Abstract: Apparatus and corresponding methods, referred to as “stealth recording,” in which long audio segments are recorded into a buffer, then separated into individual phrases for auditioning and application. Stealth recording surreptitiously and continuously records audio processed thereby, then separates, catalogues, and time stamps the audio into phrases using, among other techniques, spectral analysis that compares the recorded audio to a sample of the ambient noise floor. This allows a user to instantly locate any phrase and audition or apply it within its proper context. This has numerous practical applications, ranging from musicians who wish to improvise then apply their most inspired phrases to a particular song, to students reviewing a lecture and replaying audio phrases in context with the visual information present at the time of the audio recording.