ve been uploading audio interviews and podcasts to our SoundCloud account, gathering over 2,800 followers and engaging with a new audience.

2. Search for sources. If you are looking for quotes or audio from a news event, search SoundCloud much in the way you would hunt down videos on YouTube. You will then be tasked with verifying the recordings, facing the same challenges as checking reports posted on Twitter and YouTube.

SoundCloud has an advanced search function which allows you to search the “spoken” category for a keyword. There is also an option of searching for content under a creative commons licence. Try searching for Japan earthquake, Arab Spring or Occupy Wall Street to see the type of content available.

3. Discoverability. As with other platforms, SoundCloud hosts content that goes viral and has an embed option so you can post it to your site. Take this interview with US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. It is a message to her South Arizona constituents, her first since being shot in the head in January. It’s clocked up over 21,000 plays, and demonstrates the benefits of SoundCloud’s commenting system.

4. Create maps. You’ll need to get some help from SoundCloud, but the team can create a bespoke map to allow you to crowdsource audio or plot recordings from in-house reporters. Ben Fawkes from Soundcloud told Journalism.co.uk how you do this, explaining that all you will need to do is define a location and define a hashtag and audio will then be automatically plotted. Take a look at this example of a map created with audio from Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival.

5. Use the new HTML5 player. If you embed SoundCloud audio in blog posts you should be aware of the new HTML5 player. The standard player is Flash meaning it won’t work on iPhones and iPads. Instead, when copying the embed code click on the “customise player” and toggle through the tags to the HTML5 option.

6. Consider a customised player. There are options to customise the player, including adding photos, such as this example used on the London Literature Festival site.

7. Invite user-generated audio content. Encourage your audience to submit audio into a drop box. You can embed the SoundCloud drop box widget on your site and ask readers to upload their own audio. Here’s an example of NPR adding a widget to encourage listeners to share their summer music memories.

Another option is to consider an embeddable record button on your site. At present this will require some developer assistance but SoundCloud is now working on making an easy option so sites can add a button and encourage user-generated audio content to be submitted directly. Here is an example of a record button being used on a musician’s site. This is a different option, of a mapped audio tour guide of Dorchester, Boston, where readers can submit audio via a record button on the site.

There’s also the option of gathering audio via phone calls, as Chatter.fm has done by using Twilio technology.

Another option for user-generated content (UGC) is to use SoundCloud’s importer tool to allow readers/listeners (or your reporters) to submit audio via email or smartphone.

8. Prepare to add SoundCloud sharing to your news organisation’s app. SoundCloud is working on an iOS and Android sharing kit, which will mean you can submit audio to SoundCloud via your own app. You could encourage readers or reporters to submit stories/field recordings to your app and have the audio uploaded to SoundCloud so that it’s shareable, streamable and has all the relevant meta data.

9. Record a phone interview using SoundCloud. There are easier ways but this is a good option for when you need to record an interview and are armed only with a mobile phone. Make a three-way phonecall by calling this number, dial your interviewee and the SoundCloud line will then record your account. You can then upload the audio publicly or privately.

10. Get your audio transcribed. Speaker Text is a transcription company that is integrated with SoundCloud. It takes 48-72 hours to be transcribed and costs 99 cents a minute.  It’s a way of making audio search engine optimised but you can also link to a certain sentence within the audio, for example referencing a quote or comment.

Related posts: News organisations are increasingly using SoundCloud, says founder

• Five nifty ideas for journalists using SoundCloud
• App of the week for journalists – TinyVox, for recording and sharing audio notes
• You can now add SoundCloud recordings to Storify
• BBCInternetBlog: BBC begins to roll out embed function on news videos
• Ten fantastic apps, tips and tools for recording audio

If you record interviews and listen back to take quotes, there is a handy web app you should know about.

Transcribe is a free web app available in the Chrome web store that allows you to upload an mp3 or wav file and then type your text below.

It has two main benefits over listening back to an interview via another player. Firstly, it saves you toggling between an audio player or iTunes and your text document or CMS. It also has a nifty pause button that automatically plays from a second or two before the point at which you stopped the recording. It may not sound like a particularly ingenious tool but this is a really helpful feature.

The app also works offline, it automatically saves your text and it has short cuts to rewind, fast forward and pause.

Click this link for 10 free Chrome web apps that journalists should know about.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

• Tool of the week for journalists: Transcribe, a Chrome web app that saves time
• Ten free apps in the Chrome web store that journalists should know about
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – try SocialBro for real-time Twitter analytics
• Tool of the week for journalists – Dipity timelines
• App of the week for journalists – DropVox, for saving audio to Dropbox

App of the week: DropVox

Operating systems: Apple (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad)

Cost: £1.49

What is it and how is it of use to journalists? DropVox is a voice recorder that automatically saves your audio to your Dropbox account, a free service that allows you to store files and access them from any device.

DropVox provides a simple voice recorder which saves to Dropbox as you press the stop button, allowing you to record another memo or interview while your audio is saving.

The advantage for journalists is the ability to record an interview on a phone or iPad and then access the audio from any computer.

Unfortunately it does not record broadcast quality audio and the iPhone’s own voice memo will give far better sound despite also recording as an m4a.

DropVox uploads best via a wireless connection but short interviews can be transferred by 3G.

Reviews: It gets five stars in iTunes App Store.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.

• App of the week for journalists: SkyRecorder, for recording Skype calls on iPhone/iPad
• App of the week for journalists – iRig Recorder, for recording, trimming and sharing audio
• App of the week for journalists – Hindenburg field recorder
• App of the week for Journalists: DropSync for Android – syncs with DropBox
• App of the week for journalists – iSaidWhat?

The Dart Center blog has audio from a panel debate discussing the difficulties of reporting on “violence and tragedy” as a journalist, which according to this post, features journalist Marianne McCune and a former winner of a Dart Award Rob Perez.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to perform integrated storytelling
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – covering street protests
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – audio and photo slideshow inspiration
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