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It was during the mid-2000s where we started to see a huge shift in a musicians and recording enthusiasts shift from using high grade dedicated equipment to furnish their needs to relatively less expensive computer software. Now we are seeing the sequel to this, turning to our mobile devices for audio related tasks. It was just a few years ago where companies started putting out dedicated audio field recorders (i.e. Zoom) which generated a lot of public excitement. CRT Apps has released Audio Recorder Hifi (ARH), which with the right Windows Phone device, can take the place of any dedicated field recorder with the fidelity and quality to boot.

Why  ARH?

Audio Recorder Hifi is not your general purpose phone audio recorder. The Hifi moniker signals that it is dedicated to producing the highest quality recordings. While that is subjective, ARH promises true 48kHZ Lossless PCM recordings at its highest setting. This is a big deal as this exceeds CD quality audio and the focus of what most standard stock mobile audio recording apps deliver. To be fair, for this to work, the device you are using must have a high quality microphone capable of recording such audio. CRT Apps cites the Nokia Lumia 920 and 1020 as being such devices.

The buck does not stop there. In addition to being able to record at 48KHZ, ARH includes level meters, and the option to record at different sample rates. To the non-musician/audio engineer, each sample rate/recording quality level has information about it to communicate what setting each would be best for.  To access this, while on the “Record Ready” page, tap the three dots at the bottom of the display. Settings include HIFI 48KHZ, CD 44.1KHZ, RADIO 32KHZ, Standard 16KHZ, Phone 8KHZ and AAC Compressed. Most of these settings are self-explanatory.

What you need to remember is that the higher the setting, the more memory the recording will take up. Be sure to have a memory card with a generous size if you plan on doing lengthy recordings. The app listing suggests situations such as recitals, conversations or other general purpose recordings being where this app would receive its most use. We would like to take this a step further. We record commercials and remote videos from time to time and drag along our Zoom pocket recorders. These relatively expensive recorders usually have clip mics attached to them. We typically record audio and then import them to our computer for editing. It would be awesome to just attach a mic to our smartphone and fire up this app in the field.

That said, we can see this free ad-supported app being used in a variety of situations, perhaps more situations than the developer intended.

What Else?

The features do not stop with just audio recording. Clips can be organized into different folders and can have photos and notes attached to them. You can also export your clips to Music Hub and One Drive. Furthermore, you can record while the lock screen is up and recording can take place in the background while you use your device for other tasks. A nice touch!

Verdict

It is always nice to see apps released for the WindowsPhone8 platform and high quality ones with professional use in mind. We enjoy the modern sleek design of and simplicity of the user interface, the ability to export files to folders and of course, having so many options in the audio recording department. As the processors of most WindowsPhone8 devices are relatively fast, we would love to see this developer release stereo recorders and maybe even multitrack recorders. There is a market and the Marketplace could use some more high quality apps. If you crave high quality audio recording, you should give this app a look, and if you are professional, then this is a no brainer.

GMA.