Recording lectures

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I'm a student trying to record lectures to my laptop from 20-50 feet
away. I've looked at the ATR-55 and the Sony ECM-Z60. Which would be
better suited? I'd also like the ability to record concerts with the
same mic. Any input would be appreciated.

 

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In article <1109094524.561009.68450@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
<roeder@gmail.com> wrote:
>I'm a student trying to record lectures to my laptop from 20-50 feet
>away. I've looked at the ATR-55 and the Sony ECM-Z60. Which would be
>better suited? I'd also like the ability to record concerts with the
>same mic. Any input would be appreciated.

My advice is to get a lot closer.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

 

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In article <1109094524.561009.68450@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com> roeder@gmail.com writes:

> I'm a student trying to record lectures to my laptop from 20-50 feet
> away.

You really won't have very good results in a typical lecture classroom
at that distance, even if you use a really serious shotgun mic. Move
up to the front of the room. Or are you wanting to record the lectures
so you can sleep through them and that's why you want to sit back some
distance?

> I'd also like the ability to record concerts with the
> same mic. Any input would be appreciated.

You'll probably be able to record concerts with any mic which will
give you a good recording of the lecture at a distance of less than
20 feet.

--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

 

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Roeder wrote:
> I'm a student trying to record lectures to my laptop from 20-50 feet
> away. I've looked at the ATR-55 and the Sony ECM-Z60. Which would be
> better suited?

I'm not familiar with the ECM-Z60, but I use an ATR-55 on my camcorder for
home videos and it does an acceptable job for that task. It's significantly
quieter than the Radio Shack equivalent, and tho it does have noticeable
self-noise while listening in headphones, it sounds good and clear thru the
TV set. I say give it a shot and if it doesn't work out you've got yourself
a good cheap camcorder mic.

Jeff Jasper
Jeff Jasper Productions, West Funroe, La.

 

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Roeder wrote:
> I'm a student trying to record lectures to my laptop from 20-50
> feet away. I've looked at the ATR-55 and the Sony ECM-Z60.
> Which would be better suited?

IMHO, neither. No microphone of any size or price will
produce acceptable results at 50 ft indoors. Even a shotgun
mic the actual length of a real shotgun is questionable at 20
ft. Nothing you hear on radio, TV, movies, etc. was miked
that way.

If what you are trying to do actually worked, you wouldn't
see the crowd of microphones around the newsworthy person
every evening on the TV news.

I would consider a wireless solution. Or else sit on the
front row with one of your mini-"shotgun" mics.

 

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Richard Crowley wrote:
> IMHO, neither. No microphone of any size or price will
> produce acceptable results at 50 ft indoors. Even a shotgun
> mic the actual length of a real shotgun is questionable at 20
> ft. Nothing you hear on radio, TV, movies, etc. was miked
> that way.
>
> If what you are trying to do actually worked, you wouldn't
> see the crowd of microphones around the newsworthy person
> every evening on the TV news.
>
> I would consider a wireless solution. Or else sit on the
> front row with one of your mini-"shotgun" mics.

I basically agree -- if we're talking about "professional quality" audio.
But I'm assuming this guy just wants to be able to play a lecture back for
himself and understand it, not come away with "good audio."

A wireless, relatively close-mic'ed solution would be ideal, but it's the
rare lecturer who would be amenable to that. When I was a student, no
recording of any kind was allowed in even the most ridiculously large,
un-reinforced lecture halls. Apparently some progress is being made in
students' favor...?

Outdoors I was quite surprised how far and how clear the little AT-55 would
shoot, despite its self-noise and Handicam electronics. For instance, I
picked up my dad speaking normally at 40 feet with low level but crisp
audio. He was even intelligible at 100 feet when speaking up. Suburban
West Funroe is a semi-rural setting, tho.

A noisy lecture audience is likely to be more problematic, but I still say
there's a good chance he'll come away with mostly-intelligible audio. A
wireless PZM or lav would be a dream come true. Then comes the mid-lecture
pee break and the prof's still wired....<G>

Jeff Jasper
Jeff Jasper Productions, West Monroe, La.

 

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<roeder@gmail.com> wrote:

>I'm a student trying to record lectures to my laptop from 20-50 feet
>away. I've looked at the ATR-55 and the Sony ECM-Z60. Which would be
>better suited? I'd also like the ability to record concerts with the
>same mic. Any input would be appreciated.

Neither is appropriate.

At that range, if you want intelligibility at low cost, you should
record binaurally. Mount a miniature omni mic near each ear and record
to a two-channel recorder.

We manufacture a wide variety of binaural microphone sets. They are
used for both concert and lecture recording. Please see our Web site
for details.

--
Len Moskowitz PDAudio, Binaural Mics, Cables, DPA, M-Audio
Core Sound http/www.stealthmicrophones.com
Teaneck, New Jersey USA http/www.core-sound.com
moskowit@core-sound.com Tel: 201-801-0812, FAX: 201-801-0912

 

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Richard Crowley <rcrowley7@xprt.net> wrote:

>IMHO, neither. No microphone of any size or price will
>produce acceptable results at 50 ft indoors. Even a shotgun
>mic the actual length of a real shotgun is questionable at 20
>ft. Nothing you hear on radio, TV, movies, etc. was miked
>that way.

The requirements for Radio/TV mic-ing is very different than for
transcription. For intelligibility, if you could understand what was
being said at the time of the recording, a binaural recording played
back over headphones will preserve that intelligibility.

Record the lecture and the concert binaurally.

--
Len Moskowitz PDAudio, Binaural Mics, Cables, DPA, M-Audio
Core Sound http/www.stealthmicrophones.com
Teaneck, New Jersey USA http/www.core-sound.com
moskowit@core-sound.com Tel: 201-801-0812, FAX: 201-801-0912

 

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"Len Moskowitz" <moskowit@panix.com> wrote in message
news:d1sbs0$q9j$1@reader1.panix.com...
>
> Richard Crowley <rcrowley7@xprt.net> wrote:
>
>>IMHO, neither. No microphone of any size or price will
>>produce acceptable results at 50 ft indoors. Even a shotgun
>>mic the actual length of a real shotgun is questionable at 20
>>ft. Nothing you hear on radio, TV, movies, etc. was miked
>>that way.
>
> The requirements for Radio/TV mic-ing is very different than for
> transcription. For intelligibility, if you could understand what was
> being said at the time of the recording, a binaural recording played
> back over headphones will preserve that intelligibility.
>
> Record the lecture and the concert binaurally.

True, that way you can take advantage of the magic circuitry
and "meatware" in your brain to sort out the multi-reverberant
signal. However, at some point the "cocktail-party effect"
overrides everything else.