kinesophics.ca

Would you like to record your lessons to post here? Or elsewhere or the web?

The following is based on my own personal experience, supplemented with what we've shared on feldyforum.

The cheapest version ($15)

Sit at your computer and plug in one of those $15 microphone headsets. Both mac and pc have free sound recorders in there somewhere.

Next step up ($200-300*)

*Though maybe you can use something you already have around for other purposes.

You can use an mp3 player but you have to check carefully first. Not all record, and most that do don’t take an external mic, which you need (unless you like holding the thing near your mouth while teaching).

My setup at the moment is an iPod video (only that and a second generation nano will record at high quality--see here). I use the Belkin TuneTalk Stereo (another option, for the iPod video only, is Griffin iTalk Pro Microphone). Then, rather than holding the thing at your mouth or letting it record the whole room, you probably want a lapel mic – here I don’t know the lingo, but it needs to be a mic that has a battery, probably costs $50, not a $15 computer mic. (Also, without an external mic on the iPod video you'll get the sound of the hard disk.)

The Belkin lets you run a power supply through; I get 2 hours (1.2 GB) recording from my iPod with video, so power is an issue. But then you lose the portability when you tie it down with a power supply.

Naffie Fischbacher recommends the Micromemo or Micromemo nano. I couldn't see how this would work for ATM recording, but apparently with a sports armband it works great!

Ralph Strauch says not to rule out the older iPod. If you get a decent sound quality, let me know how you did it!

A little cheaper would be a dedicated digital voice recorder, again best with a lapel mic: see examples here.

Some pros and cons. The dedicated digital voice recorder will record straight to mp3, the iPod to wav. The iPod file then is huge and you have to convert it to mp3. The iPod with plugin mic is more fragile. The iPod offers the choice of crappy quality or better quality than you need. The digital voice recorder will let you choose something in between.

The iPod is beautiful and cool and the dedicated digital voice recorder dorky and business-like. Hmmmm.

Getting more expensive

Here we're in to recommendations I've gleaned from feldyforum.

A wireless mic might make you happy.

A more expensive (4-track) recorder (US$500 new) suggested by Paul Voudouris is the Zoom H4. Adam Roth points out the Edirol R-09 as a similar option.

And then you're off into the world of amps and preamps and soundboards and all sorts of things I know nothing about. Check out Adam Roth's extremely helpful intro in the Feldyforum archives at message #22475 (must log in).

Finishing up

Then you need to be able to edit and turn your file into an mp3. Audacity is free (mac or pc) and you need to download the LAME mp3 encoder separately and install it to export to mp3. Amadeus (mac), suggested by Ralph Strauch, costs a little but is much nicer.

Once you have an mp3 file that’s audible, you can go to workspace and select audio in "add content", following from there. I'm aiming for 10mb for an hour's class, so I reduce the quality in the switch to mp3. The embedded flash player wants a sample rate of 11, 22, or 44. I haven't got all the kinks out on this front.

Things rarely go smoothly the first time—all sorts of complications about sample rate etc—so don’t give up. If you try it out I’ll refine these instructions as we go!