battery module

[bdawg]

when should one use a battery module? is it useful for recording university lectures or meetings?

[dex Otaku]

I would say not, actually. A battbox is needed to extend the headroom of your recording by increasing the maximum recordable SPL of a condenser microphone. Generally, this is most useful in situations where what you are recording is expected to be very loud. It does not necessarily present any significant advantage in terms of raising signal above the noise floor of your recorder.

More to it, though..

For a situation where you know you'll be needing high-gain from the preamp [as the speaker is usually relatively far away from the mic when recording lectures] one would be better off using an external preamp with a lower noise floor to insure that the distant speaker's voice isn't buried in preamp hiss. This would make for a slightly clearer recording. Of course, it's basically a requirement to use your recorder's AGC [auto gain control, aka auto record levels] in such a situation as well, as any nearby sounds will likely be much louder than the actual lecturer.

In my experience, using a reasonably good microphone and the preamp on my HiMD in combination with the high mic sensitivity mode and AGC gives perfectly acceptable results for such recordings.

Remember that the point of recording a lecture is not fidelity or stereo separation or whatever other purist technical merit; the point is intelligibility.

Good mic placement [as close to the speaker as possible] and proper use of your equipment will go a long way.

[bdawg]

thanks.

so the battery module will do nothing for me in terms of increasing legibility of the sound.

However you did mention something about a preamp microphone. what use is that for? would it be useful for recording lectures? especially when the mic is placed far away?

thanks