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Voice Recording onto a laptop

post #1 of 5
11/18/04 at 10:50pm
Thread Starter 
Hi ppl

Im a student and I wish to record my professors lectures as he speaks onto my laptop (which I have in class). Some laptops have internal microphones, but Ive heard they are no good as they record a lot of keyboard noise as I type. So I think I need to buy a special device for this.
What do you guys advise? Do I need to buy a dictaphone machine, or can I just buy an external microphone? Ive no idea really how this all works so all advice is welcome!

Thanks
Kiwi

iBook G4 1.2Ghz 512MB 12.1"
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post #2 of 5
11/19/04 at 1:42am
How about a simple cassette player w/recorder functionality. Just ask him to keep it on his desk as he is lecturing and you will have both.

To begin with, I'm not sure exactly why your professor would speak onto your laptop while you're typing what he's saying . Are you the official "note-taker" for the class?

Regards,

zakaluka2.
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post #3 of 5
11/19/04 at 10:19am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the reply. Yea I can try the cassette method, but was thinking of a more easier way, rather than having to transcribe the audio into the laptop later - Id much rather have the audio recorded directly onto the laptop in real time.

"To begin with, I'm not sure exactly why your professor would speak onto your laptop while you're typing what he's saying . Are you the official "note-taker" for the class?"

No, sorry, perhaps I wasnt clear, The professor merely lectures as per normal, Im just sitting in the class like everyone else, I just find it difficult to write down everythin he is saying, so I thought recording, then listening to it later in the semester when revising for exams, is a better way to go.
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post #4 of 5
11/19/04 at 10:27am
I have recorded lectures onto an Archos AV120 mp3 recorder with good results and small(er) file sizes. This came about after repeated attempts at recording with an older laptop (3+years old) that couldn't really keep up with the recording process. Granted, I'm using lapel mics and running the sound through a board first, so I don't know exactly how well it will pick up an "open-air" lecture, but it's a lot easier to lug around an mp3 player than it is a whole computer.
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post #5 of 5
11/19/04 at 11:32am
The most important thing you need is a good microphone. Take one that has a cardioid polar pattern, if you want to take only the lecturers speech and not other noise. Excellent ones cost some $600, but you can probably get a good one for $100 or so (don't know, never had that small budget). I'd use a portable MiniDisc player instead of laptop. Single play gets 80 minutes per disc (excellent quality), LP2 has good quality for 160 minutes, and LP4 has average quality for 320 minutes.

If you want to save the price of a minidisc player, you can use your laptop for recording, but it comes to its sound chip and the quality of the input jack. Many laptops add electric noise to the input signal, which is irritating, and the quality of the integrated sound chip may suck. But if that's not the case, recording straight to the laptop is no problem. You can use Sony Sound Forge Studio or some freeware program to record the sound.
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