Oral History Association

Technology

Today, digital technologies offer a multitude of recording opportunities for field workers, in both audio and video, in a broad range of prices. Digital audio recorders enable much higher quality recording—with wider dynamic range and a lower noise recording–than the old analog open-reel and cassette recorders that are rapidly becoming commercially obsolete. Low end digital equipment, however, usually yield inferior recordings. Today, we have reached the point where scholars, archivists, folklorists, and others recording oral history interviews and other sound documents no longer need to sacrifice recording quality for convenience and cost. The following resources are meant to assist oral historians making the transition from analog to digital recording; to choose a digital recorder and microphone(s) within their budget; to learn about basic digital recording concepts and techniques; and to provide a forum for communicating individual experiences with digital recording technologies. Oral History and Digital Audio was provided by Doug Boyd, Director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries.