Choosing Recording Equipment for an Oral History: Audio or Video, Recorders and Microphones

Picking your equipment shapes how an oral history will be archived, preserved, used and shared — and what it will cost. For years, oral history projects mainly produced sources for research archives; recording quality mattered, but few aimed for broadcast quality. Now the goal is access as well as preservation: interviews go into podcasts, documentaries and museum exhibits, physical and online. So recording quality, and the equipment behind it, matter more.

A student shows the framing of a practice video interview during an oral history seminar. NPS / Marie Acemah

Audio or video?

This is the first big decision. Ask:

• What are the project's purpose and goals?
• How will the recordings and transcripts be used, now and later?
• What will each method cost, and does it fit the budget?
• Who is the audience?
• Does the team have the skills for good video — or money to hire someone who does?
• What do the narrators want? Will they be comfortable on camera?

The choice affects everything:

Decision factors for audio or video. NPS

Choosing an audio recorder

Good, simple recorders exist for most budgets. Buy the most durable and reliable one you can afford — Marantz, Sony, Tascam and Zoom are brands oral historians favor.

• Record to the archival standard: 24-bit / 96 kHz / stereo / .WAV. Heavily compressed formats such as .mp3 are less stable than .wav files.
• Readable displays. You should see at a glance that it's powered, recording, and at a good sound level.
• Two power options. It should run from the wall and on batteries — batteries in case the power fails or you follow the narrator somewhere new. Pack an extension cord too.

For help comparing models, the Oral History in the Digital Age site offers Ask Doug – Recorders, a matrix by Doug Boyd, director of the Louis B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky, matching recorders to cost, quality and complexity.

Choosing a microphone

Some recorders have good built-in mics, but an external microphone usually sounds better and gives more freedom in setting up the interview.

A mic with a balanced XLR connection gives the best input. Boyd's Ask Doug – Microphones helps compare models, and Doug Boyd and Charles Hardy's chapter Understanding Microphones covers placement, how mics pick up sound, acoustics and accessories.

Practice, practice, practice

Equipment is only as good as your ability to use it.

• Test the sound at different distances and recording levels.
• Listen to the room: does a big room with wooden or metal furniture sound hollow next to a small one with upholstered chairs and curtains? Does the recorder catch a humming refrigerator or air conditioner, a ticking clock, a television next door?
• Practice switching on and monitoring levels.
• Expect to hunt for outlets in unfamiliar spaces.

Setting up before an interview — note the equipment, and the extra people involved. NPS

Further reading

From Oral History in the Digital Age (Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2012), edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd and Dean Rehberger:

• Scott Pennington and Dean Rehberger, Quick Tips for Better Interview Video
• Scott Pennington, Video Equipment: Guide to Selecting and Use
• Doug Boyd, The Art of Lighting for Recording Video Oral History Interviews

This is part of the NPS series Oral History Project Process; the next step is Considering Legal and Ethical Issues.

Sources

Based on "Choosing Recording Equipment," National Park Service, Oral History Project Process series; a work of the United States government in the public domain. An uncredited product photograph of a recorder is left out; rewritten in hubnx's own words.