Prepared by Amy O’Leary amyoleary@gmail.com

Quick Audio Recording Guide

TIP!Rooms with softsurfaces (and cars!)are great placesto record.

4 CONTROL YOUR ENVIRONMENTFinding a quiet place for your interview means you need to “set up” your interview environment to make sure it’s as quiet as possible. Once you arrive:

Turn Off Background MusicShut Off Air Conditioning, FansTurn Off ComputersUnplug Refrigerators

Close Open WindowsAvoid Windy Places (or keep wind at your back)Move away from heavy traffic (around a corner)In a Loud Room? Move into the hallway.

It’s Murphy’s Law.If you are not wearingheadphones, things will go wrong.

Because you can’t hear things like cellularinterferance,cellularinterferance,headphones arethe only way to guarantee a clean,usable recording.

Large, closed headphones works best. Avoid earbuds and noise-cancelling headsets.

WEAR HEADPHONES(OR RISK DISASTER!)3

Always hold the microphone 5 inches away from the

speaker’s mouth, under the chin.

For proper recording, never put it on the table.

HOLD THE MICCLOSER THAN YOU THINK2

TIP!If the subject getsloud suddently, justpull the mic back for a second.

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It’s like “The Price is Right” - you want to record at as high a level as you can without going over.

Going over, or “peaked” audio, is the only thing that can’t be fixed in the computer.

CHECK YOURRECORDING LEVELS1

RECORDING

BEFORE YOU LEAVE