Aroundsound

The Sound Of Summer

Is it a seagull’s squawk, the gentle sweep of a wave along a sandy beach or your children jumping joyfully into the hotel’s pool? In this post we’ve asked our sound artist and advisor Rick Blything about his ultimate sound of the summer this year.

Summer of Sounds

This year more than any other summer Rick has been in the right location to eagerly await the arrival of the Swifts. For those less familiar with its features, the Swift is a short-legged very fast flying animal that can spent most part of the year in continuous flight. Apart from childhood memories of hot dry summers and the sight and sound of them high above his garden, Rick’s not been in the right place.

*Listening to the sounds of your everyday*
Photo credit Joyce Huis @ Unsplash

Summer Tunes

This year however, in early May Rick was thrilled to hear them arrive from their long journey from Africa to the UK. Rick placed his microphones out of his bedroom window for a few mornings and created this miniature soundscape.

Can your hear how the high pitched screams come and go. First they appear almost hesitant, then suddenly they become louder and more forceful. As they come and go their sounds are interspersed with the everyday city sounds like that of a police siren. A summer of sounds enjoyed in the urban environment can be as beautiful an experience as capturing birds in their natural habitat. It’s one of those moments in which you pause and let the acoustics delight your senses; a way to simply let sounds inspire your everyday life.

Screaming Summer

Since then the screamers have been screeching and wheeling above and over his house throughout the days of summer. Mind you, these feathered creatures are known to form proper ‘screaming parties’. For Rick however, this peculiar calling right above his city centre house has really become his favourite sound of summer. How about your favourite sound of summer? Instead of birds, have the sounds of water along a local or far flung coastline created the perfect summer sound for you?

Sounds of Swifts in the everyday — Sounds of summer captured in your everyday.
Photo credit Eduard Militaru @ Unsplash

Soundtrack Your summer

Whichever sound it may be, we hope to have encouraged you to get out into the open and record your favourite everyday sound of summer. You’ll have to be quick to catch the Swifts though as most have already left for France or Spain and they tend to reach central Africa by mid August. Not sure how to start recording? We’ve got you covered. Simply download the Aroundsound app for iOS or Android and check out our short guide to get the best out of capturing the sounds of your everyday.

Photo credit Bruno Martins @ Unsplash

How sound can inspire your life

Sound is special, sound is powerful yet not everyone is full of inspiration as to what to notice in everyday life never mind what to record. For this reason, we’ve put together a collection of themed sounds from bird calls to underwater recordings that can inspire you to start noticing the world around in new ways.

The Power of Sound

Have you ever wondered what makes music so powerful? Why we’re touched by the sound of instruments and voices? We don’t just perceive sound through our ears, but through our entire bodies. Now, when you start to focus on sound in everyday life – not just music – but the sounds you encounter on busy streets in New York while in the outdoors listening to bird calls or on the playground with happy children all around you, you notice the sounds will make you laugh or cry, smile or frown.

New York Street Sounds
Photo credit Joshua Earle @Unsplash

Sound-spiration

At Aroundsound we believe in the power of sound – it’s ability to connect us deeper with the world around us. While our senses coexist, the visual takes the lead in our fast paced times. Memories captured using the audio instead could invite us to sharpen our listening skills and potentially intensify and experience when relieved listening to it. But how?

Imagine yourself travelling in Spain’s countryside and being surrounded by the beautiful sound of birds like sound artist Rick Blything. You could take a picture of the scenery yet when you’d look at the images later you’d miss the sonic experience. How about if you’d had taken a sound recording with your smartphone instead?

That sounds good

You’re not a sound artist so how does this relate to you? That’s simple: imagine your everyday from the perspective of sound (unless it’s related to your profession) how is it different? What sounds would you record to tell others about the world around you?

