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14 February 2006

Ask MetaChat Any radio journalists here? Start-up technology question inside. →[More:] My aunt is going to get a new computer that is powerful enough that she can use it to produce her own a/v documentary productions and she wants to start with radio. Caveat: she knows media and she has a great voice. And I have the rest of the package.

She needs a good field-recording set up on a budget so she can record broadcast-quality interviews.

What I have come up with so far through research and recommendations for recording in the field the m-audio MicroTrack and the Electro Voice 635 mic. I am comfortable with the m-audio unit (though the "worship" wording in the blurb is weird and entertaining) but I have no idea about the mic. Would she be better spending money on a binaural mic? Keep in mind that this is an amatuer journalist but she has good ears.

post by: Cryptical Envelopment at: 21:26 | 4 comments

A binaural mic is a good piece of gear for on-the-road interviews, as it adds a lot of space that your aunt would have to otherwise add post-production with recordings from two or more monaural mics.

posted by AlexReynolds 14 February | 21:41

Agreed with Alex- the binaural setup will be good for outdoors stuff, field stuff.

You should know really, the place to ask these questions is transom.org - they have done some very interesting mic tests and know everything about this sort of thing.

The Minidisc community (of which I'm a part- using the MZ-RH10, and self-made-mics, see also the Quiet American's field recommendations- http://www.quietamerican.org/), generally recommends products by Sound Professionals. But this is more for taper-types than radio types.

Just a quick caution. Generally, I've found M-Audio gear to be very cheaply constructed. My FireWire410 soundcard is/was a total piece of plastic shit. The XLR connectors on it were flimsy, and the headphone volume pots quickly became scratchy. I don't doubt the device will perform as advertised, but expect it to feel like a toy and handle it accordingly.

posted by fake 15 February | 05:37

You should also consider using mics to-purpose- outdoors, using binaural, indoors, using something like the electro voice. It doesn't have to cost that much more and the results will be worth it.

posted by fake 15 February | 05:38

Excellent counsel. thanks Alex and fake. In will pass on this info and check out those sites.

posted by Cryptical Envelopment 15 February | 20:56

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