digital recording equipment

ali-t

I have taken on board everyones comments and had a look at the suggestions on some of the transcription sites for suitable equipment and think this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Olympus-voice-recorder-VN-7800PC-Cancelling/dp/B002FAGMT6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287315436&sr=8-1 would meet my needs - I think!

It has PC at the end which apparently means it can be moved onto my computer, it comes with an external mic and a noise cancelling mic. I only need it for this one piece of work so don't need to be keeping loads of stuff on it in the future. Before I go spending any money do any of you have any views on whether this would be suitable for a multi-speaker group discussion? TIA

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ali-t wrote: »

Before I go spending any money do any of you have any views on whether this would be suitable for a multi-speaker group discussion? TIA

That's the tricky question. Is the mic going to be sensitve enough to pick up sound at any distance and you'll need a mic that pics up sound from all round (multidirctioal as opposed to unidirectional - this might not be a problem with the type of mics used in these devices). It will also depend on the room for the discussion. You don't want a large echoey room. A small room with some soft furnishing (such as a carpet) will help.

The reviews do suggest it will be OK.

closed

if its important, use 2 or more methods. laptop, tape, olympus

Sooler

ali-t wrote: »

Thanks for all the input received, it is really appreciated to help me get my head round what I require.

As it's for one use only, save your money ... you have what you need already.

Either plug a mic into the laptop and record straight to disk.


If you dictaphone has a audio out socket you could use your dictaphone to record your work, and once done you can plug a lead from the dictaphone into the laptop to transfer the audio by recording it in Audacity.

File sizes can be sorted after you've got your recording as from Audacity you can save to various file formats.

Owain_Moneysaver

If you are a student then ask your educational institution if they can provide equipment or facilities. They may even have a conference room set up with conference microphones (one per delegate) and facilities to record the discussion.

HO87

IIRC the Olympus records in .pcm format. The transcription service I have used in the past happily accepted these uploaded to their server.