That’s why we have created public collections. Our Public Collections are themed collections of sounds or sound effects provided by Aroundsound fans and partners that you can listen to and that we think will encourage you to:

Listen to the world around you instead of predominantly seeing it
Make you curious about how sound affects your life and thus awareness
It may make you interact with nature, people, buildings or even history differently

A public collection can simply help you to fall asleep or make you aware that the deep blue sea has intricate sounds you wouldn’t necessarily become introduced to otherwise.

Deep Sea Sounds
Photo Credit Sarah Lee @Unsplash

Just get started

For those new to sound recording let us reassure you that it’s simple as 1,2,3 – just hit record on the Aroundsound app on Android or iOS (pros will use the widget), give your recording a title (description if you like) and that’s it. More often than not you may want to share the recording with your friend as you would with a picture. Why not let everyone know about the brilliant buskers you’ve just discovered by chance?

There are plenty of ways how to live the present and record special events for later. One of our fans Liz has traveled to India and laid down this mesmerising soundtrack. She was able to capture and relive this moment together with her friends and family.

Now that you know the moments of sound inspiration and also how to capture these special everyday events, you’re ready to hit record. Still unsure? Then check out our short guide to get the best out of your recordings. Happy listening!

Photo credit Mohammad Metri @ Unsplash

Now you can use Aroundsound in the dark

You asked for it and we’ve delivered! One of the most requested features is the ability to use Aroundsound in dark mode, that is with the screen being mostly dark instead of bright, and ideal low light conditions when you don’t want to be dazzled by a bright screen.

Here are some circumstances when this is ideal:

Playing a recorded bedtime story to a child in the evening (you might want to select the next story and not distract them with a bright screen)
Recording personal notes, or even your dreams, late at night
Recording gatherings, jamming sessions or lectures in low light conditions

Dark mode is now here, for our Android app to begin with, and will be coming to iPhone soon.

How do I enable dark mode then?

To enable dark mode, simply update the app, then navigate to the ‘Settings’ tab, and toggle the ‘dark mode’ selector. You can easily switch back at any time using the same method.

Your Sounds

More Sound Inspiration

Sound Inspiration

Your Collections

Don’t have Aroundsound yet? Go ahead and install the app, which is free to use for early users, so get started now without paying a thing. Just download Aroundsound here for iPhone or download Aroundsound here for Android.

Photo credit: Jack Sharp on Unsplash

Aroundsound listed as Best Free Android app 2019

We’re pleased to say that the Aroundsound Android app has been included in the highly acclaimed Techradar’s round-up of the ‘Best free Android apps for 2019’. The editors called out the simplicity and ease of use of Aroundsound as “a seemingly simple audio recording app with a surprising amount to it“.

It’s a great write up and a great description of our base offering:

“It’s designed to allow you to quickly and easily record any sound with a single tap – be it a conversation, the wind in the trees, or anything else.

Recordings are saved automatically, named based on the time of day, and given a location tag. Tapping on a recording then plays it back. Simple.

You can also adjust the recording quality, pause a recording and continue the same recording later, trim a recording or edit out unimportant parts, and share recordings with people or apps as a web link, so there’s no need for others to have the Aroundsound app or to download a file in order to listen to your recordings.

You can also change the names of your recordings and add bookmarks to important points in them, so you can easily find the key parts later. These bookmarks can even have a note attached. Plus, you can back up your recordings to the cloud, so they’ll never get lost.

There’s a lot here, but most of its stays out of the way, so if you want to stick to the basics you won’t find endless buttons and toggles intruding on the experience.”

It’s worth noting that the Aroundsound Android app has improved even further since this write up, with the following additions:

Collections – add sounds to shared collections and invite members to join and add their own sounds, or comment on yours
Inspirational sounds – see how others are using Aroundsound and find ideas for sounds to record for yourself, or just listen in
Activities – see all of your sound shares, comments and notifications in one place

Thanks to Tech Radar for including our app. You can access their full round-up here and download the Aroundsound Android app here.

Everyone’s a story teller, especially our children!

