The Art of the Audio Essay
PWR 2 Fall Quarter 2007
Jonah G. Willihnganz
Stanford University

 

Instructions for Reserving and Borrowing the Audio Equipment

Students can check out equipment for 48 hours at a time.  This goes for both the recorder kits and the telephone adapters.  Students can check out equipment multiple times but not back-to-back.  All equipment is checked out from and returned to the front desk of PWR's main office on the 2^nd floor of Margaret Jacks Hall.  You must check and return equipment during regular business hours, 8am-12pm and 1pm-5pm (the office is closed at lunch). In general you will drop off equipment in the morning (by 11am) and pick up equipment in the afternoon after 1pm, but kits returned on a Monday must be brought in by 9:30am. 

An initial reservation sign-up sheet will be passed out in class early in the quarter, after pitches are given.  The slots are listed on the sign up sheet I will hand out. Initially, sign up for no more than 3 non-consecutive slots, and only select slots you can really commit to.  Keep in mind this is just an initial schedule of borrowing—not your only shot at reserving equipment—so if you are unsure about when you might use equipment, it's better to wait. 

After the initial sign-up, you should see me at the start or end of class to request a 48-hour slot.  This is the procedure for the rest of the term.  I will pass these on to Cristina Huerta, the administrator in the main office who handles the reservations and distributes the equipment.  The more notice you can give me, the better chance the equipment will be available on the dates you'd like it.  The department currently has 14 Recording Kits kits and telephone adapters, and 8 Microphone Signal Boosters. Occasionally there may be more requests than equipment.  In this event, equipment is doled in the order reservations were made.

Finally, it is absolutely imperative that students return equipment on time.  Failure to do so puts the projects of other students in serious jeopardy.  Failure to return equipment on time may forfeit your group's right to check out equipment in the future and it may affect your place in the class.  If you decide not to use equipment when you have indicated, please email me so that the kit can be freed up for another group's use.

Instructions for Using the Audio Equipment

For your Audio Essays you will produce your own audio.  This means that you will need equipment to record not only your own voice but also any sound you are interesting in capturing for your essay—e.g., interviews, soundbeds, live performances, etc.  PWR owns 12 Recording Kits and 12 telephone recorder adapters Each group will be able to borrow these kits and adapters throughout the term, according to the scheme outlined below.

Each Recording Kit contains four things: an Olympus digital recorder capable of storing about 3 hours of good quality audio, a broadcast-quality Audio Technica microphone, two cables that connect the mic to the recorder, and the recorder to a computer, and a software CD.  In class we will discuss how to use the recorder and microphones and you have a chance to practice.  Here I just want to make clear how you get audio from the recorder into the audio mixing program we will be using, Garage Band.

In addition to the recording kits, there are Microphone Signal Boosters. You will borrow these only near the end of the term when you are recording the narration portion of your audio essay.

Recorder Settings

When you record it is important to always choosing the highest quality audio setting available. Check the mic sensitivity and recording quality settings on your recorders before using them. The mic sensitivity should always be set at highest sensitivity, "H" not "L" should appear on the top of the display (in the menu the setting is called conference). The recording quality should always be set either at the highest (HQ) or middle quality (SP). HQ gets you a little over an hour of recording time; SP gets you a little over 2 hours. Only use SP if you need to record a long interview.

Transferring Files

The first time you transfer files, it's important that you do the following, in this order.  First, install (from the disc provided in the recording kit) the Olympus software program. Second, connect the recorder to the computer (with the provided USB cable).  Third, open the program, wait for it to detect the recorder, and then download the files (use the download menu if necessary).  You should now have the raw audio files in a format that Garage Band can read (.wav or .aiff files). When you begin editing and mixing, simply copy these files into iTunes so that from within Garage Band you can import them into your project.

Recording Telephone Interviews

The simplest way to record telephone interviews is to use a program called Skype or the telephone adapter and digital recorder. In the past, we have experienced problems in some of the dorms with the PBX telephone system emitting a screech over the telephone adapter, so be sure to test the telephone adapter well before your interview. If you get such a screech, try a different phone in the dorm or a phone in a different dorm.

You can also record your telephone interview over your computer, but this is a little more complicated because you need a set-up that allows you to make a call over the internet and to record both sides of the conversation. On any platform you can use Skype (free) to make the call. On the Mac, the simplest method for recording the interview is to use Skype plus Call Recorder (free for 7 days, $15 shareware payment after that).  Or you can use Skype plus a combination of two small utilities, Soundflower (free) and Line In (free). For settings and some guidance about this latter set-up (which only experienced Mac users should try), go here.

Recording Narration with the Microphone Signal Boosters

In order to get the best, warmest quality sound for your own narration, you will borrow both the Recording Kit and a Microphone Signal Booster and record your narration directly onto the computer. The microphones do not create a signal strong enough to create a good recording level, so you must plug the mic into the booster and the booster into the computer.

When recording narration directly into the computer using Garage Band you'll need set the preferences correctly on the computer (System Preferences) and in GarageBand (GarageBand Preferences). These are slightly different depending on whether you use an iMic (the round gray mic pre-amp) or an iBooster (the white box mic pre-amp). If you are using the iMic, in both System Preferences and GarageBand set the mic input to "USB iMic". If you are using the iBooster, in System Preferences choose "line in" and in GarageBand choose "Built-In Input" (Garage Band 3) or "Built-In Audio" (Garage Band 4).

If you cannot get a signal using iBooster, attach the stereo-to-mono adapter (included with the booster) to the end of the mic cable before plugging it in to the iBooster. The iBooster will only read a mono signal.

If you cannot hear yourself being recorded or if the mic is only being picked up on one channel, in GarageBand choose "Show Track Info" in the track menu and in the window that appears on the right hand side and switch, as necessary, monitor to "on" or Input Source to "mono."