You Don't Have To Write Lyrics Anymore.
Just Speak Them.
Okay, firstly, I'm not against "writing" at
all, just wanted an attention grabbing headline of course :-)
And now that you're grabbed, this story is about exploring
a bit just a few of the various ways now available to produce lyrics
as readily as they escape your mind - for situations where it may be
impossible to literally write down an idea or lyric - or simply when
you might just like this approach such as when you're sitting comfortably
in your favorite writing spot.
Also, there are many site services out there that can
jot down a voice note for you, like Jott (jott.com)
or Evernote (evernote.com)
but typically the length of any one message is 30 seconds. So for open
ended writing sessions or for even just having considerably more time
they aren't the best voice services for songwriters per se.
So let's check out some other tools and services to speak
out.
Slay Your Songs With A Dragon
The kingpin software programs in this realm are the dragons
from Nuance - yes, dragons, because they literally call their programs
dragons - like Dragon
NaturallySpeaking for Windows and Dragon
Dictate for the Mac.
This company has been around for years and continues to
enhance and evolve their programs' abilities to understand and print
out what you're saying and even with correct spelling at that.
They have "apps" too but we'll get to that in
a minute. The programs I mentioned above are for installation on your
home computer, or laptop, and typically work best with you speaking
into a microphone.
And you can even use these programs to run your entire
computer and all of its operations getting completely away from your
keyboard and your mouse for that matter.
App-ily Ever After
As just mentioned, Nuance has apps for your android or
iphone too, among other companies that make voice to text software and
apps.
One advantage of smart phone apps is that they're portable
so you can chat away on any song idea or even lyric sketches pretty
much anywhere anytime - but please not at the movie theater.
Have your voice dictation print out right then and there
on your phone and or have it sent to you or anywhere as an email or
text. Post it pretty much wherever you want online.
Popular apps in this category are Nuance's
FlexT9, ShoutOut
and several more under dictation
at the Android market and apps like Dictamus
and PocketDictate
among others at the iPhone apps store found at Apple's
iPhone page.
Or Go Software Free And Non-Device-Dependent With
iDictate
Even simpler but with some delay, as humans are involved,
you might find an online service like idictate to your liking.
With idictate you can speak into any computer or mobile
device and have a human take it down and then once it's prepared send
it to you in an email.
You have to set up an account and there's no subscription
fee - you just pay as you go and get billed for it.
They operate with strict confidentiality and layered safeguards
are in effect to protect your speech and ideas.
You can check out idictate
here .
Well, as always, it's been nice "talking" to
you.