clip-on microphones and cheap audio recorders

[Steven Bird]

On 6 April 2010 11:06, Laura Robinson <lcrobinson1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> [...] I want something that I
> can afford to buy 5 or 6 of that I can then lend or give away in the field
> without having to worry about getting them back.  To this end, I am also
> looking for something that is VERY simple to use, preferably with a big red
> record button and a simple stop and play buttons, so that I can teach
> someone to use it in less than one minute.

I recommend this, which is an updated version of the ones I'm using in PNG.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/631174-REG/Olympus_142070_VN_6200PC_Digital_Voice_Recorder.html

I've only experienced two problems with this recorder: (i) the
microphone sensitivity setting (hi/lo) is only accessible in a
submenu, and its not practical for people to switch between these
settings (e.g. low for near-field recording of monologue, vs high when
the recorder is placed midway between two dialogue participants); and
(ii) the playback button, when pressed repeatedly, switches between
normal, fast, and slow playback (I wish that setting was buried in the
submenus).

Rather than just giving out voice recorders, and having them filled up
with material with no archival value at all, you might give out A5
logbooks, along with the insert you can download from
http://boldpng.info/, so people collect metadata on what they record.
You might also like to try training them in respeaking and oral
translation.  For more details, see:

A scalable method for preserving oral literature from small languages,
Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Asia-Pacific
Digital Libraries, Gold Coast, Australia (June 2010)
http://boldpng.info/file-cabinet/icadl10.pdf

-Steven Bird

On 7 April 2010 22:52, Peter Austin <pa2 at soas.ac.uk> wrote:
> Laura
> Check out http://www.boldpng.info/
> and http://www.boldpng.info/resources/voice-recorders
> Steven Bird got his recorders for free from Olympus for purposes that seem
> not dissimilar to yours.
> Best,
> Peter
>
> On 6 April 2010 11:06, Laura Robinson <lcrobinson1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I want to thank everyone for their answers to my question about video
>> cameras.  I am now looking into a Canon Vixia HF S20 and a couple of Zoom
>> Q3s.   I am still on the hunt for more equipment recommendations for my
>> summer fieldtrip to Indonesia, so I wanted to ask for recommendations on two
>> things: (1) a good clip-on microphone, and (2) simple, relatively
>> inexpensive audio recorders.  I know this list is down on inexpensive audio
>> recorders, so let me explain what I am looking for.  I want something that I
>> can afford to buy 5 or 6 of that I can then lend or give away in the field
>> without having to worry about getting them back.  To this end, I am also
>> looking for something that is VERY simple to use, preferably with a big red
>> record button and a simple stop and play buttons, so that I can teach
>> someone to use it in less than one minute.   Let me assure you that I will
>> also have a couple of high-end audio recorders for my own use.
>>
>> Thanks again,
>>
>> Laura
>> --
>> Laura C. Robinson
>> Postdoctoral Researcher
>> Department of Linguistics
>> University of Alaska, Fairbanks
>> http://go.alaska.edu/lcrobinson
>
>
>
> --
> Prof Peter K. Austin
> Marit Rausing Chair in Field Linguistics
> Department of Linguistics, SOAS
> Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square
> London WC1H 0XG
> United Kingdom
>
> web: http://www.hrelp.org/aboutus/staff/index.php?cd=pa
>