Ash is an architect by profession and mother to two young children. When she first heard about the Aroundsound app she was interested to discover whether sound recording would allow her to interact with her children and being able to capture their time together, hands-free with the screen off.

She downloaded Aroundsound and started experimenting. She found the simplicity of the app appealing and especially how easy it was to start recording without fumbling with her device and stepping out of the moment.

She quickly became a convert and has used the app to record many times together with her children. One particularly special moment was when she was listening to a piece of classical music with her daughter, Zara.

When she listens to classical music, Zara goes into her own dream world, and Ash saw this as a good opportunity to capture what Zara was thinking about the music. She quickly grabbed her phone, started recording and asked Zara what the music made her think about.

Ash was able to record her daughter telling a beautiful story with the music playing quietly in the background. A serendipitous moment that she has later been able to replay, share with family and friends, but most importantly treasure forever.

Aroundsound lets you capture those everyday moments which then turn out to be marvelous moments that are saved forever.

It’s really easy to get started recording and create a soundtrack with your children. Just download Aroundsound here for iPhone or download Aroundsound here for Android, and when you’re in that special place, hit the big red record button. You can rename and trim when you’re done and create your own collections, adding any of your recordings, then share easily with loved ones. The don’t need to have the app to listen, but if they do they can comment on collections and be notified any time you add a new story!

Liz’s Incredible India Travels

Liz started using the Aroundsound app to record memories with her two young girls and cherishes these recordings.

Not long after starting to use the app, Liz went on a trip with her sister to a wedding in India. This was going to be a trip of a lifetime for them both and Liz wanted to capture this in different ways, so she used the Aroundsound app to compliment her photos and videos.

Liz used the app while in India to capture many special experiences, that were as much about the sounds as the sights. “India is all about the hit to the senses and capturing the echoing morning prayer, the crazy-loud city streets and all the singing and music has been brilliant!”

Liz realised that capturing the sound of a place made her appreciate sound in a whole new way, and how capturing a sound only memory is very different to taking a picture or video.

“I found myself really focusing in on the sound of a place which I haven’t done before. It really changed the attention of a new moment from always being about visuals and capturing them through photography to also listening and recognising this sound is a really important part of a new experience.”

Liz also loved how the non-intrusive nature of the app allowed her to capture a very special memory from an experience during which she didn’t want to be watching being a screen or holding up her phone to video.

“I recorded the wedding we went to in India for the bride and sent her the sounds afterwards. I love how non-intrusive the app is. Just press one button and lock your phone and you can forget you’re recording and just go back to it later. I wouldn’t video record a scene with people in as it feels rude but a sound recording feels fine as they’re just part of the background hum!”

Once Liz was home she shared the sound recording of the wedding with the bride to add to her treasured memories of the day. She also sent her sister sound recordings of their memories together in India along with photos and videos of their holiday together. She loved it and said having a sound blast from a holiday really captures how you feel when you’re there.

The Aroundsound app gave Liz and her sister sound recordings that they will be able to replay and relive their incredible India trip forever.

It’s really easy to get started recording and create the soundtrack for your travels. Just download Aroundsound here for iPhone or download Aroundsound here for Android, and when you’re in that special place, hit the big red record button. You can rename and trim when you’re done and create your own collections, adding any of your recordings, then share easily with loved ones. The don’t need to have the app to listen, but if they do they can comment on collections and be notified any time you add a new story!

Piano Lessons with Kate

Kate is an experienced musician and teacher and has been teaching piano for the last 15 years. She loves to share her passion for music with others and has many students from children as young as four through to adults, conducting several hours of lessons every week.

Kate understands that the adoption of new technologies helps the teaching process between her and her students, and is always open to trying new ways to support her pupils’ practice. She also knows that remembering what was covered in a lesson can be hard for some of her pupils, especially the younger ones, and after hearing about the Aroundsound app, she figured that sound recording lessons would be a great addition to the suite of learning approaches she uses.

