Microphone for Recording Lectures

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Hi,

I would like to buy a microphone in order to record my lectures in
university. I will be plugging the microphone to my tablet pc (T
m200). The lecture rooms accommodate around 200 students and the
lecturer paces.

I would like to know what microphones you recommend for such a
situation please. What were your experiences in terms of sound quality
and other experiences?

Thanks,
M

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I would buy a PZM (boundary) mic, which you can lay on the floor next to your
chair. Radio Shack used to sell relatively cheap ones; I don't know if they
still do.

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if you're standing at the podium the whole time, you could do it with
an SM57. If you walk around a bit, a pzm would work. Or a little lav
mic.
later,
m

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In article <a0fa927c.0504171647.41e1a57f@posting.google.com>,
newbie29 <newbie29@hotmail.com> wrote:

>I would like to buy a microphone in order to record my lectures in
>university. I will be plugging the microphone to my tablet pc (T
>m200). The lecture rooms accommodate around 200 students and the
>lecturer paces.

Wireless lav mic affixed to the teacher, on one channel, and a wide
cardioid pointed at the audience on the other channel.

If you can't do this, it will be hard to do much better than an electret
on your desk anyway. Something like a minidisc recorder with a stereo
electret mic sitting on the teacher's desk can do a pretty good job of
recording a lecture, actually. I've got 400+ hours of Navajo language
lectures done this way, and they are actually pretty good.

You didn't mention whether you are specifically tasked with the job, or
whether you're a student, or whether you need to do it with any degree
of stealth.

Depending on the professor's ego, it might be easy to get him to wear a
lav, and to have the resulting transcripts edited and put on the net :-)

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In article <a0fa927c.0504181059.13d8f390@posting.google.com>,
newbie29 <newbie29@hotmail.com> wrote:

>I have a plug in my tablet specifically for a microphone, so I don't
>need a usb mic. However, if there is one that you would recommend,
>please do.

The idea of the USB mic was to avoid the very crummy signal path of the
mic input on your pc, and substitute something slightly better.

Since you have to do it from your desk, you've got a problem. You will
pick up a lot of shuffling papers, foot noises, flatulence, the air
conditioner, etc.

I found a good compromise with a minidisc recorder and a (very cheap) electret
mic, placed on the techer's desk. Not great recordings, mind you, but
much better than anything I could do from back in the room, even with a
better mic.

Too bad it's not the start of the year. Good strategy is to persuade
the prof that it's *his* idea, and get it done on the fac's budget :-)
But if you do something like this, you'll have volunteered to edit and
encode and publish the material. Learned that one the hard way.

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On 18 Apr 2005 21:03:35 -0400, mrivers@d-and-d.com (Mike Rivers)
wrote:

>What's the matter with taking notes on paper like we used to do when
>we had to walk 5 miles to school every day, in the snow, up hill, both
>ways?

Only five miles? No headwind? Musta been one'a 'em Blue States.
Won't be states for long... territories, mebbe.

And you had paper? Well!

Chris Hornbeck
6x9=42 April 29

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newbie29 <newbie29@hotmail.com> wrote:

>I'm sorry, I hadn't noticed the ambiguity. I mean the lectures that I
>attend as a student. So, this means that I will be sitting in a
>lecture room of around 200 students.

For the highest intellgibility, get a set of binaural mics. Mount one
near each ear and hit "record". Play it back over headphones. If you
could hear and understand it during the lecture, you'll be able to hear
and understand it during playback.

You'll need a decent mic pre-amp for your laptop. Consider the M-Audio
MobilePre USB.

--
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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In article <Py_8e.35531$A31.28333@fed1read03> fishbowl@conservatory.com writes:

> One thing I've learned recently is, at least in Chemistry, a whole lot
> more information has to be absorbed, in a shorter amount of time.

Someone should speak to this professor. If you have to re-listen to
his lectures and nearly transcribe them as study materials, he's not
doing his job. Ask him for a good book and tell him to lecture on
parts that really turn him on.

> There's also the somewhat controversial fact that not every teacher or
> student speaks English as a first (or even second) language. This makes
> it even more valuable to have something else to corroborate your notes.

Well, that's a different sort of problem. Perhaps the school should
have a program for recording lectures. But then nobody would come to
class.

> And how does your suggestion help disabled students who *can't* take
> notes the old fashioned way?

Let 'em read books. Honestly, you're just making arguments. A normal
student pays attention in class and takes notes to supplement the
study material. There are always exceptions, but I didn't read that
the original posters hands were paralyzed or that he wasn't
comfortable with the lecturer's language.

