13.970, Sum: Recording Telephone Interviews
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Mon Apr 8 19:59:42 UTC 2002
LINGUIST List: Vol-13-970. Mon Apr 8 2002. ISSN: 1068-4875.
Subject: 13.970, Sum: Recording Telephone Interviews
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Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2002 20:22:16 +0200
From: "Suzanne K. Hilgendorf" <S.K.Hilgendorf at wayne.edu>
Subject: recording telephone interviews
-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2002 20:22:16 +0200
From: "Suzanne K. Hilgendorf" <S.K.Hilgendorf at wayne.edu>
Subject: recording telephone interviews
This is a summary to my query earlier this week
(http://linguistlist.org/issues/13/13-926.html#1) about what means are
available for taping telephone interviews/conversations. The
reaction was immediate, and I received numerous responses (from
Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Iran, and the
USA), all with helpful suggestions. As an added benefit, I also
heard from people interested in my research project or who are
working on a similar subject, which made this exchange all the more
worthwhile. LINGUIST is a remarkable resource!
First I would like to acknowledge and thank those who replied to my query:
Michael Erard - <erard at lucidwork.com>
Ian MacKay - imackay at uottawa.ca
Cory R C Sheedy - sheedy at telus.net
Maryam Bakht-Rofheart - Rofheart at aol.com
Nancy Frishberg - <nancyf at fishbird.com>
Lynn Santelmann - santelmannl at pdx.edu
Stephen Miller - <Stephen.Miller at assoc.oeaw.ac.at>
David Smith - <david.smith at snafu.de>
Will Lamb - Will.Lamb at lews.uhi.ac.uk
Ingrid Piller - ingrid.piller at linguistics.usyd.edu.au
Julian Bradfield - jcb at dcs.ed.ac.uk
Charley Rowe - Charley.Rowe at newcastle.ac.uk
Andrea Golato - golato at uiuc.edu
Jeff Steele - jsteel1 at po-box.mcgill.ca
edward garrett - eg3p at virginia.edu
John Morrish - morrish at blueyonder.co.uk
Reza Yazdankhah - yazdankhah at neda.net
Recommendations/suggestions ranged from simple solutions (using an
answering machine that still uses regular cassette tapes) to
sophisticated technological approaches (using the pc, mini-disks,
etc.) and even visiting detective/spy shop web sites (the Spy Shop in
London http://www.londonspyshop.com/ Typing "telefonrekorder" at
http://www.google.de) for the ultimate in surveillance equipment
(if ethically somewhat questionable). Accordingly, the expense
involved ranges from US $10.00 to thousands of dollars, depending
on your needs in terms of sound quality and how you would like to
be able to store/work with the data.
In nearly all cases, one thing to remember is the possible need for a
phone jack adapter, since most devices are designed for use in
particular countries. For the USA, Andrea Golato pointed out "these
adapters can be purchased online. I believe radio shack sells them,
otherwise Best Buy does. (Best buy only sells them in as a whole
adapter kit with adapters for around the world - those cost US $60)."
It may also be possible to buy them individually through an online
seller. Ian McKay suggested checking stores that cater to business
travellers, since they are most likely to be looking for such
adapters.
Here are the recommendations:
1. PORTABLE RECORDER WITH BUILT-IN PHONE JACK: The largest number of
respondents (6) use a Marantz portable cassette recorder with a
built-in phone jack, which by all accounts provides a top-quality
recording. Judging from the replies, I assume this is the standard
in the profession. It is not cheap, with prices ranging from US $300
to more than $1000 for the digital recorder. The manufacturer's web
site is an excellent source for information:
http://www.superscope-marantzpro.com/Marantz/portables.htm By
e-mailing the company I also found out where they can be purchased in
Berlin.
2. SIMPLE DEVICES FOR CONNECTING A RECORDER TO THE PHONE LINE: Less
expensive alternatives are various devices (ca. US $20 - $60) that
can be hooked to the phone line.
