Equipment for oral history projects

Sound recordings have been created on everything from wax cylinders to huge reel-to-reel tape recorders, to portable cassette recorders, to ultra-small minidisc machines, to digital recorders that record onto memory cards. It is now possible to make good recordings on a mobile phone.

Whilst you can create reasonable digital recordings using computers, laptop computers and mobile phones, it is worth noting that none of these devices are designed specifically for recording long interviews at high quality. A dedicated digital sound recorder remains the best option.

This is a guide to the equipment we use, and links to where you can find further advice.

Doug Boyd reviews equipment for the oral history community and has a couple of useful websites:

• Digital Omnium
• Oral History in the Digital Age
• Transom.org produce an annual round up of the latest recording gear, as do other websites.

Sound recorders

For good archival recordings it is best to record .wav files at a minimum of 44.1Khz 16 bit quality, and preferably at higher quality - you shouldn't really consider any that do not. For the professional sound recordist the difference usually lies in the recorder's ability to work well with high quality microphones that use XLR connections, which the cheaper machines don't do, but all of these recorders have very acceptable built in microphones and your decision will probably come down to affordability and ease of use.

Zooms

We have used the Zoom H1(n), H2(n), H4(n) and the H5. Both the H4n and the H5 have good internal mics but also accept high quality external mics and are used extensively by the oral history community as they are good quality, easy to use, and affordable. At the start of 2024 the Zoom H4n and H5 can both be bought for around £170 - £200.

Tascams

We loan Tascam DR-05s to groups and individuals, and they work very well, but they are entry-level and won't accept high quality mics. They cost around £85 and are our choice at this price range. The  DR-07(X) and DR-40(X) are also good and affordable.

Others

Both Sony and Olympus make good quality, affordable, portable sound recorders that you should also consider.

If you are going to use a mobile phone it pays to download software that enable you to adjust the recording level and record .wav files at a minimum of 44.1Khz 16 bit quality. EMOHA has used Voice Record Pro, which we like (it's free), but there are others. These tips from the Oral History Centre at the University of Winnipeg guide you through using a mobile phone for oral history interviews. We don't recommend using mobile phones, but they are a useful back-up,

Both Zoom and Tascam, and other manufacturers, make higher quality recorders than those mentioned above. If you have the money you should definitely take a look at these - we would love to have a Sound Devices MixPre 3 (£1,000) for example - but for most groups and projects, these are the usual choices.

Microphones

Microphones vary hugely in price and quality. Most importantly, make sure your microphone will connect to, and work with, your recording machine. There are many suitable microphones on the market and it is generally true that you get what you pay for. If you are using a good quality sound recorder that accepts professional quality microphones you should be looking at microphones near or over £100. Cheaper microphone are usually a false economy as it is often the microphone rather than the recorder that creates the difference in the quality of the recording.

Broadly, you have two choices: tie-clip mics (also known as Lavalier mics) or hand held mics that you can place in a stand of some sort.

Oral History in the Digital Age tells you all you need to know about microphones, while Doug Boyd looks at the pros and cons of Lavalier mics in his blog.

Sound editing software

While there are a variety of different software packages available for editing sound, we always encourage beginners to have a go using Audacity. The reason for this is that Audacity is free, easy to use, works on Mac and Windows, and there is a lot of support on YouTube. Read reviews of other free examples.

We recommend starting with basic software and then moving onto more sophisticated software, like Wavelab, Adobe Audition etc., should you feel the need.