Develop Reference

Increase volume output of recorded audio

I am trying to make a call recording app in Android. I am using loudspeaker to record both uplink and downlink audio. The only problem I am facing is the volume is too low. I've increased the volume of device using AudioManager to max and it can't go beyond that.
I've first used MediaRecorder, but since it had limited functions and provides compressed audio, I've tried with AudioRecorder. Still I havn't figured out how to increase the audio. I've checked on projects on Github too, but it's of no use. I've searched on stackoverflow for last two weeks, but couldn't find anything at all.
I am quite sure that it's possible, since many other apps are doing it. For instance Automatic Call recorder does that.
I understand that I have to do something with the audio buffer, but I am not quite sure what needs to be done on that. Can you guide me on that.
Update:-
I am sorry that I forgot to mention that I am already using Gain. My code is almost similar to RehearsalAssistant (in fact I derived it from there). The gain doesn't work for more than 10dB and that doesn't increase the audio volume too much. What I wanted is I should be able to listen to the audio without putting my ear on the speaker which is what lacking in my code.
I've asked a similar question on functioning of the volume/loudness at SoundDesign SE here. It mentions that the Gain and loudness is related but it doesn't set the actual loudness level. I am not sure how things work, but I am determined to get the loud volume output.

You obviously have the AudioRecord stuff running, so I skip the decision for sampleRate and inputSource. The main point is that you need to appropriately manipulate each sample of your recorded data in your recording loop to increase the volume. Like so:
int minRecBufBytes = AudioRecord.getMinBufferSize( sampleRate, AudioFormat.CHANNEL_IN_MONO, AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT );
// ...
audioRecord = new AudioRecord( inputSource, sampleRate, AudioFormat.CHANNEL_IN_MONO, AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT, minRecBufBytes );
// Setup the recording buffer, size, and pointer (in this case quadruple buffering)
int recBufferByteSize = minRecBufBytes*2;
byte[] recBuffer = new byte[recBufferByteSize];
int frameByteSize = minRecBufBytes/2;
int sampleBytes = frameByteSize;
int recBufferBytePtr = 0;
audioRecord.startRecording();
// Do the following in the loop you prefer, e.g.
while ( continueRecording ) {
int reallySampledBytes = audioRecord.read( recBuffer, recBufferBytePtr, sampleBytes );
int i = 0;
while ( i < reallySampledBytes ) {
float sample = (float)( recBuffer[recBufferBytePtr+i ] & 0xFF
| recBuffer[recBufferBytePtr+i+1] << 8 );
// THIS is the point were the work is done:
// Increase level by about 6dB:
sample *= 2;
// Or increase level by 20dB:
// sample *= 10;
// Or if you prefer any dB value, then calculate the gain factor outside the loop
// float gainFactor = (float)Math.pow( 10., dB / 20. ); // dB to gain factor
// sample *= gainFactor;
// Avoid 16-bit-integer overflow when writing back the manipulated data:
if ( sample >= 32767f ) {
recBuffer[recBufferBytePtr+i ] = (byte)0xFF;
recBuffer[recBufferBytePtr+i+1] = 0x7F;
} else if ( sample <= -32768f ) {
recBuffer[recBufferBytePtr+i ] = 0x00;
recBuffer[recBufferBytePtr+i+1] = (byte)0x80;
} else {
int s = (int)( 0.5f + sample ); // Here, dithering would be more appropriate
recBuffer[recBufferBytePtr+i ] = (byte)(s & 0xFF);
recBuffer[recBufferBytePtr+i+1] = (byte)(s >> 8 & 0xFF);
}
i += 2;
}
// Do other stuff like saving the part of buffer to a file
// if ( reallySampledBytes > 0 ) { ... save recBuffer+recBufferBytePtr, length: reallySampledBytes
// Then move the recording pointer to the next position in the recording buffer
recBufferBytePtr += reallySampledBytes;
// Wrap around at the end of the recording buffer, e.g. like so:
if ( recBufferBytePtr >= recBufferByteSize ) {
recBufferBytePtr = 0;
sampleBytes = frameByteSize;
} else {
sampleBytes = recBufferByteSize - recBufferBytePtr;
if ( sampleBytes > frameByteSize )
sampleBytes = frameByteSize;
}
}