Kate uses the Aroundsound app to record lessons and share them with her pupils (or their parents, for the younger ones). This really helps enhance the practice as the pupils can play back the lesson and reflect on the teaching from that lesson, or listen back to how a piece should be played, and reinforce what they have been taught.

Some pupils have used the app to record their home practice and share this with Kate so she can hear how they are getting on between lessons. Kate can even leave comments on the practice shared, giving extra tips between lessons to the students and enhancing their playing.

For pupils of a young age, the recordings are particularly useful, because they can be shared directly with the parent and listened to together at home, to jog the child’s memory of what the lesson contained. It’s wonderful for the parent to hear the lesson and listen back with the child in their own time in a relaxed manner, and for less musical parents, an essential tool to supporting practice!

Kate appreciates that Aroundsound isn’t intrusive during the lesson; she is able to use it without the pupil being self-conscious as it is only the sound being recorded. She doesn’t have to hold the device to record the lesson, simply presses the record button, and pops her phone near the piano. Afterwards can add the recording into a collection for the pupil and share easily with the student and even their parents. Once the collection has been shared there is no need for Kate to share each lesson she just adds the recording of each lesson into the collection for the pupil to listen to at home.

Kate also thinks that “recording lessons and listening back is something us teachers should do more often. Private individual tuition is isolated and other teaching settings allow opportunities for regular assessment, evaluation and reflection. The recordings are useful for my ongoing pedagogical reflection and evaluation so that I can make sure the students get the best of me too.”

If you’re a music teacher, it’s really easy to get started using Aroundsound to support your lessons. Aroundsound is free to use for early users, so get started now without paying a thing. Just download Aroundsound here for iPhone or download Aroundsound here for Android. You can easily set up collections for all your pupils, and add any recordings there, then invite pupils and parents to join as members. The don’t need to have the app to listen, but if they do they can comment on collections and be notified any time you add a new recording.

Grandad Steve’s Bedtime Story Collection

Story time is often one that is most enjoyed by young and old. For our co-founder’s children Rachel, there is nothing more precious that hearing the voice of their grandad and while he lives far way, the distance has been easily overcome with audio recording.

Overcoming distance

Iris and Edith’s grandad Steve is a retired head teacher who lives 200 miles away on the south coast of England. He visits with Grandma as often as he can. One of his favourite pastimes when together with his grandchildren is reading stories. Enjoying a book together is a highlight of any visit, and there’s rarely enough time to enjoy as many stories together as they would like.

Bedtime stories for kids — Grandad Steve with his two grandchildren reading bedtime stories

After Rachel had shared some messages and recordings of her daughters through Aroundsound, Steve wondered if this could be a way to overcome the reliance on the his grandaughter’s temperament (Facetime during evenings can be tricky) and distance. He enjoyed listening to the sound of his grandaughter’s voices and wondered in turn whether they would like to hear grandad stories recorded and shared this way too. It could be the next best thing to sitting on grandad’s lap with a book!

A Collection is born

Steve dug out one of the children’s story books he had put aside for visits, recorded himself reading a story on Aroundsound and sent it to Rachel to play to the girls to see what they thought. It was an instant hit! They loved hearing grandad’s voice reading to them even when he wasn’t there. Naturally, they wanted more and so the Collection of bedtime stories with grandad Steve was born.

Steve now has a new routine. He regularly reads and records stories for Iris and Edith, who love hearing new stories coming in. Steve keeps his eye out in local charity shops looking for new books to read and share, and he even borrows favourite books from the girls while visiting to record and post back up. This means the girls get to listen to grandad reading their favourite stories as well as new stories they haven’t heard before.

Nothing is perfect

The girls listen to grandad’s stories at lots of different times during the day: when having breakfast, the car journey back from school, but their favourite time to listen to grandad is after mum and dad have finished reading their stories and its lights off time. Now instead of this being a time for tears, as story time has ended, they now drift off listening to grandad’s voice, even asking for specific stories to fall asleep to. Rachel puts the phone to flight mode and lets the stories play for 15 – 20 minutes until the girls have fallen asleep. They have even created a special Collection of stories to nod off to.

