How to Use Back Pocket Booth

IMPORTANT: HEADPHONE REQUIREMENT: HEADPHONES REQUIRED:  You MUST use earbuds or wired headphones with a built-in mic.  

WHY: If you use the phone's speakers while recording, the microphone will "hear" the beat and record it over your voice. This causes the beat to double up during the recording process making the song unusable.

NAVIGATING THE APP

   -SWIPE NAVIGATION: You can swipe LEFT or RIGHT to switch between tabs (Booth, History, Music, Settings).

   -TAB SHORTCUTS: If you are deep in a folder in Music or History, tap the tab icon in the bottom bar again to instantly jump back to the root folder.

1. BOOTH (Recording & Alignment)

   - SELECT A BEAT: Go to the Music tab first to pick your track.

   - RECORD: Press 'REC' to start. The beat loops automatically. Swiping is disabled while recording to prevent accidents.

   - FINISH: Press 'STOP' to enter the Studio.

2. MIXER (The Lag Fixer and level control)

   - WHY: Digital recording has a natural "lag" (latency). Sound takes time to travel through your earbuds/headset and back into the app. This delay is different on every phone. This is where the "nudge" function comes into play.

   - FUNCTION: This tool lets you manually "nudge" your vocals backwards to perfectly eliminate that lag, defaults to -425ms, you may have increase or decrease this value to properly align your vocals.

   - MIX LEVELS: Use the VOLUME SLIDERS to balance your voice and the beat levels. These adjustments are applied to your final mastered mix.

   - HOW: Tap PLAY when the Mixer appears to hear the mix. Use the NUDGE SLIDER or ARROWS to shift your voice until it hits the beat perfectly.  Tapping an arrow restarts the recording from the beginning for easy sync. This will take some getting use to, but once you do, aligning your vocals is easy!

   - RANGE: Adjust from 0ms down to -2000ms (2 seconds) for deep lag compensation.

   - NOTE: Hardware lag can vary per recording. Use the Mixer to ensure perfect sync for every take.

   - NOTE: The Mixer screen only appears if 'Include Beat' is set to ON.

3. HISTORY (Your Catalog)

   - VOCAL/SONG RECORDINGS: Your recordings that have been aligned and mixed using the nudge tool, and beat/volume controls. Use the player bar at the bottom to scroll through tracks.

   - MULTI-SELECT: Long-press any item to select multiple files for sharing or deletion.

   - SELECT ALL: Tap the 'Select All' label to manage your entire catalog at once.

4. MUSIC (Music Library)

   - PREVIEW: Tap the PLAY icon next to any track to hear a quick preview before selecting it.

   - UPLOADS: Upload and access your own personal tracks from your device.

   - BACK POCKET TRACKS: Free songs provided by Back Pocket Booth across Hip Hop, Rock, Metal, Electronic, and Country. More tracks and genres coming soon!

   - HIP HOP LOOPS: Professional drum loops, organized by BPM for easier browsing.

   - NAVIGATE: Use your phone's back button or tap the 'MUSIC' tab to go back to the root Music Folder.

5. SETTINGS

   - VOLUME LEVELS: Set your default mix balance for the the Beat/Song and Microphone. You can also fine-tune these in the Mixer after recording.

   - INCLUDE BEAT: Defaults to ON. Toggle ON to save a full song, or OFF to save raw vocals only.

   - AUTO-SAVE: All setting changes are saved instantly. (Note: Mixer is skipped if Include Beat is OFF).

6. DATA PRIVACY & STORAGE

   - LOCAL STORAGE: All of your recordings are saved directly on your phone. They are NOT stored or saved on any other device or remote server.