Thanks to Hartmut and beworker for the solution. Hartmut's code did worked at near 12-14 dB. I did merged the code from the sonic library too to increase volume, but that increase too much noise and distortion, so I kept the volume at 1.5-2.0 and instead tried to increase gain. I got decent sound volume which doesn't sound too loud in phone, but when listened on a PC sounds loud enough. Looks like that's the farthest I could go.
I am posting my final code to increase the loudness. Be aware that using increasing mVolume increases too much noise. Try to increase gain instead.
private AudioRecord.OnRecordPositionUpdateListener updateListener = new AudioRecord.OnRecordPositionUpdateListener() {
#Override
public void onPeriodicNotification(AudioRecord recorder) {
aRecorder.read(bBuffer, bBuffer.capacity()); // Fill buffer
if (getState() != State.RECORDING)
return;
try {
if (bSamples == 16) {
shBuffer.rewind();
int bLength = shBuffer.capacity(); // Faster than accessing buffer.capacity each time
for (int i = 0; i < bLength; i++) { // 16bit sample size
short curSample = (short) (shBuffer.get(i) * gain);
if (curSample > cAmplitude) { // Check amplitude
cAmplitude = curSample;
}
if(mVolume != 1.0f) {
// Adjust output volume.
int fixedPointVolume = (int)(mVolume*4096.0f);
int value = (curSample*fixedPointVolume) >> 12;
if(value > 32767) {
value = 32767;
} else if(value < -32767) {
value = -32767;
}
curSample = (short)value;
/*scaleSamples(outputBuffer, originalNumOutputSamples, numOutputSamples - originalNumOutputSamples,
mVolume, nChannels);*/
}
shBuffer.put(curSample);
}
} else { // 8bit sample size
int bLength = bBuffer.capacity(); // Faster than accessing buffer.capacity each time
bBuffer.rewind();
for (int i = 0; i < bLength; i++) {
byte curSample = (byte) (bBuffer.get(i) * gain);
if (curSample > cAmplitude) { // Check amplitude
cAmplitude = curSample;
}
bBuffer.put(curSample);
}
}
bBuffer.rewind();
fChannel.write(bBuffer); // Write buffer to file
payloadSize += bBuffer.capacity();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
Log.e(NoobAudioRecorder.class.getName(), "Error occured in updateListener, recording is aborted");
stop();
}
}
#Override
public void onMarkerReached(AudioRecord recorder) {
// NOT USED
}
};

simple use MPEG_4 format
To increase the call recording volume use AudioManager as follows:
int deviceCallVol;
AudioManager audioManager;
Start Recording:
audioManager = (AudioManager)context.getSystemService(Context.AUDIO_SERVICE);
//get the current volume set
deviceCallVol = audioManager.getStreamVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_VOICE_CALL);
//set volume to maximum
audioManager.setStreamVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_VOICE_CALL, audioManager.getStreamMaxVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_VOICE_CALL), 0);
recorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.VOICE_CALL);
recorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.MPEG_4);
recorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AAC);
recorder.setAudioEncodingBitRate(32);
recorder.setAudioSamplingRate(44100);
Stop Recording:
//revert volume to initial state
audioManager.setStreamVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_VOICE_CALL, deviceCallVol, 0);

In my app I use an open source sonic library. Its main purpose is to speed up / slow down speech, but besides this it allows to increase loudness too. I apply it to playback, but it must work for recording similarly. Just pass your samples through it before compressing them. It has a Java interface too. Hope this helps.

To mute microphone while recording audio

I am currently working on an app which is running in the background and muting the microphone during incoming and outgoing calls.But am unable to mute the microphone when there is any type audio recording.
It will be of great help if I am provided with any type of solutions.
Thanks in advance

I assume your talking about a Android app, but you should be more concise in your questions.
Regardless, this is a post about muting the microphone which should answer your question.
How does setMicrophoneMute() work?

AudioManager::setMicrophoneMute only applies to voice calls (and VoIP). It's possible that it will affect recordings as well on some products, but there's no guarantee that it will, so you can't rely on it.
It should still mute the voice call uplink so that the other party can't hear what you're saying even if there's a recording ongoing. If it doesn't I would consider that a bug in the implementation of the device you're testing this on. However, what you say will end up in the recording that you do locally (unless you're using the VOICE_DOWNLINK AudioSource).

If you don't want to record audio while video recording. You can set
AudioManager.setStreamMute(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, true);
It also work by AudioManager.STREAM_SYSTEM for some devices.

There is no direct method to mute on AudioRecorder. We need to add some trick for mute the recording.
What I can do is, I download silence wav file and convert it to byte and add on the byte array.
When user click on Mute Button, isMuteClick = true and when unmute it will be false.
while (isStreaming)
{
if(!isMuteClick){
// read() is a blocking call // can set blocking see docs
int bytesRead = recorder.read(readBuffer, 0,bytesReadTotal);
bytesReadTotal += bytesRead; // above ...chunk - bytesReadTotal);
mainBuffer.write(readBuffer, 0, bytesRead);
}else{
int bytesRead = recorder.read(WavToByteArray(R.raw.silence), 0, chunk - bytesReadTotal); // 505 // 4410 //chunk - bytesReadTotal
bytesReadTotal += bytesRead; // above ...chunk - bytesReadTotal);
mainBuffer.write(WavToByteArray(R.raw.silence), 0, bytesRead);
}
} /
And here is code for converting silence wav file to byte array
private byte[] WavToByteArray(int resourceId) {
byte[] filteredByteArray = new byte[1024];
try {
InputStream inputStream = this.getResources().openRawResource(resourceId);
ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
byte[] soundBytes = new byte[1024];
int i = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
while ((i = inputStream.read(soundBytes, 0, soundBytes.length)) > 0) {
outputStream.write(soundBytes, 0, i);
}
inputStream.close();
outputStream.close();
// remove .wav header
byte[] audioBytes = outputStream.toByteArray();
filteredByteArray = Arrays.copyOfRange(audioBytes, 44, audioBytes.length);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return filteredByteArray;
}

AudioRecord - how to get data in to buffer?

I' m having some issues using AudioRecord class. I want to store recorded data in a buffer, but I' m not sure what is the proper way to achieve that. I went through great number of examples, but most of them were comlicated and representing many different approaches. I' m looking for simple one or simple explanation.
Here are my audio settings for my project:
int audioSource = AudioSource.MIC;
int sampleRateInHz = 8000;
int channelConfig = AudioFormat.CHANNEL_IN_MONO;
int audioFormat = AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT;
int bufferSizeInBytes = AudioRecord.getMinBufferSize(sampleRateInHz, channelConfig, audioFormat);
short[] buffer = new short[bufferSizeInBytes];
AudioRecord audioRecorder = new AudioRecord(audioSource,
sampleRateInHz,
channelConfig,
audioFormat,
bufferSizeInBytes);
I' m trying to create a Recording function:
public void Recording() {
audioRecorder.startRecording();
...
audioRecorder.stop();
audioRecorder.release();
}
I know that I' m supposed to use .read(short[] audioData, int offsetInShorts, int sizeInShorts) function. And here my problems start. I' m not sure how audioData buffer works - I assume function puts recorded samples into the audioData. What happens if it completely filled with data? It starts rewriting from the earliest position? If it does I believe I have to copy all collected samples somwhere else. It raises another question - how can I check if .read(...) function buffer is already full? Do I need to measure time and copy buffer content or there is another way to reach that? Also do I need to create a thread for whole recording operation?
Sorry for asking so many questions in one topic :)

Answer to your questions ::
recorder.read(...) does not necessarily read any data at all. You should probably rewrite that loop to pause for a short while (e.g., 50ms) between calls to read. It should also not queue the buffer until the buffer has data. Also, since the buffer may not be full, you probably need to use a data structure that maintains a count of the number of bytes. A ByteBuffer comes to mind as a good candidate. You can stuff bytes into it in the read loop and when it gets full enough, queue it for transmission and start another one.
offcourse you need to create a thread for looping it. as shown in below code.
Here's a modified version of the recording loop that does proper error checking. It uses a Queue<ByteBuffer> instead of a Queue<byte[]>:
private void startRecording() {
recorder.startRecording();
isRecording = true;
recordingThread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
bData = ByteBuffer.allocate(BufferElements);
bbarray = new byte[bData.remaining()];
bData.get(bbarray);
while (isRecording) {
int result = recorder.read(bbarray, 0, BufferElements);
System.out.println("READ DATA");
if (result > 0) {
qArray.add(bData);
--your stuffs--
bData = ByteBuffer.allocate(BufferElements);
} else if (result == AudioRecord.ERROR_INVALID_OPERATION) {
Log.e("Recording", "Invalid operation error");
break;
} else if (result == AudioRecord.ERROR_BAD_VALUE) {
Log.e("Recording", "Bad value error");
break;
} else if (result == AudioRecord.ERROR) {
Log.e("Recording", "Unknown error");
break;
}
try {
Thread.sleep(10);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
break;
}
}
}
}, "AudioRecorder Thread");
recordingThread.start();
}
Of course, somewhere you'll need to call recorder.startRecording() or you won't get any data.
for working sample look at this example.

Playing music with AudioTrack buffer by buffer on Eclipse - no sound

i'm programming for Android 2.1.Could you help me with the following problem?
I have three files, and the general purpose is to play a sound with audiotrack buffer by buffer. I'm getting pretty desperate here because I tried about everything, and there still is no sound coming out of my speakers (while android's integrated mediaplayer has no problem playing sounds via the emulator).
Source code:
An audioplayer class, which implements the audio track. It will receive a buffer, in which the sound is contained.
public AudioPlayer(int sampleRate, int channelConfiguration, int audioFormat) throws ProjectException {
minBufferSize = AudioTrack.getMinBufferSize(sampleRate, channelConfiguration, audioFormat);
audioTrack = new AudioTrack(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, sampleRate, channelConfiguration,
audioFormat, minBufferSize, AudioTrack.MODE_STREAM);
if(audioTrack == null)
throw new ProjectException("Erreur lors de l'instantiation de AudioTrack");
audioTrack.setStereoVolume((float)1.0, (float)1.0);
}
#Override
public void addToQueue(short[] buffer) {
audioTrack.write(buffer, 0, buffer.length*Short.SIZE);
if(!isPlaying ) {
audioTrack.play();
isPlaying = true;
}
}
A model class, which I use to fill the buffer. Normally, it would load sound from a file, but here it just uses a simulator (440Hz), for debugging.
Buffer sizes are chosen very loosely; normally first buffer size should be 6615 and then 4410. That's, again, only for debug.
public void onTimeChange() {
if(begin) {
//First fill about 300ms
begin = false;
short[][] buffer = new short[channels][numFramesBegin];
//numFramesBegin is for example 10000
//For debugging only buffer[0] is useful
fillSimulatedBuffer(buffer, framesRead);
framesRead += numFramesBegin;
audioPlayer.addToQueue(buffer[0]);
}
else {
try {
short[][] buffer = new short[channels][numFrames];
//Afterwards fill like 200ms
fillSimulatedBuffer(buffer, framesRead);
framesRead += numFrames;
audioPlayer.addToQueue(buffer[0]);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
private short simulator(int time, short amplitude) {
//a pure A (frequency=440)
//this is probably wrong due to sampling rate, but 44 and 4400 won't work either
return (short)(amplitude*((short)(Math.sin((double)(simulatorFrequency*time)))));
}
private void fillSimulatedBuffer(short[][] buffer, int offset) {
for(int i = 0; i < buffer[0].length; i++)
buffer[0][i] = simulator(offset + i, amplitude);
}
A timeTask class that calls model.ontimechange() every 200 ms.
public class ReadMusic extends TimerTask {
private final Model model;
public ReadMusic(Model model) {
this.model = model;
}
#Override
public void run() {
System.out.println("Task run");
model.onTimeChange();
}
}
What debugging showed me:
timeTask works fine, it does its job;
Buffer values seem coherent, and buffer size is bigger than minBufSize;
Audiotrack's playing state is "playing"
no exceptions are caught in model functions.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

OK I found the problem.
There is an error in the current AudioTrack documentation regarding AudioTrack and short buffer input: the specified buffer size should be the size of the buffer itself (buffer.length) and not the size in bytes.

Using AudioTrack in Android to play a WAV file

I'm working with Android, trying to make my AudioTrack application play a Windows .wav file (Tada.wav). Frankly, it shouldn't be this hard, but I'm hearing a lot of strange stuff. The file is saved on my phone's mini SD card and reading the contents doesn't seem to be a problem, but when I play the file (with parameters I'm only PRETTY SURE are right), I get a few seconds of white noise before the sound seems to resolve itself into something that just may be right.
I have successfully recorded and played my own voice back on the phone -- I created a .pcm file according to the directions in this example:
http://emeadev.blogspot.com/2009/09/raw-audio-manipulation-in-android.html
(without the backwards masking)...
Anybody got some suggestions or awareness of an example on the web for playing a .wav file on an Android??
Thanks,
R.

I stumbled on the answer (frankly, by trying &^#! I didn't think would work), in case anybody's interested... In my original code (which is derived from the example in the link in the original post), the data is read from the file like so:
InputStream is = new FileInputStream (file);
BufferedInputStream bis = new BufferedInputStream (is, 8000);
DataInputStream dis = new DataInputStream (bis); // Create a DataInputStream to read the audio data from the saved file
int i = 0; // Read the file into the "music" array
while (dis.available() > 0)
{
music[i] = dis.readShort(); // This assignment does not reverse the order
i++;
}
dis.close(); // Close the input stream
In this version, music[] is array of SHORTS. So, the readShort() method would seem to make sense here, since the data is 16-bit PCM... However, on the Android that seems to be the problem. I changed that code to the following:
music=new byte[(int) file.length()];//size & length of the file
InputStream is = new FileInputStream (file);
BufferedInputStream bis = new BufferedInputStream (is, 8000);
DataInputStream dis = new DataInputStream (bis); // Create a DataInputStream to read the audio data from the saved file
int i = 0; // Read the file into the "music" array
while (dis.available() > 0)
{
music[i] = dis.readByte(); // This assignment does not reverse the order
i++;
}
dis.close(); // Close the input stream
In this version, music[] is an array of BYTES. I'm still telling the AudioTrack that it's 16-bit PCM data, and my Android doesn't seem to have a problem with writing an array of bytes into an AudioTrack thus configured... Anyway, it finally sounds right, so if anyone else wants to play Windows sounds on their Android, for some reason, that's the solution. Ah, Endianness......
R.

I found a lot of long answers to this question. My final solution, which given all the cutting and pasting is hardly mine, comes down to:
public boolean play() {
int i = 0;
byte[] music = null;
InputStream is = mContext.getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.noise);
at = new AudioTrack(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, 44100,
AudioFormat.CHANNEL_CONFIGURATION_MONO, AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT,
minBufferSize, AudioTrack.MODE_STREAM);
try{
music = new byte[512];
at.play();
while((i = is.read(music)) != -1)
at.write(music, 0, i);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
at.stop();
at.release();
return STOPPED;
}
STOPPED is just a "true" sent back as a signal to reset the pause/play button.
And in the class initializer:
public Mp3Track(Context context) {
mContext = context;
minBufferSize = AudioTrack.getMinBufferSize(44100,
AudioFormat.CHANNEL_CONFIGURATION_MONO, AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT);
}
Context is just "this" from the calling activity.
You can use a FileInputStream on the sdcard, etc. My files are in res/raw

Are you skipping the first 44 bytes of the file before you dump the rest of the file's data into the buffer? The first 44 bytes are the WAVE header and they would sound like random noise if you tried to play them.
Also, are you sure you are creating the AudioTrack with the same properties as the WAVE you are trying to play (sample rate, bit rate, number of channels, etc)? Windows actually does a good job of giving this information to you in the File Properties page:

As said by Aaron C, you have to skip initial 44 bytes or (as I prefer) read first 44 bytes that are the WAVE header. In this way you know how many channels, bits per sample, length, etc... the WAVE contains.
Here you can find a good implementation of a WAVE header parser/writer.

Please don't perpetuate terrible parsing code. WAV parsing is trivial to implement
http://soundfile.sapp.org/doc/WaveFormat/
and you will thank yourself by being able to parse things such as the sampling rate, bit depth, and number of channels.
Also x86 and ARM (at least by default) are both little endian , so native-endian WAV files should be fine without any shuffling.

Just confirm if you have AudioTrack.MODE_STREAM and not AudioTrack.MODE_STATIC in the AudioTrack constructor:
AudioTrack at = new AudioTrack(
AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC,
sampleRate,
AudioFormat.CHANNEL_IN_STEREO,
AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT,
// buffer length in bytes
outputBufferSize,
AudioTrack.MODE_STREAM
);

Sample wav file:
http://www.mauvecloud.net/sounds/pcm1644m.wav
Sample Code:
public class AudioTrackPlayer {
Context mContext;
int minBufferSize;
AudioTrack at;
boolean STOPPED;
public AudioTrackPlayer(Context context) {
Log.d("------","init");
mContext = context;
minBufferSize = AudioTrack.getMinBufferSize(44100,
AudioFormat.CHANNEL_CONFIGURATION_MONO, AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT);
}
public boolean play() {
Log.d("------","play");
int i = 0;
byte[] music = null;
InputStream is = mContext.getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.pcm1644m);
at = new AudioTrack(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, 44100,
AudioFormat.CHANNEL_CONFIGURATION_MONO, AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT,
minBufferSize, AudioTrack.MODE_STREAM);
try {
music = new byte[512];
at.play();
while ((i = is.read(music)) != -1)
at.write(music, 0, i);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
at.stop();
at.release();
return STOPPED;
}
}