Steve loves knowing that most nights the girls fall asleep listening to his voice reading their favourite stories, something he wouldn’t have thought possible living over 200 miles away. The girls also have this special connection with their grandad, and have a Collection of stories in his voice to enjoy for years and share with their own children in time to come.

Grandad holding his grandaughter — Grandad Evatt with one of his youngest grandaughters

Overcoming distance with families need not be difficult. Audio recording is an especially good way to also bridge different time zones. It’s really easy to get started recording your own stories. Just download Aroundsound for iPhone or Android and hit the big red record button. When you’re done, share with friends and family. They don’t need to have the app to listen.

Bring your childhood to life for your grandchild

Grandparents are natural story tellers so why not tell your grandchildren what life was like when you were their age? There couldn’t be anything better than your grandchild listening to stories from your childhood in your voice!

Create your own Memoirs

Imagine being able to preserve the stories of what life was like when you were the same age as your grandchildren. What’s more, for them to be able to listen these stories over and over again regardless of time and place. Aroundsound lets you easily record and share your childhood stories with your grandchildren. Hit the red big button and start telling your story.

Grandmother with her grandchild sharing her story

While you can record your own history chronologically, you can easily send a “good luck wish” on the children’s first day at school with a story on how your first day of school went. Are the grandchildren off for their summer holidays? Send them bon voyage for their holiday with a story from your holidays at their age to entertain them on their journey.

But you don’t need a special occasion to share your memories – the everyday can contain some amazing memories. Recording is easily done while enjoying a cup of tea or anywhere ‘on the go’. Aroundsound automatically saves the recording. Give it a unique name before sharing it with your family via any messaging channel you prefer. Your family can then listen even without the Aroundsound app.

Create Collections

Why not create a Collection of stories or themes for your grandchildren? It can be bedtime stories you used to enjoy or a recount of your different life stages. Creating a Collection is simple:

Once you have recorded the press the three little dots on the right
‘Add to Collection’ is one of your options
You can also go to the Collections tab and hit the ‘+’ button.
You will be able to ‘add sounds’ directly from that new Collection

Creating memories and memoirs is easy. Download the Aroundsound app for iPhone or Android and start recording your story. Have fun and happy recording!

Photo by Johan Mouchet on Unsplash

Record and Treasure Forever your Precious Story Times

Aroundsound helps you record those easy to miss moments and treasure them forever. Record those precious story times and relive forever Mummy and Daddy’s story telling.

Aroundsound helps you record those easy to miss moments and treasure them forever. Record those precious story times and relive forever mummy and daddy’s story telling. From daddy’s deep Gruffalo to mum’s squeaky Peppa Pig, thanks to Aroundsound you will be able to play your favourite bedtime stories over and over again. Imagine in the future being able to play your grandchildren their parent’s story time!

Aroundsound lets you easily record and save bedtime stories with your children, allowing you to capture those special memories without being intrusive in the moment. Five stories into bedtime and the kids want more stories? hit play and let them fall asleep to the stories you have just read, or why not get the grandparents to record a story to end story time in a very special way?

How to record?

Parents are busy, so Aroundsound couldn’t be easier to use. Pick any story time and hit record! Aroundsound loves the everyday moments so don’t worry about waiting for a special event and hit record on the app.

Story Collection

Why not create a story collection for your children to listen and cherish your stories over and over again. It couldn’t be easier, once you have recorded the press the three little dots on the right and press add to collection, then either create a new collection or add to an existing collection. You can then find your collections by pressing collections at the bottom of the app. Want to share the collection of stories with your family? No problem, just press those 3 little dots again beside the collection and press share collection and share however you like.

Feeling inspired? Simply download the Aroundsound app on iOS or Android and hit the big red record button today.