Those zoom recorders

[Default]

How good do you think they'd be at picking up a speaker at a conference room?
I'm going to the ADHD conference in the fall, and my physical note taking abilities are not good. I was wondering if those zoom microphone / interface/recorder things are any good at being able to pick up a speaker at a conference in a room full of people?
Any thoughts or experiences?

 

[Cougar]

I'd expect that it would pick up everything in the room unless you put it close to the speaker. I have a little Tascam DR-05 hand-held battery recorder that picked up the sound of this train from across the Clark Fork River.....

 

[GAD]

Not a big fan of Zoom, but all those field recorders usually come with X/Y mics which are designed for stereo recording. X/Y is usually done with small diaphragm cardiod mics so the pattern is generally everything in front of the mic (polar pattern) with stereo separation due to the angle of the mics that essentially occupy the same space (coincidence).

That is overkill for recording a meeting, but so long as the speaker is in the pickup pattern it should work fine. All those words mean this:

It's a little more complicated due to the X/Y, but if you imagine the mics of the Zoon where the head of that Shure mic is, it should work very similarly.

Pros like Nuuska will know more and I'm happy to be corrected where applicable.

 

[NM156]

I used to use a small cassette recorder with excellent results. Question then is, what's the successor technology? An iPhone should work. Unless you want to go big with a Tascam DR-05X. No experience with the Zoom but if it's designed to work with how you intend to use it, it probably will. Why not test it around the house, or at a random local event first?

 

[Bernie]

I think it's the Zoom H5 that has a microphone, which< is long and narrow (it must be optional I'm afraid) that can de directed more precisely towards a particular point. This would normally increase the quality of the recording if you are not too far, up to about 10 m or a bit more)...
Of course it would cost more than the an ordinary H1, but if it's a precious opportunity you want to remember, maybe worth it (especially if you'll have other opportunities to use it)...

 

[Nuuska]

Every room has a reverberation line - that means :

In front of it there's more direct sound and less reverberation sound. Behind it vice versa. And of course it changes gradually.
The further back thou are, the worse things get.

As of using directional mic - like super- or hypergardioid "shotgun"-mic - it is important to aim it right. A large conference room may have house PA and speaker is in front. Now it sounds as if the sound you hear is coming from front center - but actually it comes from both sides - in most cases. So aim the mic towards the loudspeaker.

One option could be to raise the rcorder above the crowd - I know this might not be practical.
- 1:st for reducing "fat damping" aka shadowing by folks between you and sound source
- 2:nd for reducing the murmur , rustling etc sound created by audience.

If your system has a low-cut filter - USE IT !!!

Afterwards you can EQ the sound by cutting everything below 300Hz and above 5kHz off.

Hope this helps

 

[GuildFS4612CE]

How good do you think they'd be at picking up a speaker at a conference room?
I'm going to the ADHD conference in the fall, and my physical note taking abilities are not good. I was wondering if those zoom microphone / interface/recorder things are any good at being able to pick up a speaker at a conference in a room full of people?
Any thoughts or experiences?

Steve, how about a different approach...have you thought of asking permission to record the speaker for personal use? Perhaps as an ADA accommodation? That could give you the option to possibly connect your device to the FOH engineers board...if conference pro amplified...or if just a simple mic/speakers set up they might let you place your device in front of one of the speakers to eliminate some of the issues Nuuska mentions...

Years ago at a performance I asked Pete Seeger if I might use my little cassette recorder to tape some of his songs to learn later...he not only said yes, he asked me to bring it up and set it on the floor next to his mic stand...worked great...you never know if you don't ask...mind you this was in pre youtube days so it was for personal use only.

Also, the conference might be recording the sessions to post online on their website...doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[GAD]

Steve, how about a different approach...have you thought of asking permission to record the speaker for personal use? Perhaps as an ADA accommodation? That could give you the option to possibly connect your device to the FOH engineers board...if conference pro amplified...or if just a simple mic/speakers set up they might let you place your device in front of one of the speakers to eliminate some of the issues Nuuska mentions...

Years ago at a performance I asked Pete Seeger if I might use my little cassette recorder to tape some of his songs to learn later...he not only said yes, he asked me to bring it up and set it on the floor next to his mic stand...worked great...you never know if you don't ask...mind you this was in pre youtube days so it was for personal use only.

Also, the conference might be recording the sessions to post online on their website...doesn't hurt to ask.

Oh! I was envisioning a speakerphone in a corporate conference room!

For a speaker (person) speaking through a PA I’d think and field recorder would work fine.

 

[Default]

I expect it'll be a bunch of panels spread all over the conference area. I'm not sure what the attendance will be, I have to check that. I know they do offer recordings that you can buy, but I don't necessarily want to buy everything, I just want to have audio notes on the particular topics that I'm interested in. Like raising kids with ADHD? Been there done that have the T-shirt.

 

[Default]

Attendance is going to be around 1200 people. I image that speakers will have different spaces with 100-200 occupant capacities.

 

[Nuuska]

One more option comes to my mind.


Is the place equipped w hearing-aid loop?

If yes - the just get a receiver and plug it into your recorder.

What is a hearing loop? - Hearing Link Services

A hearing loop is a special type of sound system for use by people with hearing aids. We explain what it is and how it can help you.

www.hearinglink.org

Audio induction loop - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Default]

I doubt it, it's a hotel. I was at a church years ago that had that in the pews, but this is at a Hilton.