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HOW TO RECORD YOUR PARROT

Recording how-to: You don’t need special equipment to make recordings of your parrot; your phone will do just fine. Following a few simple steps during recording will help us get the most out of your audio.

Recording File information: Please note that the survey will allow you to upload multiple recordings. If possible, make several short files that include only a single phrase from the bird (each with a matched model sound). If you only have long recordings with many songs, words, or phrases, we appreciate you editing them into multiple clips (see below for software suggestions). If that is not possible, long recordings are also useful to us. If you upload a long recording, please make a model file that is a single long recording of yourself speaking or whistling all of the phrases that the bird used.​ The maximum file upload size in the survey is 50MB. 
QUIET ROOM
​Try to keep background noise to a minimum when recording. Close the windows, turn off the TV or Radio, and put your phone on mute to avoid noise from an incoming call.
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GET CLOSE
​The recording quality is best when you are close to the parrot. Try to get as close as is comfortable for you and the bird; avoid recording from the other end of the room.
MICROPHONE LOCATION
​Be aware of the position of the mic on your phone. Direct the microphone toward the bird and try to not accidentally cover it with your finger. On most phones, the microphone is located at the bottom and sometimes next to the camera.
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APP SETTINGS
​Check the settings of your recording app and opt for the best quality. Avoid settings and file formats that use compression. If you can, try to select a lossless format for your recording. If this is impossible in the app you're using or you don't know how to do it - that's fine!
FILE FORMAT
​If you can select a file format in your recording app, choose the WAV format. Formats like MP3 are compressed, meaning some information in the audio is lost. Other file formats are still informative, but WAV is ideal.
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SHORT CLIPS
​If you can, please upload short clips of the relevant words or melodies rather than long recordings that include stretches of silence or other sounds.
UPLOAD OLD RECORDINGS
​If you already have a lot of good recordings of your parrot, feel free to use those. If you only have video recordings of your parrot, you can submit those or convert them into audio files first. On a PC, you can isolate the audio through free software like Audacity or VLC. Please choose a WAV file format if possible.
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DON’T FORGET THE MODEL
​After you get a good recording of your parrot, please audio record the learning source so that we can compare the model and the bird. If you recorded a good clip of your bird whistling a tune, use the same recording settings and techniques to record yourself whistling that tune. If your bird said a phrase, record yourself saying that phrase. By comparing the bird sounds to your sounds (and then doing the same thing for lots of birds) we can evaluate what types of sounds parrots learn best.

RECORDING APP SUGGESTIONS

If you don’t have a recording app on your phone or want to have more settings available, you can use one of the apps below.
iPhone: 
Android:

EDITING APP SUGGESTIONS

Audio: 
  • Audacity (https://www.audacityteam.org/). This is a free audio editing program that can handle many types of audio files and has a lot of features. 
Video: 
We are very grateful for any recordings you can provide and appreciate your effort!