What equipment to use when to record the speaker at a lecture?

S

Saad Mughal

New member
i'm looking for something 'value for money' and I have no experience in the recording field at all.

I've seen a lot of names thrown around like 'gain', 'phantom power', 'transformer', etc but don't 100% know about all of them

i'm looking for a decent cheap mic like an innogear one from amazon which comes with a stand and filters etc, and I am told it needs a phantom power supply. i want it to be an imput into my digital recorder, and my phone at the same time as i will be using the phone to livestream via mixlr.

so basically i want 1 mic with two mic jack outputs.

how would i go about doing this?

thanks
 
Saad Mughal said:
its an Olympus dm 670

I'd also like to add that i'm looking for future expandability, so adding a few speakers to the system later on
Click to expand...

Not THE most versatile recorder? No XLR mic inputs, no line inputs. Then, recording a lecturer can be problematic. Is he/she tied to one spot or moving? Twixt flip chart, black board, OH proggy say?
If the latter you really should be looking at a wireless headset or lavalier mic, headset and noise cancelling mic if you intend to use reinforcement otherwise acoustic feedback will be a nightmare.

Fact is, this is not a job to do "piecemeal" IMHO. You need to take a look at the final result you want to achieve then work towards assembling the gear needed.

A typical small theatre/lecture hall/church system (in my day!) would consist of a small, very simple mixer, probably integrated with the power amplifier. That would accept maybe 2-4 mics and line ins for music feeds(often a direct, corrected gramophone feed) The PA would feed line source speaker(s). Ideally above the proscenium arch but the usual kludge was one either side of the stage. The mixer would have a line out to feed a recorder of some sort.

These days I am sure a wireless mic system would also be integrated into that. Going cheap will just get you "howling" unintelligible rubbish.

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Not THE most versatile recorder? No XLR mic inputs, no line inputs. Then, recording a lecturer can be problematic. Is he/she tied to one spot or moving? Twixt flip chart, black board, OH proggy say?
If the latter you really should be looking at a wireless headset or lavalier mic, headset and noise cancelling mic if you intend to use reinforcement otherwise acoustic feedback will be a nightmare.

Fact is, this is not a job to do "piecemeal" IMHO. You need to take a look at the final result you want to achieve then work towards assembling the gear needed.

A typical small theatre/lecture hall/church system (in my day!) would consist of a small, very simple mixer, probably integrated with the power amplifier. That would accept maybe 2-4 mics and line ins for music feeds(often a direct, corrected gramophone feed) The PA would feed line source speaker(s). Ideally above the proscenium arch but the usual kludge was one either side of the stage. The mixer would have a line out to feed a recorder of some sort.

These days I am sure a wireless mic system would also be integrated into that. Going cheap will just get you "howling" unintelligible rubbish.

Dave.
Click to expand...

thanks for your reply

the lecturer is sitting in one place, no movement around the room etc, no whiteboard.
yes the recorder just has a mic input, so I would need a converter of some sort?

the idea of a mixer sounds good. with one output to the recorder, I can record multiple mics and switch between them I guess?
 
Saad Mughal said:
thanks for your reply

the lecturer is sitting in one place, no movement around the room etc, no whiteboard.
yes the recorder just has a mic input, so I would need a converter of some sort?

the idea of a mixer sounds good. with one output to the recorder, I can record multiple mics and switch between them I guess?
Click to expand...

But where are you going to plug in the output of the mixer? In the mic jack? That would need the mixer level knocking back a lot, 40dB or so to prevent overload. Note, some mixers, my Allen & Heath ZED10 for instance can have their line outputs attenuated to mic level, button at the back.

Or! Just use the Dictaphone as a backup and get a USB mixer such as the excellent Sound Craft 8FX (had one) and whack that into a laptop (maybe a phone?)

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
But where are you going to plug in the output of the mixer? In the mic jack? That would need the mixer level knocking back a lot, 40dB or so to prevent overload. Note, some mixers, my Allen & Heath ZED10 for instance can have their line outputs attenuated to mic level, button at the back.

Or! Just use the Dictaphone as a backup and get a USB mixer such as the excellent Sound Craft 8FX (had one) and whack that into a laptop (maybe a phone?)

Dave.
Click to expand...

ah yes sorry should have been clearer. I was looking at another recorder which supported line in. but yes, usb is also a good option. is it possible to connect the usb output to both a phone and a laptop?
 
Saad Mughal said:
ah yes sorry should have been clearer. I was looking at another recorder which supported line in. but yes, usb is also a good option. is it possible to connect the usb output to both a phone and a laptop?
Click to expand...

There are all sorts of variations possible. I guess you want a backup system? A USB mixer can feed a laptop but you also have the analogue out from the mixer. That can go to another recording system e.g. a camera?

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
There are all sorts of variations possible. I guess you want a backup system? A USB mixer can feed a laptop but you also have the analogue out from the mixer. That can go to another recording system e.g. a camera?

Dave.
Click to expand...

Excellent. So I can use the USB on a phone or pc for live streaming and the analogue out on a new recorder.

Thanks i think I'm sorted
 
Saad Mughal said:
Excellent. So I can use the USB on a phone or pc for live streaming and the analogue out on a new recorder.

Thanks i think I'm sorted
Click to expand...

Sooops! If you can get hold of one a TV HDD/DVD recorder makes an excellent "logging" recorder. Just set it for 8hrs or so on EP and it can record the whole damn situation!

Dave.
 
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