I recently blogged about a simple app I downloaded for word counting a script from your mobile; and this one takes that post a little further still.

Because I now have a few apps that relate to the voice over world in some way, or help me out when I get enquiries in, I’ve now created a VO folder on my iPhone’s homepage to group them together. Bet you can’t guess what I called it…. –>

Firstly, Llumino. OK, granted every phone has a built in calculator, but this one is just a little bit sexier. Ok, I said it. I downloaded it because it was purely ‘funky’. It has a range of glowing buttons when you make a calculation, like a 70’s disco dancefloor.

Stop laughing at me.

Anyway. So yes, the calculator can be very handy when trying to work out a script’s time length once you’ve calculated your read speed against the total words. I know that my average corporate read pace is around 140 words per minute, so I divide the number of words in the script by that, and it gives me the rough timing as to the length of VO it will end up being. Handy.

I don’t need to mention the word count app as I talk about it in the previous blog post, which you can check out by clicking here.

Audio Tool is an app which has a range of audio functions, like decibel metre, microphone that can be used as a talk back mic in a studio/live setup. A tone generator that could be good for a studio engineer etc, as well as a scope so you can see your mic feed’s waveform like an oscilloscope. A Metronome for the musicians amongst you, a bit calculator so you can work out file sizes given a piece of audio’s estimated length, bit depth and sample rate etc. And finally, an audio atlas, which is an in-depth dictionary of buzzwords and key phrases associated with the audio world if you get a bit lost from time to time.

Not an every day kind of app, but can be useful nonetheless.

Voice Memos; a built in app which is pretty self explanatory – if you want to make a mental note and it’s easier and quicker to speak it rather than say it, or remind yourself of pronunciations on the fly so you don’t forget for when you come to record it when you’re back in your studio. A handy little app that again, is very simple, but very effective.

And finally, (so far), Røde Rec – the app for audio recording from Røde, the great microphone people. It has the capability of recording very high res audio, and recordings are fully exportable to Dropbox and SoundCloud etc. It can work with your built in mic (not great quality), but is primarily designed for use with their own new forthcoming microphone attachment, the iXY.

I actually have an iXY on order, which will hopefully be with me by the end of this month. Having done a fair bit of research into it’s sound quality with the samples I’ve heard online, it sounds fantastic, given the fact it’s recording straight onto an iPhone. With any luck, it could become my mobile recording setup of choice given it’s small size and portability. (It even comes with a windshield and a rugged carry zip case.) It’s $199USD, and I paid/will be paying about £145 from the supplier I use in the UK.

Seriously, this new bit of kit can’t arrive soon enough! Am very eager to give it a test run….

So, there we have it; for now anyway. Those are my voice over related apps of choice, and will I’m sure continue to grow as I find apps that could be useful for when I’m not at my desk. If you have any recommendations, let me know. Would love to see what other people have found and what’s making your lives easier.