Recording Audio for Ethnography and Oral History July 8, 2011

Audio is a powerful medium for capturing human experience and human expression. In the context of cultural sustainability efforts, audio is an extremely useful tool for documenting local knowledge, exploring values and perceptions, and building resources for understanding and supporting cultural practices.

Intended for students, community members, staff members of non-profit cultural, community and social-service agencies, as well as professional researchers interested in learning more about audio recording options, this class will provide a basic introduction to the use of contemporary digital audio recording equipment in the context of ethnographic and oral history interviews.

Attendees will receive a thorough introduction to the fundamentals of digital audio, types of common field-recording microphones, and the use of flash-memory based audio recorders. The workshop includes hands-on exercises with equipment in an actual interview setting. We will use the Marantz PMD660 for these exercises, but the fundamental skills demonstrated will be applicable to most currently available digital audio recorders. In addition to the use of this equipment, we will also cover the selection and purchase of professional digital audio recording gear.

Official Website: http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/education/cultural-sustainability/workshops.php