AudioRecord audioRecord = new AudioRecord(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC,
        44100,
        AudioFormat.CHANNEL_IN_MONO,
        AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT,
        2*44100);
audioRecord.startRecording();
audioRecord.read(new short[10000], 0, 10000); // have to include this to remove redundant values
audioRecord.read(audio, 0, 500);
audioRecord.stop();