Editors' Blog | Journalism.co.uk » Audio

Audio Notetaker, software for adding notes to audio, launches Mac version

Sarah Marshall — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:19:42 +0000

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.Similar Posts:

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – using online audio platforms

Rachel McAthy — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:44:30 +0000

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.Similar Posts:

App of the week for journalists – iSaidWhat?

Sarah Marshall — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:32:30 +0000

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.Similar Posts:

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – audio and photo slideshow inspiration

Rachel McAthy — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:10:11 +0000

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.Similar Posts:

Tool of the week for journalists – The Interviewr

Sarah Marshall — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:29:35 +0000

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.

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App of the week for journalists – iRig Recorder, for recording, trimming and sharing audio

Sarah Marshall — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:19:35 +0000

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.Similar Posts:

App of the week for journalists – Voddio, for slideshows and video

Sarah Marshall — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:52:03 +0000

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.Similar Posts:

App of the week for journalists – TinyVox, for recording and sharing audio notes

Sarah Marshall — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:55:13 +0000

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.

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Ten ways journalists can use SoundCloud

Sarah Marshall — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:43:41 +0000

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 founderSimilar Posts:

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – use Transcribe for typing quotes from audio

Sarah Marshall — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:45:49 +0000

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.Similar Posts:

App of the week for journalists – DropVox, for saving audio to Dropbox

Sarah Marshall — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:45:27 +0000

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.Similar Posts:

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – reporting on violence panel discussion

Rachel McAthy — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 17:40:40 +0000

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.Similar Posts:

Ten free apps in the Chrome web store that journalists should know about

Sarah Marshall — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:17:16 +0000

Google’s Chrome web store, containing web apps, browser extensions, games and themes, launched in the UK in September following a US release in February.

You can access the store via the Chrome browser homepage and toggle between your “most visited” websites and available “apps”.

Here are 10 free apps and extensions in the Chrome web store that are useful tools for journalists.

1. Duedil

This is the browser extension enhancing an invaluable site for journalists working across all sectors. Duedil allows you to view company financial information, lists of directors and more in clear graphs and charts.

Click on any website and then the browser extension and you can look up the financial information on that firm. It may need assistance in recognising the correct company, however.

For example, if I am on the Guardian’s website and click the browser extension, I will get details for a company called Guardian Education Interactive. I must then select “not the company I am looking for” and enter Guardian Media Group. Clicking on a director’s name, such as in this case Alan Rusbridger, links me through to the full Duedil website.

2. SocialBro

This is a web app for Twitter and social media analytics. Sync your account/s and you will see a dashboard where you can find out the best time to tweet, map your followers and see the ratio of followers to friends.

3. News readers

Okay, this is a group of browser extensions and web apps but worth mentioning as one category. The Guardian, Independent, and several other national newspapers have opted for Chrome extensions, allowing you to read the headlines from your browser.

The New York Times has opted for a web app with more story detail, which fills the browser.

4. iPiccy

This web app is a simple image photo editor and handy for any journalists who have to prepare images for the web.

5. Transcribe

If you record interviews and play them back later to transcribe them this is a must have app. It gets round the problem of playing audio in one application (such as iTunes) and then writing in a text document.

Add your mp3 or wav audio file and you can transcribe by typing in the box below the player. It also works offline. One of the great features are the short cuts: alt+p = pause/resume, alt+i = rewind two seconds, alt+o = forward two seconds.

6. Mappeo

Mappeo is a useful web app for regional reporters or anyone covering a localised story, such as a protest. Open the app and you will see a map of geolocated videos that have been uploaded to YouTube. You can click on the icon to launch and play the video.

7. Aviary audio editor

This is a great free app for broadcast journalists and podcasters. Simply upload audio in a variety of formats, select whether this is private to you or public, and decide how you want to licence it.

8. SEO SERP

There are lots of SEO tools in the Chrome web store. SEO SERP is a useful browser extension for any journalists mindful of web traffic and keywords.

For example, type “journalism jobs” and see Journalism.co.uk is top of the Google rankings, or (as below) type in keywords such as Leveson and see who is ranked top.

9. TinEye

Add this browser extension, right click on a picture or upload an image and you can find out where else it has been used. It could be a valuable journalism tool to verify photographs. It can even scan for reversed images.

10. Kindle it

This is a handy option for Kindle users. It allows you to send web pages to your Kindle for reading later.

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SoundCloud launches HTML5 widget viewable on iPhone and iPad

Sarah Marshall — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:36:03 +0000

SoundCloud has today released an HTML5 player enabling audio recordings embedded in news stories to be viewed on an iPhone or iPad.

The move will no doubt be welcomed by news organisations and podcasters, keen to embed audio in posts but aware that the iPad and iPhone audience cannot view them as Apple devices do not support Flash.

In an announcement SoundCloud lists the features of the public beta version of its widget and named those who have been using the first test version.

iPad/iPhone mobile support
Attractive new waveform design encourages more interactivity with the sound
Timed comments now are more usable on the widget (at the request of users)
Easier to view information about the sound (e.g. title, person)
Easier sharing (e.g. Facebook Like, Google+ and Twitter sharing options)

In addition, this HTML5 widget is the first move to provide creators with clearer indicators of possible sharing actions and further transitions SoundCloud away from a pure music player to more robust, interactive sound object. Thus far, Britney Spears, Big Time Rush, Wattpad, Intelligence Squared (a global forum for live debate), Future Human Podcast and West African Democracy Radio have been using SoundCloud’s HTML5 widget and as this beta test is the first iteration, subsequent versions will include even more social elements. The public beta is built on a new HTML5 technology platform that will allow SoundCloud to add new features to the widgets at a faster pace from now on.

Last month, SoundCloud announced a partnership with Storify, allowing users to add SounCloud recordings to the curation site.Similar Posts:

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to perform integrated storytelling

Rachel McAthy — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:09:14 +0000

In this podcast Journalism.co.uk’s technology correspondent Sarah Marshall finds out some useful tips on the different ways journalists and news organisations can use a multitude of publishing tools to tell integrated stories, across text, audio, social media and video.

The podcast features advice from the integrated storytelling panel at news:rewired – connected journalism: multimedia producer Adam Westbrook, co-founder of Storify Xavier Damman and executive producer for Guardian.co.uk Stephen Abbott.

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.Similar Posts: