Auphonic is still the king of automatic crossgating to reduce crosstalk among multiple microphones (especially when there is much background noise), but that service doesn’t match its mobile apps well. There are many Mac-Android producers (and Mac-iOS producers) who record audio-only or audio-video and also love Auphonic crossgating. Many of those work with macOS on their conventional computer and Android on at least one of their mobile devices (telephone or tablet). These Mac-Android people currently need an easy way to transfer files between the devices, given the current mismatch between Auphonic functions. A frequent process I do is to transfer uncompressed dual mono WAV audio files I record in my Android phone to a computer running macOS for further processing. This is due to the ironic situation of the wonderful Auphonic recording app whose design doesn’t directly match those of the Auphonic.com online service when it is necessary to record dual mono and then crossgate those two mono signals, as I have covered before. That’s why I am reviewing the free HandShaker today to help with the first step in the process of moving raw audio files from Android to macOS.

In this article

• Why not send the audio files directly from the Auphonic recording app to Auphonic.com?
• How about Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive?
• About HandShaker
• What’s missing in HandShaker?
• What to do after transferring the file?
• Auphonic crossgating versus Hindenburg Journalist Pro’s Magic Levels
• Conclusions

Why not send the audio files directly from the Auphonic app to Auphonic.com?

The Auphonic apps for Android (or iOS) can indeed send a file directly to Auphonic.com for further processing, but not for this specific case. Even though Auphonic.com is the king of automated crossgating, the Android (and iOS) Auphonic apps weren’t designed with that in mind. As a result, when you record dual mono from two separate microphones into a fake stereo file, two problems happen to prevent that from working:

1. The Auphonic mobile apps are incapable of separating the fake stereo file into separate mono files.
2. Auphonic.com is currently incapable of receiving a fake stereo file for use in crossgating. The Multitrack Production at Auphonic.com requires two (or more) separate audio files.

Until one or the other is updated by Auphonic, we need to resolve it ourselves.

How about Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive?

Yes, you could upload the file from your recording device to Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive, but that potentially consumes extra bandwidth, adds another step into the process, and then requires you to download the file in order to separate the fake stereo file into two separate mono files.

About HandShaker

HandShaker is a free app for macOS and for Android. Once you have it active on both, HandShaker allows file transfers between your devices either wirelessly or via USB. I usually use USB.

Once you have your devices connected, you get access to all of the directories on the Android device. The challenge is finding the folder where Auphonic stores the raw files. Fortunately, I am revealing it to you now to save you time:

Files>Android>data>com.auphonic.auphonicrecorder>files>

Once you have that, you can either copy, open or paste the file where you want it to be. It works.

What’s missing in HandShaker?

Currently, HandShaker does not have the capability of saving a path, so you have to navigate manually to the folder indicated above every time you use it.

What to do after transferring the file?

Next, you have to separate the fake stereo file into two separate mono files. I do that in Hindenburg Journalist Pro, my favorite multitrack audio tool for conventional computers which I have covered in several articles:

1. Select the “stereo” track on timeline.
2. Go to the Tools menu and select Split Stereo (or use the keyboard shortcut). The two mono tracks appear.

This is also illustrated by Hindenburg’s team here. If your Hindenburg Journalist Pro has its interface in Castilian aka “Spanish” (castellano también conocido como “español”):

1. Selecciona la pista “estereofónica” en la línea de tiempo.
2. En el menú Herramientas, haz clic en la opción Separar Estéreo (o utiliza el atajo de teclado).

You may do it with another piece of capable software you way have. In the case of Hindenburg Journalist Pro, after separating them, you export each track separately as a mono WAV file for uploading to Auphonic.com. For the following steps, see my 2017 article My multitrack crossgating audio workflow to eliminate crosstalk.

Auphonic crossgating versus Hindenburg Journalist Pro’s Magic Levels (as of December 2020)

If there is not too much background noise in your source material, Hindenburg Journalist Pro’s Magic Levels function may be perfect for you. In that case, you’ll need HandShaker anyway just to move the file from your Android device to your macOS computer. However, if there is plenty of background noise, then you will likely need to subcontract the Auphonic crossgating function before doing the rest of your project in Hindenburg Journalist Pro. At least that’s my experience as of publication time of this article.

Conclusions

Currently, HandShaker is helping to solve an issue that eventually should be solved and streamlined by Auphonic itself, either by doing one of the following:

• Auphonic could add the function to split fake stereo into separate mono files within the Auphonic app for Android (and iOS too).
• Auphonic could update the Multitrack Production section at Auphonic.com to allow for importing fake stereo files which actually contain dual mono tracks.

This same Auphonic situation also affects users of traditional 2-track audio recorders as well as video camcorders where separate microphones are used for two individuals.

For more information about HandShaker, for macOS visit its page here or search for it in the AppStore for macOS.

NOTE: If you have a different or better workflow to achieve this, please write it in the comments below.

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