Category: Collecting

Microphones and Room Effects

Microphones and Room Effects:  Audio Exemplars and Some Recommendations for Enhancing the Quality of Oral History Recordings by Brad Rakerd Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders One of the most important determiners of the success of any oral history project is the quality of the audio record that is ultimately produced. Producing a satisfying recording …

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Permanent link to this article: https://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/microphones-and-room-effects/

Understanding Microphones

Understanding Microphones by Charles Hardy and Doug Boyd Choosing the appropriate microphone for your interview is just as important as choosing the right recorder.  Different microphones serve very different purposes and will yield very different results. For decades, oral historians have been recommending the use of external microphones in order to achieve high-quality results.  Even …

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Permanent link to this article: https://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/understanding-microphones/

Digital Audio Recording: The Basics

Digital Audio Recording: The Basics by Doug Boyd In the context of audio, “analog” refers to the method of representing a sound wave with voltage fluctuations that are analogous to the pressure fluctuations of the sound wave. Analog fluctuations are infinitely varying rather than the discrete changes at sample time associated with digital recording. Simply …

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Permanent link to this article: https://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/digital-audio-recording/

Permanent link to this article: https://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/no-one-wants-the-maintenance-crew-named-after-them/

On the Differences between Folklore Fieldwork and Oral History

On the Differences between Folklore Fieldwork and Oral History by Tim Lloyd The ethnographic research activities of folklorists–generally called “fieldwork”–have a number of important differences from, as well as similarities to, the research activities of oral historians–generally called “interviewing”. In general, we might say that folklorists are most fundamentally interested in those occasions, practices, and …

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Permanent link to this article: https://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/on-the-differences-between-folklore-fieldwork-and-oral-history/

Audio or Video for Recording Oral History

Audio or Video for Recording Oral History: Questions, Decisions By Doug Boyd I am clearly preaching to the choir when I say to oral historians that audio interviewing creates an evocative and effective documentary record. I am an enormous promoter of professionally-recorded audio interviews. You can record professional sounding recordings using a $300 digital audio …

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Permanent link to this article: https://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/audio-or-video-for-recording-oral-history/

Project Planning and Management

Project Planning and Management by Marsha MacDowell Why collect oral histories and expressions? Histories and understandings of people, places, things, and events are constructed and reconstructed based on information—both tangible and intangible—that is available to those writing, telling, and interpreting the histories and knowledge. Some histories and cultural knowledge can be deduced only by examining …

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Permanent link to this article: https://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/project-planning-and-management/

Designing an Oral History Project

Designing an Oral History Project: Initial Questions to Ask Yourself by Doug Boyd It is a great feeling when you commit yourself, your organization or your community to an oral history project.  It is a great privilege to record someone’s life story and a great responsibility to care for that story in a preservation environment.  …

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Permanent link to this article: https://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/designing-an-oral-history-project/

Permanent link to this article: https://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/collecting-in-the-digital-age/

Ask Doug: Choosing a Digital Audio Recorder

Finding the right equipment for a project can be one of the most difficult steps. Our digital expert, Doug Boyd, makes it easy by providing you with Ask Doug,  a set of questions that takes you through a series of decisions to some of the best possible choices for your particular needs. At this point, we …

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Permanent link to this article: https://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/ask-doug-choosing-a-digital-audio-recorder/