Equipment

1
Equipment

• Ling 426 Field Methods
• Spring 2005

2
Overview

• Background
• Taping
• The recorder
• The media
• The microphone
• The computer

3
Background

• Goal dont let your companion (equipment) be
  your nemesis (Ives)
• Machines are in YOUR service (tools)
• You wont capture everything
• Planning before you begin

4
Why less is better

• Preoccupation
• Focus on the event
• Pen paper least likely technology to cause
  probs
• Tape amnesia
• Not a safety net dont let your attention drift
• Situations defined by machinery
• Tend to ignore hand gestures and nonverbals

5
What do you really need?

• As little as you can get away with
• Remember the great work performed by pen and
  paper
• Consider lifespan of media
• Hightech can degrade faster (photos, e.g.)

6
Taping

• Basic systems
• Input
• Event information
• Microphone
• Recorder
• Non-sentient, non-volitional
• Output
• Media
• Analysis information

7
The recorder

• Type
• Reel-to-reel, cassette, DAT, Mini disc, computer
• Controls
• Volume, tone, indicators
• Power supply
• House, batteries
• Functional parts
• SNR 52 dB v 65 dB

8
The media

• Partially depends on recorder
• Weights and thicknesses
• Fastest possible (less time)
• Thin weight stretches and prints through
• Digitizing tapes as soon as possible
• Label both

9
The microphone

• Mics dont discriminate sounds (ambience)
• Mics are transducers
• Mics can be either amplified or not
• Mic direction needs to be considered
• Consider mic placement
• Psychological attention
• Inverse square law
• Range of human voice

10
The computer

• Use for analysis
• Need to practice interpreting spectrogram
  analysis
• Can import pictures and sounds into documents