- For those in the United States, many people suggested a visit to
Radio Shack, an electronics store that carries nearly every gadget
imaginable. Andrea Golato has used the "Recorder Control" (US
$19.99) (http://www.radioshack.com/searchsku.asp?find=43-228)in her
research with good results: "The quality of the recordings is really
good. While the person's voice who has the recorder (i.e. you) is
louder, you can still hear the other person absolutely clearly. I
use this stuff ALL the time." Unfortunately, Radio Shack does not
take international orders. In Britain, Julian Bradfield pointed out
that similar "devices are widely sold in mail-order gadget catalogues
in the U.K."
- John Morrish, who is a journalist, recommended: "a telephone
adapter that plugs into your tape recorder. Olympus makes one: it's
effectively a small microphone that sits just inside your ear. You
place the telephone against your ear and the microphone records both
sides of the conversation. They cost about 25UK here in Britain. You
will need a cassette recorder with a microphone socket."
- From Iran, Reza Yazdankhah does the following: "I have a socket
which it could be plugs between phone line and phone set then you
could receive the conversation in a FM band radio stereo which you
could make it recorded."
- Others suggested using a simple telephone answering machine that
uses regular or mini cassette tapes. My experience has been that, at
least in the US and from what I can tell in Germany, these are
increasingly difficult to find. It appears more and more machines
are digitized with no means for transferring the data in order to
keep a permanent record, and they only record for a limited amount of
time (sometimes as short as just a few minutes).
3. MORE SOPHISTICATED TECHNOLOGICAL SUGGESTIONS:
Ian MacKay, who works in the Phonetics Laboratory at the University
of Ottawa provided the most detailed reply:
"Minidisk recorders - I do not know if more modern audio recording
devices such as minidisk machines can found that have a phone jack
input. Minidisk recorders (often using MP3 compression) give
excellent audio performance and a few extra minidisks are a lot
easier to install than a replacement harddrive for your laptop.
Direct to computer harddrive - If you're going to record direct to a
computer hard drive and you're using a PC, CoolEdit Pro from
Syntrillium software will permit recording plus a whole lot more.
It's shareware, can be found and purchased on the web. If you're
using a Macintosh, then a simple recorder such as SoundRecorder
(which can be found at http://www.macdownload.com) is all you need to record
direct to the harddrive and it's free.
Now, that still leaves you with the problem of a box that will permit
connecting a phone cord to a mini phono jack to go into the sound
input port on your computer. I assume that whichever platform you're
using, you'll be using a laptop. Generally, a mini phono jack is the
input port for "line-in" sound. I'm sure that at some specialty
electronic store you can find such a converter cable.
IF the North American phone plug IS what you need, don't forget, of
course, to obtain a couple of splitters at Radio Shack. A splitter is
what you need to plug two phones into a single socket: you'll need to
have the phone plugged in, as well as having a length of phone cable
going to the tape recorder or computer. Be sure to get the right
"sex" of splitter so that you can do the appropriate plugging in.
4. WARNINGS
Edward Garrett told of a bad experience with one type of recorder:
"we were planning to record telephone conversations last summer in
tibet. we bought a gentner microtel, which was a disaster. we could
barely hear anything but interference. it's hard to imagine that
they could market such a product, so perhaps it was defective or
something"
John Moorish had another warning: "Don't be tempted by an external
telephone "bug". Those are the things with a rubber sucker that you
attach to the telephone box or handset. They don't really work with
modern phones, which have a very weak magnetic field. (But they are
much cheaper.)
And Nancy Frishberg related some legal concerns: "Of at least as much
concern to me ... is that you make sure you know what the German law
allows. Telephones like postal services are heavily regulated
government agencies in European countries and the rules differ from
one place to the next and often quite a bit from practice or
regulation (in the US)."
- ---------------------------------
I hope this information is helpful to others, so they will not find
themselves in "the field" without the equipment they need. As for
me, I've opted for one of the inexpensive solutions and am having a
friend mail me the Radio Shack device from the US, since I've been
unable to find something similar in Germany and don't want to spend
more time looking.
Regards,
Suzanne
-
______________________________________________________
Dr. Suzanne K. Hilgendorf
Asst. Professor
Language Program Coordinator &
Graduate Advisor, M.A. in Language Learning (MALL)
Dept. of German & Slavic Studies
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48202
office: ++1-313-577-3152 fax: ++1-313-577-3266
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