I Need a Person Who Knows Audio - Family Interviews

Hey folks,

I need some who knows audio and recording better than I do for something that is probably not very complicated to begin with.

What I am planning on doing is interviewing family members to gain a better understanding of family history. I want to record the interviews and have them to get the family history but to also have something to be able to pass down to future family generations. Sure, I can ask and have conversations on this stuff but I want to record it for the record so future family members can hear voices as I feel this is important when family members pass.

I bought a Zoom H1 essential (cool little device) with a 2 lavalier mics. I recorded a quick conversation with my wife for shits and giggles. When I went to edit, I realized that the Zoom H1 isn't a multi-track recorder and all the mics got recorded as one recording basically and I wasn't able to edit each separate mic.

So my question is what should I get/how should I do this? For the interviews, there won't be probably more than a total of 3 people in each one. I don't necessarily want to get something that is too much for what I need either but I want to make sure I have enough for say a total of 3 people (including myself as the interviewer). I don't plan on filming the interviews with a camera, just recording the audio.

Thank you!

 

Right on and good luck!

 

According to Google AI:
To record a conversation with separate audio tracks for each participant, you'll need software or a hardware device that supports multi-track recording. Software like Audacity, Logic Pro, or specialized tools like Rode Connect (for Rode microphones) or Audio Hijack, allow you to record each microphone input or audio source as a separate track. Hardware options like the Sound Devices MixPre-3 or Rodecaster Duo also offer this capability.

 

@soundman98 it's in his handle.

 

i don't know of a solution off-hand without a ton of research, as my experience is in car audio, and comprehensively breaking a church audio system. around covid, i ran really deep into the black magic lineup to set up church live video feeds, but again, most of the solutions are nearly all 2-channel stuff.

rode might be the cheapest 'private' option. i know of their mic's, and they've had some of the best-bang-for-the-buck features for quite some time.

the problem with what you want to do is that it's on the immediate fringe of professional recording-- the kind where there's a very expensive trained guy sitting behind very expensive equipment, doing his thing while everyone focuses on their talk.

overall, it's going to be difficult to have a solution that records separate audio tracks without delving into some pro gear.

rode's got a few private label solutions, which can be good or bad. i don't know their software, and private label editing tools can be really hit or miss.

if you're tech savy enough, OBS should also do it--it'll depend on the computers input card setup. being an open source program, it tends to do everything like a leatherman. but also like a leatherman, it'll never replace real professional solutions. OBS is like linux. to set it up right, it either all magically works with no explanation, or needs DAYS to kinda work like that one youtube video that makes it look easy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWVZ07qP2g0&t=1s


and i don't know your overall setup during the talks, but of long term audio quality is your focus, the ubiquitous 'gamer mics' like this will have much better audio quality than the lav mics.

$27 Amazon Basics USB Condenser Microphone for Streaming, Recording, and Podcasting on PC, Plug and Play, Cardioid Pickup, Adjustable Stand with 360° Rotation, 5.8 x 3.4"es, Black

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Basics-Microphone-Podcasting-Adjustable/dp/B0CL9BTQRF

i've always struggled in the church setting using lav mics-- either they're high up on the shirt, and the listener is 'hearing' the talkers chin, or they're further down, but then too far from the mouth, so pickup becomes extremely sporadic.

church migrated to using a higher-end version of these instead

$27 XGWTH Headset Microphone Single Ear Earset Headworn Over Ear Hanging Condenser Omnidirectional Mic Compatible with Shure Wireless System Bodypack Transmitter with 1.2m Cable Mini XLR 4 Pin TA4F Plug

https://www.amazon.com/XGWTH-Microphone-Omnidirectional-Compatible-Transmitter/dp/B09FZ2285C

most speakers found usage to be far more natural, and as the sound person, i found they were far more consistent in getting good quality audio.


if you're in a sitting/table setting, one could be using a professional mic like this

$63 MAONO XLR Condenser Microphone, Professional Cardioid Studio Recording Mic for Streaming, Podcasting, Singing, Voice-Over, Vocal, Home-Studio, YouTube, Skype, Twitch (PM320S)

https://www.amazon.com/Condenser-Microphone-MAONO-Professional-Home-Studio/dp/B088FH47ZS

and then, you could use a 'podcast recorder' like this, which records each input as a separate track, to be saved/mixed into the final recording later on.
https://www.amazon.com/XGWTH-Microphone-Omnidirectional-Compatible-Transmitter/dp/B09FZ2285C

once you get a unit like the zoom, it takes normal XLR inputs, which means that all your audio input options are now of the professional grade variety. XLR is a well-documented pro-grade standard, so mixing-and-matching components to get the right input setup gets a lot easier after that.

if you needed either of those above over-ear mics, or table mics to be wireless from the recording unit, you'd need 3 of these

$60 Kadjuh Wireless XLR Transmitter and Receiver& Wireless Guitar Transmitter Receiver,Rechargeable Mic Adapter 16 Channels 196ft Range for Dynamic Microphone,Audio Mixer,Electric Guitar Bass

https://www.amazon.com/Kadjuh-Wireless-Transmitter-Rechargeable-Microphone/dp/B0CGTJS4XV

to get the over-ear mic into the wireless adapter, you'd need a mini-xlr-to-xlr adapter

