technology in the field

[E. Lee Skjon]

>Would I have been  able to transfer the
>digital to standard cassette and then distribute the cassettes?

yes, it should be relatively simple to record onto a cassette from a
digitial recorder, using its headphone jack (output) while it's in playback
mode, to a cassette recorder using its microphone jack (input). Just bring
your old cassette recorder along with your new digital recorder and a cord
with the appropriately sized (stereophonic) plugs and you should be all
set. Besides, you'd probably want to have a cassette player/recorder around
anyway for listening to locally-purchased tapes and as a back up to the
digital recorder.

E. Lee Skjon
Graduate Student
Depts. of Anthropology and Linguistics
University of Chicago

At 03:07 PM 4/4/2000 -0700, Katherine Hoffman wrote:
>As we discuss which of the available technologies best suit our scholarly
>needs (downloading into our laptops, transferring via internet, presenting
>to classes and at conferences), I am left wondering how to best integrate
>newer and cassette recordings into the field experience and relations with
>consultants.  In places where taping is potentially viewed with suspicion,
>such as Morocco where I work, recording on cassettes and
>playing/duplicating tapes for the local communities has been an effective
>way of allaying fears and giving something back that people
>appreciate.  Cassettes are best suited for this purpose because most
>families have a tape player radio or know someone who does.  Often when I
>recorded, especially ceremonial music, my consultants wanted to play back
>the recording right away.  How would I have done that if I'd been recording
>on digital or other recorder?  Would I have been  able to transfer the
>digital to standard cassette and then distribute the cassettes?  I just
>made sure to bring type II cassettes from the States and an excellent Sony
>stereo mike.  That assured good quality, but of course now it is difficult
>to locate and duplicate small sections of the tape without the forwarding
>and rewinding that wears down a tape.
>
>Many of us lurking during this discussion, I imagine, are somewhat
>techno-phobic and are unsure how best to take advantage of the new advances
>in recording.
>
>Katherine Hoffman
>Visiting Assistant Professor
>Department of Anthropology
>UCLA
>khoffman at anthro.ucla.edu
>
>
>At 11:35 AM 4/4/00 -0700, Esther H Kim wrote:
>>Just thought I'd throw in that my experience with MD has been very good.
>>I've used DAT and cannot tell the difference in sound quality. But then
>>again, I haven't sat down to compare the two side-by-side, and I don't do
>>a lot of phonetics or music.
>>
>>I use my Sharp 702 portable MD recorder (paid $265 in Jan'99) primarily
>>for recording naturally occurring conversations, and with a Sony ECM-909a
>>mic, it has been great for that purpose (as Robert mentioned). The
>>recorder is so small and light, and the discs are very easy to handle; I
>>take it almost everywhere I go. I've also used MD for recording
>>elicitation sessions trying to trying to listen for tone in a Tibetan
>>language, and the MD held up fine for that (we were in a quiet room with a
>>good mic, directly into which the informant spoke).
>>
>>I really like that I can determine the length of a track and name it, and
>>that I can move these tracks around. So if say, the first 10 minutes of
>>the disc is useless, I can edit it out, move it to the end of the disc and
>>have that extra 10 minutes to record something else.
>>
>>Other than recording, it's been a great teaching/presentation tool. It's
>>easy to play and replay tracks for a class/audience. It takes no time to
>>find the right track and you don't have to rewind to just the right spot.
>>
>>I should also add that I've been digitizing MD to hard drive in 1 step w/o
>>a problem.
>>
>>Esther Kim
>>Linguistics
>>UC Santa Barbara
>>
>>
>>--
>>Esther Kim
>>ekim at umail.ucsb.edu
>>
>
>