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 Collecting Sound Without Spending a Fortune on Equipment Written by Victoria Fenner for the Canadian Society for Independent Radio Production. 1999 Use whatever recording equipment you have on hand. In this day and age, even consumer electronics will give a good result. A handheld microphone is ALWAYS better than a microphone built in to the machine. Buy a mid-priced, brand name tape to record onto. You don't need to spend $5 on a cassette tape, but don't buy 50 cent bargain bin tapes either. As in the rest of life, middle ground is often the best place to be. If you don't have a hand-held mike and have to resort to the built-in one, make sure your tape recorder is as close to the sound you're recording as you can get - six inches to a foot is good. Unless you're recording something loud like a jackhammer, when being too close will cause your tape recording to distort, so stand back a ways. Plug in headphones while you're recording so you can hear if you're getting the sound you want. You'll be able to hear if you're too close or too far away. After you've recorded your sounds, listen to the tape to make sure you like it. If you don't have a tape recorder, use a camcorder. Leave on the lens cap so you're not distracted by the pictures. Think of your microphone like you would a camera. If you want really clear sound, you'll want more sophisticated equipment. If you want the close up sound of a bird, you may have to climb the tree to get real close. If you can't get real close to capture faint, subtle sounds, focus on getting louder, more prominent ones instead. Don't wave your mike cord. Hold your hand still on the microphone. The sound of your hand moving on the mike or moving the cord causes loud clunking sounds which might ruin your recording. Record your sounds on a still day. Windy days produce wind noise on the microphone. Even the most expensive mikes don't deal with wind very well. Beware of air conditioner noises, noisy ventilation systems etc. Turn them off if you can, or find a quieter room. It will show up as hum on your tape. Record more sound than you think you'll need. That way you'll have a lot of samples to choose from. Experiment until you get the kind of sound you want. If your sound is a little on the raw side, don't let the quest for perfection slow you down - every sound recordist started right where you are. The important thing is to get out there, listen and record. And have fun documenting the sounds of your community. Bus sounds, traffic sounds, bells, people on the street, fountains, waterfalls --- the streets, hills, mountains, highways and byways are alive! Copyright CSIRP 2001 Copyright for materials on this website is the property of the content creators and the Canadian Society for Independent Radio Production, unless otherwise noted. Materials may be freely used by non-profit organizations and educational institutions for non-commercial purposes only. For evaluation purposes, CSIRP would appreciate it if you would let us know how you have used these materials, and in what context. Material reproduced from this website must include the CSIRP logo, website address and this message. |
