External Mics for Smart Phones and Portable Recorders¶

Neils: This is not even a topic.
Jesse: I think he wants it removed?
[THIS IS A GOOD OPPORTUNITY FOR AN ADVANCED LESSON, HOWEVER IT NEEDS SOME EDITING, I THINK THIS SHOULD BE ON THE BACKBURNER FOR NOW]

4.0 Recording Ambient Sound in Different Settings¶

Problem Statement¶

How can I record audio in a very quiet or very noisy place?

Background¶

There are situations where you cannot ask interviewees to move to a quieter place. In these cases you will have additional background noise, sometimes as loud or louder than the person you are interviewing. There are also times where you don't want to record voices, but instead the sound of an event, a place, or a situation of some kind. In such moments, there are a few steps you can follow to ensure you get the audio you want.

Solution¶

a. When capturing audio in a crowded or noisy place, success depends largely on the quality and type of your microphone. With portable recorders it is best to use an external directional mic. Be sure your mic is unidirectional, omni directional mics will pick up all the noise in an area. Some examples are:

Shotgun Condenser mics like the Rode NTG-2 (AudioTechnica and most other companies have similar models for varying prices).
Handheld Cardoid Dynamic mics like the Senheiser MD46

Handheld mics are excellent for focusing on one subject in crowded places, however, they can be very sensitive to handling noise.

b. If you want to just capture sound, say the sounds of a beautiful natural park or of a crowd singing and chanting in a demonstration, there is a lot more freedom in terms of what kind of microphone to use. A built in microphone on a smart phone is a decent option for medium quality sound. A built in or external microphone on a portable digital recorder is more likely to give you good quality sound. The most important thing is to ensure that the audio level is set so that overmodulation does not occur especially if you're in a crowd where sound may fluctuate. If it is recorded at a relatively low level you can still boost it up during the editing process.

When capturing background audio feel free to record more than you think you need. This is so that you have enough to choose from and use when you're editing.

Try to keep the microphone in one place while recording background audio, especially to avoid handling noise, and any other irregularities that moving around could cause. Find a stable place where you can hear your audio source clearly, and start collecting those sounds that will be useful for your story.

When to Use / When Not to¶

For short interviews a handheld cardoids are an affordable and easy solution to capture one person’s voice in a crowd.

Do not use onmi-directional microphones in crowded situations if you want to focus on one person.

When using a portable recorder or smart phone to record background audio, try to keep it in one stable position during the recording.

Multimedia Details¶

Multimedia 1

Type: illustration
Location in the text:
Script (if necessary): Omni-directional pick-up pattern
Detailed Description: Omni-directional pick-up pattern

Multimedia 2

Type: illustration
Location in the text:
Script (if necessary): shot gun microphone pattern
Detailed Description: shot gun microphone pattern

Multimedia 3

Type: illustration
Location in the text:
Script (if necessary): bi-directional microphone
Detailed Description: bi-directional microphone

Test¶

Concept: Quiz

Question 1

Question: What kind of microphone pick-up pattern would be a very bad choice for interviewing individuals in a parade or protest?
Answer 1: Shot-gun
Answer 2: Super-cardoid
Answer 3: Omni-directional
Correct Answer: 3, Omni-directional

Question 2

Question: What type of external microphone could you use to capture the sounds of a forest?
Answer 1: Shot-gun microphone
Answer 2: Dynamic microphone
Answer 3: None of the Above
Correct Answer: 1, Shot-gun microphone

Question 3

Question: What kind of pick-up pattern does the Senheizer MD46 Dynamic microphone have?
Answer 1: Omni-directional
Answer 2: Bi-directional
Answer 3: Cardoid
Correct Answer: 3, Cardoid

Number of Questions to pass the Quiz: 2