App for journalists: Lexis Audio Editor, for editing audio files on your smartphone

What is it? An app for recording, editing and sharing one or more audio files in a variety of formats.

Device: Android

Cost: Free (to save your files as .mp3, you will need to upgrade for £5.99)

How is it of use to journalists?

Most smartphones come with a built-in voice recorder, but audio production and editing apps give journalists more control over their work before it is shared, allowing them to distribute their work across platforms faster than ever.

Lexis Audio Editor is a free choice for journalists looking for a simple-to-use audio editing app, which enables reporters to do a range of tasks on a single-track editor, including trimming their interviews down to a desired length, exporting sections from the middle, mixing tracks together and importing silence and other audio files into the package.

If you'd like to record audio into the app itself, press the red record button at the top of the screen.

If you've got the file on your device already, get started by importing your interview into the timeline by tapping 'open' at the top of the screen. Here, you can access any of the sound files on your smartphone.

Once selected, you'll see the file displayed as an audio wave in between markers that can be dragged left and right to highlight portions of the track.

Use the drop-down menu in the top-right corner to silence, cut, copy or delete the highlighted audio, or add effects such as changing the tempo or pitch. Before confirming an effect, you can preview and adjust any changes, and there is an 'undo' option available if you make a mistake.

Keep highlighting different sections to make as many edits as you need.

You can also record your voice into the existing audio file, by dragging the left cursor where you'd like the audio to start, and then selecting the orange record button at the top of the screen. Select to stop when you have finished. The audio wave will automatically zoom into the piece you have just recorded, but you can zoom out if you wish, using the controls at the top of the screen.

If you'd like to add a bed of music, or another track to compliment your audio, you can choose to mix the current file you are working on with another, again using the drop-down menu. You will then have the ability to alter the volume of each of the two files, and preview before confirming.

Repeat this process if you wish to build up layers of audio, but note that you cannot edit them individually afterwards as they are all merged into one track.

You can save the project as a range of formats, including .m4a and .wav, and sharing options include email, text, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

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