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The nature of our clients in the disability sector is as varied as the general population. Some people love to be recorded, some not so much. If we work from the principle of the limiting resource, we will develop a set of gear that works for the media shy individual and will also work for the media star.
Let’s go a step back in the process. The best person to host/interview your clients and staff is NOT a media type. They know neither your industry nor your people. They may be good on mic but so what? You can quickly train someone on the nuances of mic use to a standard that is more than acceptable. Training a talking head on the nuances of building rapport with individuals who have, in some cases, been through the equivalent of a medical system meat grinder and get them to open up about their lives is not skill transferred quickly.
Go with your own people. They know the industry, they’ve spent, in some cases, years building relationships with your clients. They can reassure the shy, redirect the over enthusiastic and produce audio stories worth the telling.
Once you have your interviewer/host you can turn to gear. You need to capture voice, obviously. To do this we need a, “drum roll”, a mic. As a minimalist approach, I would and indeed, did start with my phone. That was way back in 2016. The quality of mics has improved exponentially since then. They are more than adequate for the job, once you learn how to use them properly. To hear how good they are listen to Kin Advocacy’s Disability Sunflower Stories. These interviews were recorded using a naked or “not prepared with wind dampening” phone. The quality is more than acceptable.
The advantages of using a phone are many. They are familiar to most people. They are, therefore, unlikely to cause too much anxiety in an interviewee. They are nearly always with us so they are on hand and ready to go. This is especially so if you have the Rode Reporter app onboard. One button to start recording and the same one to stop. Available for android and iOS so there are no excuses to not capture great audio.
The disadvantages are not so numerous but still relevant. You end up with one track. If the interviewer and interviewee speak over each other, it is difficult to separate the voices. A phone each would solve this problem and just leave the process of syncing up the tracks during editing. Using two machines, phones in this example, there can be a difference in the measurement of time. Over a ten minute interview, probably not an issue, over an hour there’s a chance for disharmony in the two tracks.
Let’s look at an alternative setup. You record mostly monologues, you may grab an interview on Zoom or even in the field. For this set of circumstances you need a mic that works as a USB, plug and play on the laptop, one that works on the Zoom platform and that can record two tracks at a time when face to face with an interviewee and store the recordings on board for downloading to edit when you return to the laptop.
There are a number of devices fitting the bill. When you think about it, the listed requirements are those of a radio journalist: Field, local and online interviews.
Sony, Tascam and others build appropriate mics/field recorders. They have mono and stereo recording choices into one or two tracks. They carry SD cards and will double as an audio input, mic, through a USB. Whilst the brands mentioned are adequate, I am a fan, perhaps a raving fan, of Zoom Corporation’s handy recorders. Not to be confused with the Zoom meetings people, this Zoom’s handy recorders have been industry standards for decades. Lightweight, almost indestructible, with great inbuilt mics and plenty of SD space, I use and recommend the Zoom H2n. I do not have any relationship, financial or otherwise with Zoom other than I’ve bought their gear. They have just released a new version of the H2 the H2essential. I will probably circumb and buy one. Not because the H2n is not up to the job but because from everything I’ve read and heard, the H2e is even better. Still, “if it’s not broken….” keeps popping into my head.
Once you’ve captured your audio, you need to manipulate it into a listenable format. Edit, polish and publish in .mp3 format. There are a number of options in DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) selection. A little history first. Apple’s Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro and GarageBand, Adobe’s Audition, Reaper, Audacity and Descript are all highly rated. Some are free, Garageband in MacOS and Audacity across all platforms, the rest have a combination of freemium and paid options. What they all have in common is “Music!”. That is, they were developed with musicians in mind. This means they have, from a human spoken word point of view, a huge amount of bloat. Unnecessary files, options and, to my way of thinking, complicated interfaces. GarageBand may not be so complicated but the others are, to my eye. I used Garageband for a couple years, it came free with my second hand Mac. What I use nowadays is Hindenburg. It was designed from the ground up for the spoken word. Named after the famous audio from the wreck of the Hindenburg Zeppelin in New Jersey on 6th of May 1937. The link to hear the reporting is here.
I find this DAW the most intuitive I’ve ever used. I pay a monthly subscription and it just works, every single time. The choice is yours, obviously. If cash is tight, use a free tool, Audacity or GarageBand if you’re on a Mac. You may already have another option available, maybe through work or a friend, it’s really not too important. What is important is publishing episodes. No episodes and your podcast is just a dream, an idea waiting to be. Don’t be like me, I waited and faffed around for 12 months before hitting the red record button with intent. The last nine plus years as a “Podcaster” has been life defining, liberating and a sheer joy. Come on join in on the fun!
Season 18 will be along directly. It’s about repurposing your podcast content to grow your service’s reach without re-inventing the wheel. I think you’ll find it useful.
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