[Nfb-history] Recording Toolbox

Fri Jul 15 16:11:32 UTC 2011

Hello Steve,

    Thanks for the feedback. I've heard of bidirectional mics but currently 
don't have one to play with. Perhaps I can pick up one prior to our state 
convention. Another problem you have is folks not talking directly in to the 
mic particularly if they like to move around while they speak. I've had to 
do my fare share of prompting folks to do so and appreciate that such 
admonissions can become annoying to speakers and audience alike.

    Enter lappelle mics. These are mics one clips on to a lappell or a part 
of their clothing allowing the person to move around and still be picked up 
thus eliminating the need to prompt them to speak directly in to a 
microphone. We had a panel of published authors speak during the Writers' 
Division Seminar who were not always on the mic. Fortunately this can be 
fixed during the audio editing process. If I had them I would have miked all 
three of them to avoid this problem.

    I'm all for giving folks information but want it to be understandable. \

    Another possibility is to purchass a multiple-microphone mount which 
would allow more than one mic to be placed at the podium. Had I had one of 
these devices and time permitted we could have placed one at the podium for 
the Back to Basics Seminar and attached the sound system mic and my mic to 
it allowing them to be heard by the audience and picked up for recording 
without the physical connection to the sound system. I believe we need to 
have a recording "Toolbox" to allow us to deal with a variety of recording 
situations such as those we've discussed.

Peter Donahue

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "NFB History Support List" <nfb-history at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 10:51 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-history] Recordings at Convention

Peter,

You have a lot of experience thatI don't have, but I have had some 
experience in this area recording our local conventions as well.  Everything 
you say in
your note sounds reasonable, but I am not certain that it is possible to 
develop a solution that will work well with a variety of  sound systems. 
When you are
investigating, I would suggest looking at an additional option.  That would 
be to simply have two microphones available for connection to the recording
source.  One could be placed on the table or podium and the other would be 
used to pick up audience participation.  The second microphone would need
to be directional to some degree.  Particularly in a medium to small sized 
room without a sound system, this works pretty well.  Attaching a microphone
physically to the sound system microphone also works pretty well, taking 
care to attach it somewhat behind the main microphone to avoid wind and
popping.  The standards for recording are not as high as they once were 
because of the thirst for information.  We want good recordings, but I am 
not
convinced that missing a recording that could have been good but not 
excellent makes sense.  We need to figure out how to have a flexible 
approach to
recording that gets us useful information, not to try to compete with 
professional companies that charge high prices for their recordings.  I 
completely agree
that a recording made from the audience is usually not going to be 
sufficient, but I think there are compromises that can be made that can 
provide an
above-average recording without necessarily being perfect.  It is in my 
opinion a mistake, for example, to require a sound system to get a recording 
in a room
where a sound system is not required to carry on a meeting.  That gets to be 
the tail wagging the dog.

Sometimes we need to look at procedures, too.  It is common practice in 
corporate meetings now to have people participating remotely, and it is 
considered
to be protocol for the person at the microphone to repeat questions, for 
example.  I have been in meetings where participants were required to wait 
until a
wireless microphone was passed to them, but frankly, this can slow down 
participation and I'm not sure that it is the best solution.  It also seems 
like overkill
in a smaller room.  There is getting to be some interesting directional 
microphone technology out there and I have not had a chance to play with 
that but that
also offers some options.  In one case, and I really hate to admit this to 
you because you are going to think it crazy, I was forced to make a 
recording of a
meeting by aiming a microphone toward one of the loud speakers.  You and I 
probably both did this when we were kids and the results were dismal.
However, using a good microphone aimed at a high quality speaker and adding 
a touch of equalization resulted in a recording that you truly would not 
have
known was not made directly.  I do not propose this as a general solution as 
it is simply way to variable, but I think we need to think out of the box
sometimes.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Thu, 14 Jul 2011 21:11:18 -0500, Peter Donahue wrote:

>Hello everyone,

>    Since returning from convention the list has been quiet. I'd be curious
>to know what everyone was able to record at this year's national 
>convention.
>I'll start this show.

>    One activity that has been requested to be recorded for several years 
> is
>the annual employment seminar. I'm pleased to announce that this was done
>with success. Details on how one can obtain copies of this seminar will be
>posted later. I also recorded the Seminar for Spanish speakers and the
>Writers' Division Annual Meeting.

>    I'm sorry to report that due to the inability to connect to the sound
>system in the room where it was being held plus not being ready by start
>time the recording of this year's Back to Basics Seminar was aborted.
>Although I brought my own sound system with me it could not be used
>successfully in those Panzicola Rooms as they were quite large. The Back to
>Basics Seminar was held in one of those rooms. Without a direct connection
>to the sound system I could not obtain a high-quality recording. Keep in
>mind that these seminars have been posted on our national Web site hence 
>the
>need for them to be of the highest possible quality.

>    I've discussed this issue with Mike Freholm before and during the
>convention. He plans to discuss it with Dr. Maurer and Mrs. Jernigan during
>the coming year in the hopes we can find a favorable solution which will
>allow us to "Bleed" in-room sound systems without first visiting the local
>mortgage company.

>    I've had several brain storms and have a few possible work-around for
>this problem especially next year since the national convention will be 
>back
>in Dallas. As it happens our state affiliate has its own sound system. If
>there are affiliates that want their activities recorded perhaps they could
>be scheduled in a room where the sound system could be set up to avoid the
>costs of patching in to the hotel sound system. As I recall the sound 
>system
>in the Wedgewood Room at the Hilton Anatole had problems.

>Perhaps Florida could do likewise assuming they have their own sound
>equipment and would be willing to allow it to be used to provide sound for
>convention activities and so these activities can be recorded. Many of the
>smaller rooms at the Rosen Shingle Creek did not have P.A. systems in them.
>It's a darn good thing I was able to finance the purchass of a small pear 
>of
>speakers so I could not only record the above activities but provide a 
>sound
>system for these rooms.

>    a dreamer's  approach would be to find equipment that could capture 
> live
>audio from an in-room sound system for recording without the need for a
>physical connection to the in-room P.A. system. If the in-room sound 
>systems
>are digital this might be possible. Since I have an entire year to research
>this possibility I will do so. There are hardware and software solutions
>that allow audio and video signals to be sent from a PC to  a T.V. or a
>stereo system for playback without the need for a physical connection to 
>the
>receiving device. I need to see if there are such solutions to do the exact
>opposite and how expensive they are and their transportability. One way or
>other we need to whip this problem so the issue won't keep coming up every
>year.
>    These are my recording adventures at this year's national convention.
>All the best.

>Peter Donahue

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