You do not need a studio. A phone recording is enough to turn into good sheet music, as long as the piano is the loudest, clearest thing it hears. These are the habits that matter, in order of how much difference they make.

1. Record the piano alone

This matters more than anything else on this page. Transcription software writes down every pitched sound as a piano note. A singer, a metronome you can hear, a television in the next room or someone talking all turn into notes that were never played.

2. Put the phone close

  • Upright piano: on a stand or the top of the piano, about an arm’s length away, microphone pointing at the instrument. With the lid open, pointing toward the opening.
  • Grand piano: near the curve of the case, lid open, about an arm’s length from the strings.
  • Digital piano: best of all, record straight from the piano or its app if it can save audio. Otherwise turn the speakers up and treat it like an upright.

Across the room, the phone picks up as much echo as piano, and the echo blurs the notes.

3. Make the room quiet

Turn off fans, heaters, air conditioning and the dishwasher. Close the door. Put the phone on Do Not Disturb so a notification sound does not land in the middle of bar twelve.

4. Go easy on the sustain pedal

Heavy pedal lets notes ring into each other, and the software has to guess where one note stops and the next begins. If you are recording only so you can get sheet music, use a little less pedal than you would in performance.

5. Keep a steady tempo

The software finds the beat and follows you as you speed up and slow down, but a very free tempo makes bar lines land in the wrong place. Play it through at a comfortable, even pace.

6. Settings worth checking

  • iPhone Voice Memos: in Settings, Voice Memos, set Audio Quality to Lossless if you have the space.
  • Video: any normal phone video works; only the sound is used.
  • Android: the built-in recorder is fine. Choose the highest quality it offers.

7. Trim before you upload

Cut the talking at the start and the silence at the end. It makes a tidier score, and you only pay for the audio you send.

Then upload it

Send the file straight from your phone: audio files and videos both work.