25%Audio Recording (oral history or anything else)
We're using a Sony HiMD recorder, MZ-RH1.
Day Before
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Check the internal rechargeable battery of the recorder has enough charge. Even on the day, a fairly full charge from empty takes about an hour. If the worst comes to the worst you can record perfectly well whilst on mains power – you can even charge up whilst attached by USB cable to any computer's USB port. Best to take the correct charger and lead with you though – as most PCs emit a fair bit of noise from system fans, disk access, etc.
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Ensure you put a blank mini-disk in the recorder and that you have at least one spare. If you're going to use a mic stand please look that out too.
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Create a test recording and play it back to make sure everything is working – including your headphones. Setting up the recorder now to PCM recording (which is the uncompressed setting) will ensure that's what will be used later – always check on the day too though in case buttons have been accidentally knocked.
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Ensure you have a spare battery for your microphone too.
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Make sure your subject knows roughly what you're going to want to talk about.
Recording Day
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Wear soft shoes, remove any watches or jewellery that could knock against the mic, stand, headphones, etc. Turn off your mobile – putting it to silent is no good – you'll almost certainly pick up interference if it rings. Don't forget that audio cables knocking against things may also transmit unwanted noise to the microphone so try and keep them under control with Velcro ties or even sandwich bag ties.
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Re-iterate your intentions to the interviewee – try and put them at ease whilst reminding them that the mic will pick up foot/finger/pen tapping, paper, clocks and definitely mobile phones!
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By all means give them a glass of water or even tea or coffee (black's better than with milk... and that's not just a personal preference) but wait a minute or two after they're finishes to ensure there's not too much 'slobbery' talk.
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Remind them that you're not going to want to use your questions in the final audio therefore if you're asking a question try to get the interviewee to include the question in their answer.
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Point the microphone away from any likely noise sources such as windows etc. (most of our microphones are fairly directional so it'll help) and get your interview to sit where you'd like them to.
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Do a test recording to demonstrate – and also to check all your equipment is still working, set to record PCMs and that the microphone is close enough to them (remember to play it back too – the recorder automatically starts the next recording after the previous one – unless you're really mucking about with the recorder settings - so you don't have to worry about finding the correct place again). e.g. Ask – How did you travel here this morning? Get the interviewee to answer – I got here today by...
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Try the above again with – What did you have for your breakfast yesterday? And have them answer with something like – For my breakfast yesterday I had...
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Remind your interviewee that you'll be recording their speech and not responding to them till they're finished – it's tricky. Once interviewing remember not to empathise with the interviewee – it's hard not to nod or say, “yes” or even “hmmmm” but you're going to kick yourself in the edit if you do – there's very little that can be done with one voice over another whereas things like the interviewee pausing for a long while or even sneezing between words is normally easily sorted. The interviewee will be looking to you for responses – I find it useful to be checking the levels whilst they speak to remind them. Once each answer has come to a complete stop then look up and thank them (or whatever).
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It's normally best to pause between questions rather than stopping the recording – the start-up again is much faster and you'll still have separate audio files when it comes time to transfer to a PC to edit. Obviously though if there's going to be a long break stop the recording but be aware of the extra few seconds it'll take to start up again.
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Once you've completed the recording with the interviewee (and at every distinct session e.g. before and after lunch) make an 'atmos' recording. This should be a recording of the room's 'silence'. Try and get about 20-30 seconds worth if you can. This means you have clean sound to fill in gaps should you need to slice and dice your recording around a bit. This will most certainly be essential and doing it this way means you're not trying to grab a second or so just before or just after a person speaks.
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Finally, once you've finished the recording please don't take out the mini-disc and set it near to computer speakers editing – big magnets bad...
Notes:
Rechargeable batteries – for much longer battery life it's a good idea to run the battery flat before a full recharge this minimises the 'memory effect' experienced by batteries – if they're regularly charged from half empty they'll stop discharging past this point – giving you half the recording time. (Under charging batteries is not a problem). Please Note: the MZ-RH1 says it takes about an hour or less to charge – this 'full' charge is only around 80% charge whereas leaving it to charge for around 3 hours will give you a proper full charge.
Whilst recording, if you hear a noise you don't want to let the interview finish their train of thought but ask them to give you a fresh answer (remembering to get them to answer with the question again if you can).
95% of the time the automatic recording level will suffice – if you set levels manually try to ensure you're getting a large enough signal but make sure you don't push the levels – digital recording break up rather than produce linear distortion once the levels are too high.
If you're borrowing our recorder then the manual should be in the bag you got the equipment in (although check before leaving us – it's been left in strange places before) – if you're using your own, even if you know it well, it's probably a good idea to have the manual with you – even a PDF on a memory stick will suffice in most occasions assuming you can find a computer to read it on.