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Re: [ARSCLIST] Stereo of recording of oral histories ?
Richard,
We have been seeing quite a few oral history recordings as of late that
have been done in stereo. Other than the improved intelligibility, I
don't see any compelling argument for taking this approach. With the
increased availability of single-point stereo mikes, though, it is a
much easier route to take than in the past. The AT-822 and 825 are both
good choices for this kind of work.
If it is for a small personal collection, I think it would be easily
justified, especially if more than one person is speaking. When well
done, it certainly adds another dimension to the recording. Sometimes,
what's going on in the background is just as interesting as the
interview itself.
Back in the 1980's, I co-produced a documentary on Chicago black music,
"Chicago on the Good Foot" (for Disney Cable TV, for chrissakes!) which
was simulcast on NPR. Since it was a music project, I elected to record
all of the interviews for the film in stereo, using the traditional
Nagra 4-SL recorder, and a Schoeps mike configured in MS stereo. It was
a real treat hearing Willie Dixon's voice come booming through in
stereo! (I still have a file with listener comments that were sent to
NPR after the show aired. Quite a few of the listeners said that enjoyed
hearing just the audio portion of the show, even without seeing the visual)
Sadly, all of the original tapes and film negative, including the
multi-track masters of musicians no longer with us, such as Willie Dixon
and Thomas C. Dorsey (the father of gospel music), are buried somewhere
deep in the Disney vaults. I seriously doubt that we will ever see them
resurrected. (And yes, I kick myself at least monthly for not making
copies before they were sent off to the vault!)
Scott D. Smith
Chicago Audio Works, Inc.
Richard L. Hess wrote:
How many people record oral histories in stereo?
I had an opportunity this past week to spend a day with my father who
will be celebrating his 90th birthday the end of the month. My wife
and two boys and my dad's wife were all there - six of us.
As you know, I believe in redundancy in almost everything I do, so I
had two mini-disc recorders running through much of it. To keep things
simple and totally independent, one MD was fed from an Audio Technica
AT-822 mic. The other was fed from a Sennheiser MD-421U mic in mono. I
find the AT-822 version to be much more intelligible than the MD-421
due to the spacial imaging as much as anything.
I could have been more encumbered and used two AKG C-451s or two
Sennheiser MKH-416Ts but that would have required an external battery
pack and more wires, and I was looking for something very simple.
Cheers,
Richard
Richard L. Hess richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada http://www.richardhess.com/
Detailed contact information:
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm