Interviewing with Minidisc

[Mark Nicholson]

Can anyone offer any opinions of microphones for interviewing people?

[MDMusicMan]

any good condenser mic. will do. At the size you're looking for, they'll run off some kind of battery (AAA or AA, most likely). Stereo or mono will work fine, and you'll want to keep it placed in the center of all the 'action'.

[François]

>>>any good condenser mic. will do

I disagree

We need some more information on the kind of interviews but... I work (in France) as sound professionnal in radio and tv for years. For "on the field" recordings of interviews, by someone who work alone (ie the same guy asks questions and hold the mike, not wearing headphones to control the sound quality), we would give him a dynamic omnidirectionnal mike, and tell him to put it as close of the mouth of the hero as he can.

We use sometime different mikes for tv because we try to avoid the microphone appearing on the image. But check on your tv what kind of mikes the radios are using when there is a common radio/tv interview.

[Mark Nicholson]

In my psychiatric interviews, I use a Sony ECM-MS907 single point stereo microphone plugged into a Sharp MT770. This gives wonderful results.

I have a different use in mind. I would like to interview family members to make an audio companion to photo albums.

I would also like to interview people who do interesting things. I have managed, for instance, to get a violin bow maker to let me interview him and his people in his shop.

I am thinking that a Sennheiser MD46 cardioid mic would be a good idea.

What do you think?

[Leland]

In Japan, it is very common to see reporters using MD's when you watch the news and see them recording interviews or statements made by politicians. They often use small stereo "bow tie" mics plugged into the mic input of a small recorder, then shove the entire recorder, mic and all, into the face of the yakking politician.

[Mark Nicholson]

Do we have any idea how good the recording is?

[Leland]

For interviews, I expect it is outstanding. My personal experience is as follows: I have two mic's. One is the SoundProfessionals stereo pair that mount to your eyeglasses in a pair of croakies. These are pretty high quality custom made little mics that do a great job. They run about $100. More relevant, I also have a small stereo tie pin mic that I bought for about $20. I think it is from Panasonic. I have used it like this: Clip it to my shirt. Put my MD recorder in my pocket, recording. Walk around Tokyo shopping to record ambient sounds, transactions made, jokes with my friend etc. Or, walking around the park with my kids to catch our conversations (really fun as they are completely candid, whereas video cameras intimidate at times). Or, run on the landing upstairs in high sensitivity to record conversations at the dinner table at the holidays. Or, Hang my MD recorder in a tree in the woods, leave it there for an hour, come back and find some great recordings of birds. The quality of all these recordings is remarkable. (please, no comments on the ethics of my clandistine recordings! I only do it with my family!) That is why I expect the setups I have seen Japanese reporters use probably give good results.

Here is my advice, based on the other posts, as sound quality is dependant on how you wish to use the recordings in the future and what your personal tastes are: First of all, you cannot go wrong with using MD as a recording format. The simplicity, portability, quality, and length of recording time available make it excellent, and it has a well established track record as a result. Then, get a low cost condensor mic, as suggested in the first reply, although the tiepin mic I have does not need batteries, it uses the plug in power from the MD player. Ditto for the Sound Professionals mics. Don't spend too much. Try it. For $20, if you don't like it too much, it is always handy to carry as a back up. I always have mine in case I have some urge to make an ambient recording with my MD recorder and have not prepared. Then try something a little more upscale. Also, buy from a vendor that has a good variety and a good return policy. Then you can try one, take it back and trade up, try again.

Also, make sure you look through the minidisc.org accessory browser on microphones. I am sure you will find lots of good advice there. The folks at the Sound Professionals and Core Sound both are very helpful giving advice. They are referenced on the accessory browser.

Enjoy.

[Guest Anonymous]

hi, i'm an anthropologist and i've used a flate mike (or PZM) for interviews with great success. it's a crown sound-grabber II, very small and innocuous (takes a AAA), and it cost me about $50 on sale. i've used it in family type environments, for recording an conversation b/w me and another person, and in a noisy hall for recording the speaker (who spoke with a microphone). it's been good, b/c it does a good job of moderating the sounds relative to their strength, so that background noise doesn't drown out the central signal (unless it's very loud). i just put it in the middle of the conversation.