$15 JOLGOO 1 Feet Mini XLR Male to XLR Female Adapter Cable, 3-Pin, for BMPCC 4K/6K, Video Assist 4K, Sharp 8K, Rode, Sennheiser, Sony & More

https://www.amazon.com/Female-Adapter-Cable-Camera-Assist/dp/B07ZVXGDS7

like i said, audio gear has a tendency to run away on price. it all depends on your requirements. the closer to 'talking at a table' the setup can be, the cheaper the setup will cost to build.


the disadvantage here is that every interview you do will require post processing that's going to take at least 1.5-3 times the length of the interview to post-process the audio and create the final product. it's a massive time commitment, far beyond just talking to people.

as much as you or i might not like it, the 'podcast recorder' is likely going to be a big producer keyword in your search. when i set up the live stream at church, as much as i hate youtube influencers, searching their setups and any parts geared towards that genre revealed the most cost-effective options for price ranges that didn't have a california budget.

 

Thank you for your time writing all of this up, I appreciate it! What recorder were you referring to for the link that you sent? It appears you copied a microphone link.

 

sorry, forgot that link. it's one of the only semi-portable 2+(but less than 6. most are 2 or 6) multi-track recorders i can find.

$170 Zoom PodTrak P4 Podcast Recorder, Battery Powered, 4 Microphone Inputs, 4 Headphone Outputs, Phone Input, Sound Pads, Record to SD card, Audio Interface Mode

https://www.amazon.com/Zoom-Digital-Multitrack-Recorder-P4/dp/B08F8HL7T7

 

If you want multitrack recording, I'm pretty sure you'd need separate mics and an interface with multiple inputs to split that audio. USB mics might get you by but I'm not sure how your computer would deal with more than one plugged in and recording at once. You'd also need a DAW (Digital audio workstation) to record the audio into. Reaper is what I use for demo purposes (it's not free...but the trial period is indefinite so...), as far as mics I'd do a couple from audio technica, they have really good bang for buck condenser mics, and an interface from focusrite used won't break the bank either. From there it's just XLR cables from the mic to the interface and setting up the number of tracks you want to record. My quick cursory check pulled this up, which is pretty good! You'd just need a second mic is all
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...ErVhFgXg5f3P04PtOmxVf0TOHQ-g0WCMaAv9MEALw_wcB

And

https://www.adorama.com/us1958579.h...ZTOBWUSw9H47jPJz1IKOYPsDYcaiNN4oaAhaSEALw_wcB

 

I'm just gonna throw this out there, as I've learned the hard way before trying to delve into audio recording (instruments and vocals). You can buy the nicest microphones, interface, computer, and other gear out there, the highest-tiered DAW, all the plug-ins, etc. and still achieve less-than-desired results. I learned very quickly that if I wanted professional sounding results, I'd have to really put in the work to essentially become an audio engineer; being a decent musician with good gear would never be enough.

That being said, you should definitely consider how much work you're willing to put into the project (aka how much you're going to learn before every starting, how many other projects you'll do to get the experience), how much money you want to put into the project, and how else you could achieve the same results if those 2 areas are on the lower end of effort/budget.

With the unlimited amounts of tech out there, the everyday person can get "great" results without ever leaving their homes or spending money. For "excellent/professional" results, you can absolutely go the route you're referring to, buy some mics, EQ/mix accordingly, and be happy. For a free/easy solution and 'acceptable enough for the corporate world' results, you can always just record a Zoom session, and even get video if you want. You can record phone conversations, Zoom, Discord/streaming, smartphone audio/video and achieve really surprising results. Many big Youtubers (over 1M subs) film all of their videos/audio with nothing more than an iPhone and external mics. Let us know what route you intend on going! Each solution will have its own quirks to deal with - hopefully we can help.

 

If you want to record multitrack with your computer, use Audacity as it is the simplest software to do so and is also freeware. Google something like 'Audacity record 4 tracks simultaneously'.

With Audacity you need an audio interface with multiple inputs and cannot use more than 1 USB mics simultaneously.

If you want to use multiple USB mics, you could do that with Reaper but this is much more complicated software which is likely outside the scope of your project here: https://reaper.blog/2013/01/using-multiple-audio-devices-in-reaper-osx/

 

Yes I am starting to realize that. The sky is really the limit here. To your point I am trying not to buy a ferrari when all I might need is a EZ-GO golf cart lol.

With that being said I wonder if it'd just be easy to just video record the conversation and use some type of external mics to limit background noise/any echoing.

 

That's definitely going to be a less steep learning curve. If you intend for all of these to be in-person, a video recording via phone/digital camera with a decent external mic (appropriate filters if needed) can produce a product with little to no "dress up" needed. Bonus points, you can add another layer of value to these sentimental pieces with video. But if in-person isn't neccessarily a requirement, you could definitely always just record a Zoom, a cell phone call, discord chat, etc for easy results. All of these have built in noise suppression, but you may run into your original issue of it being a single "track" per se, with limited editing potential.