Date: Sun, 07 Apr 2019 15:43:16 -0500 From: dewalter <dewalter@cheqnet.net> Subject: Re: Digital recording equipment Message-ID: <c0341b04f351966e8f0dedd003e296de@cheqnet.net>
On 2019-04-05 13:58, Mary Dibble wrote:
> Can anyone recommend high quality digital recording equipment that is
> affordable? At the New Glarus Historical Society and Monticello Area
> Historical Society we would like to record important memories of area
> residents and maintain them on digital files. We're interested in
> preserving historical information but also would like to be able to
> edit the interviews on a computer for use in exhibits or to make
> available online. We want the sound to be clear and clean.
>
> Any recommendations?
>
> Thanks
>
> Mary Dibble
> New Glarus Historical Society
Mary
At the Moquah Heritage Society, we started video-taping interviews with
local residents about four years ago. Our objective is to document their
view of local history (before they’re gone). One of us transcribes the
interviews, which gives us rough printed data. It takes about twice as
long to transcribe an oral interview, for example, if the interview is
one hour, it takes us two hours to transcribe the information. One of
the members writes an article based on that data (we publish a quarterly
newsletter - The Ethnic Voice). Sometimes we have to re-interview or
call the person a second or third time to clarify the material. At some
point, it is our intention to produce a CD on our local history.
At the beginning of this project, a fair amount of research was
required (as you are finding out). There is a lot of information
available on-line. Sometimes asking the right question is the most
difficult part of the research.
Rather than trying to put all of this into an email document, I have
attached a document with the information I have to share. Please be
aware – some of this is from on-line research, and some of it is from
our personal experience.
It is my opinion that you do not need to invest a huge amount of money
into your equipment. There are several cameras on the market that are
not that expensive. We use a Canon Vixia HF R500, with a Lavalier clip
on microphone. The main consideration is to get something that is easy
for you to operate, not requiring complicated procedures.
You also must consider what you are using to edit your videos for later
use. If you can’t plug the SD card (or whatever storage medium you use)
into your computer, you can’t retrieve your interview. Software is
obviously also a major consideration.
I have attached three documents with information to share with you.
Interview techniques has the most information regarding camera equipment
and interview items. Deed of gift is the one we use as a permission
slip. feel free to alter it as you see fit. Interview topics is the
checklist for interviews - a starting point.
If you have further questions, please contact us. Dave Walter
dewalter@cheqnet.net 715 746-2846