iRig Recorder turns your iOS device into a professional mic

If you want to use your iOS device for recording audio, there are plenty of options and iRig Recorder, new from IK Multimedia, is one of the best.

Compatible both with IK’s own iRig Mic hardware accessory and the built-in mic on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, this is one of those apps that’s easy to use but offers plenty of extras for those want them.

Any audio you record is handily organized into folders based on the day you captured it. Files can then be edited with a cropping tool that allows you to not only trim start and end points, but to chop mistakes or other unwanted segments from the middle of a recording too.

A range of effects can be applied, including ‘Optimize Volume’, ‘Brighten Voice’, ‘Pitch Shift’ and ‘Speed Up/Down’, while finished audio can be exported by email, iTunes file sharing, wi-fi, FTP and SoundCloud. IK Multimedia clearly sees the value in the volume optimisation effect and the email export option – you have to register your email address with the company before they will unlock them for you.

In terms of what’s missing, an Undo option would be incredibly useful when editing. I managed to ruin a perfectly good recording by mistake with the app and there was no way to salvage the original. My only other criticism would be the audible ‘pop’ at the end of each recording, although it’s easy to trim it out with the editing tool.

iRig Recorder is available both as a full, paid-for app at $4.99 and a free version which offers only recording. Additional features can be unlocked in the free option via in-app purchases, although it work out as better value to buy the app outright in one go.

If you take mobile audio recording seriously, iRig Recorder is well worth a look. Here’s a recording I made with the app:

iRig Recorder test by MartinBryant