I had a physics instructor who was from India. Many times someone in
class had to stop him and ask him to write a word on the board because
we couldn't figure out what he was talking about the way he pronounced
some English words. I remember when he was working through a problem
in acceleration of a rocket burning fuel (hence reducing its mass at a
known rate). He kept talking about "foo-WELL" and it took an
interruption to find out what he was really saying.




--
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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newbie29 wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I would like to buy a microphone in order to record my lectures in
> university. I will be plugging the microphone to my tablet pc (T
> m200). The lecture rooms accommodate around 200 students and the
> lecturer paces.
>
> I would like to know what microphones you recommend for such a
> situation please. What were your experiences in terms of sound
quality
> and other experiences?
>
> Thanks,
> M

More important than the mic you get, make sure it is positioned as
close as possible to the teacher. If it is at your desk, sit in the
first row.

Albert

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In article <9yv9e.45222$A31.33279@fed1read03> fishbowl@conservatory.com writes:

> But you were just making a case against utilizing the tools available.
> You were being facetious (do you have another mode), but seriously,
> shouldn't you have used a slate tablet, or just written in the sand with
> a stick, instead of your high falutin newfangled "pencil" and "paper?"

The point is that you're tryng to solve a relaively difficult problem
and you don't know what tools to use. The best suggestions have been
made but they aren't the most practical because they require
preparation and cooperation of the professor (who may prefer that you
pay attention to his lecture rather than pay attention to making the
recording).

> I'm sorry, but I actually live and work in this world. Blind students
> and students with other disabilities are quite common. When someone
> suggests an alternative to handwritten notes or regular textbooks, this
> is the first thing that comes to my mind, and not some kind of boundary
> case.

Sorry, but I live in another world. When someone doesn't completely
describe a problem, one alternative that I offer is that he doesn't
really have a problem. If he said he was blind or otherwise disabled,
unless he was new at it, he probably already has plenty of support
from his peers.




--
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

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

My previous post applies.
First and pretty much ONLY, there is NO
(repeat) NO
(one mo time) Not A Single
Thing that can really help you here except for PROXIMITY.

A lousy mic -close- (within 2' of the talker)
is better than a Neumann 75 feet away

A micro-cassette dictation recorder lying on the desk near the talker is
better than a CD-recorder with a PZM 25 feet away.






On 4/21/05 3:55 PM, in article azT9e.56078$A31.18741@fed1read03, "james"
<fishbowl@conservatory.com> wrote:

> In article <znr1114095886k@trad>, Mike Rivers <mrivers@d-and-d.com> wrote:
>
>> Sorry, but I live in another world. When someone doesn't completely
>> describe a problem, one alternative that I offer is that he doesn't
>> really have a problem. If he said he was blind or otherwise disabled,
>> unless he was new at it, he probably already has plenty of support
>> from his peers.
>
> Correct. We (U of Arizona, the smart school in Tucson, not to be
> confused with Arizona State U in Tempe), do have a program for taping
> lectures, volunteer readers for the blind, etc.
>
> Two things bring me to your newsgroup. I'm a musician, so I'm highly
> interested in audio, reasons should be obvious. Also, I volunteer
> periodically to record books and notes on tape for blind students at
> UofA. I like to pay attention to quality even though it's not really
> required.
>
> I wish there was an inexpensive way to rig all classrooms to provide A/V
> transcripts of the lectures, including electronic whiteboard records.
> But, "that's next year" I guess.

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On 2005-04-21 mrivers@d-and-d.com said:
>> I'm sorry, but I actually live and work in this world. Blind
>>students and students with other disabilities are quite common.
>>When someone suggests an alternative to handwritten notes or
>>regular textbooks, this is the first thing that comes to my mind,
>>and not some kind of boundary case.
>Sorry, but I live in another world. When someone doesn't completely
>describe a problem, one alternative that I offer is that he doesn't
>really have a problem. If he said he was blind or otherwise
>disabled, unless he was new at it, he probably already has plenty
>of support from his peers.
AS a blind person myself I've seen plenty of people without requisite
literacy skills (braille) trying to fight their way through colege
courses with taped lectures. YEs text books can sometimes be found
recorded. However there's not much of a real substitute for written
notes when it comes time to cram for the final exam etc. Most
effective strategies I've seen employed by blind folks whose braille
skills aren't quite ready for prikme time for taking notes rapidly and
accurately is to record the lecture and make notes that evening at
home. OTherwise at the end of the term you've got all these tapes.
Try sorting through them for the discussion on 16th century political
thought which the professor made six weeks ago through all of those 90
minute cassettes. wIthout enough braille skills to at least label the
tapes and some skeletal notes you're pretty much screwed.



Richard Webb,
Electric SPider Productions, New Orleans, La.
REplace anything before the @ symbol with elspider for real email

--



Braille: support true literacy for the blind!