Research Guides: Doing Oral History on a Shoestring: Recording Technologies

Created by UO Libraries & OSU Libraries

Recording Technologies

What is covered in the workshop?

You will be introduced to the following concepts and resources connected to recording technologies used for documentation

Understand what typical equipment is used for either in-person and Zoom online interviews
Develop a sense of what you probably need for your oral history project
Specific considerations needed when recording interviews over Zoom or in-person
Considerations for cloud storage to manage your recordings and project components
Considerations for editing video and audio interview recordings
Experience what it is like to move a Zoom recording from Zoom's Cloud Recording storage space to your project cloud storage space

Seriously... You need 2 recording devices.

Recording Your Interview: Zoom vs In-Person

This table is meant for you to use as a guide while making decisions about what mode to choose before recording an oral history interview.

Consideration	Zoom - Questions to ask yourself	In-Person - Questions to ask yourself
Physical Location	Is Zoom the only way I can reach this person? How do I optimize both my physical location as well as the narrator’s?	Can I physically access them? How optimal is their physical location?
Internet Access	Do we both have internet connections that can support a smooth Zoom video recording? As an alternative, do we both have the ability to conduct an audio Zoom interview over the phone?	You don’t need the internet.
Narrator Preferences	Are there personal preferences or physical limitations that would make Zoom challenging to use? Would they prefer video or audio interviewing? Would they like someone to be there with them during the interview? Do they have photographs or other objects to include in the interview?	Would they prefer video or audio interviewing Would they like someone to be there with them during the interview? Do they have photographs or other objects to include in the interview?
Funding Travel & Recording Equipment	Do you have a Zoom subscription? (You will need one.) Do you have an additional recording device with you, like a smartphone?	Does your project cover the cost of travel What equipment do you need to record the interview in person?
Can you work with large files? (Video vs Audio)	Zoom files tend to be relatively small for both video and audio	In-person video files can be large to quite large. Audio files can also be large, but are almost always smaller than video.
Do you have tech support?	Do you know how to create and record a meeting Do you know how to find your file after the recording is done? Do you know how to work with your files once transferred?	Do you know how to operate your equipment? Do you know how to transfer your files? Do you know how to work with your files once transferred?

Cloud Storage Solutions

This table is meant for you to use as a guide while making decisions about what cloud storage you could use while creating your oral history project.

Storage Services	Free storage limit	Subscription storage limit	Subscription cost	Upload Limits
Google Drive	15 GB	100 GB Basic / 2 TB Premium	1.99 per month/ basic; 9.99/month for premium	None
Box	10 GB	Unlimited	$15 per month/basic; $25 per month/business	5 GB for Basic; 15 GB for Business
Dropbox	2 GB	2 TB Plus / 3 TB Professional	$9.99 per month/Plus; $16.58 per month/Professional	50 GB for Plus; 100 GB for Professional

Notes:

These services are just recommendations. You may have another service that you use. Prices will change
You may have your own servers managed by someone from an information technology department. Talk to them about your storage and file transfer needs.

Common File Types for Recordings

Here are some common file formats for audio and video files:

Audio File Formats:

MP3: A widely-used compressed audio format that offers a good balance between file size and audio quality.
M4A: An uncompressed audio file format that was made by Apple for high-quality recording and editing. It can open on a PC.
WAV: An uncompressed audio format often used for high-quality recording and editing.

Video File Formats:

MP4: A widely-used container format that can hold various types of compressed video and audio data, such as H.264 video and AAC audio.
MOV: A multimedia container format developed by Apple, commonly used in video editing software and compatible with both macOS and Windows platforms.
AVI: A multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft that can hold both audio and video data, but has limitations in terms of compression and file size.

When choosing a file format for your audio or video projects, consider factors such as compatibility, file size, quality requirements, and the intended use of the files.

Recording Devices: File Sizes & Durations

This table displays a matrix that identifies different types of recording devices and if they make video or audio files. The size averages and durtations are include for reference. This is helpful to use when make storage estimates for your oral history project.

Recording Devices	Video File Sizes & Duration	Audio File Sizes & Duration
iPhone & iPad	Will depend on the settings, but anticipate between 3.5 to 7.6 GB/hour at minimum	Will depend on the settings, but anticipate 58 MB to 140 MB 138.24 MB/hour at a minimum
Zoom H5 audio recorder	n/a	Will depend on settings, but anticipate about 0.6 GB/hour at minimum
Zoom video recording	~360 MB/hour	n/a
Video Camera	Will depend on settings, but expect at least 3.5 GB/hour at minimum	n/a

Editing Video and Audio

This table is a matrix that provides identification for editing softwares commonly used to make redactions, clips, and other changes to oral histories either recorded with video or audio.

Editing Software	Does it work for Video or Audio	Does it work on a Mac?	Does it work on a PC?	Does it cost money?
Adobe Premiere	Both	Yes	Yes	$22.99 per month for 1 user license
Audacity	Audio	Yes	Yes	It is free
iMovie	Video	Yes	No	Comes with every Mac computer

How to download recording files from Zoom's Recordings Cloud to Google Drive

It is highly recommended that you pre-schedule your Zoom oral history interview ahead of time.

Zoom has instructions for PC and Mac's for how to schedule a meeting (an interview in our case). It is recommended you do this because it gives you the option to name your meeting. A best practice is to use something descriptive like an interview title that has your oral history project name. Here's an example for a Zoom meeting title: "EMCA Oral History: Mike Helm"

Where can I find instructions for how to record and download an interview with Zoom?

Zoom has a number of how-to instructions for how to record and download. All of instructions can be found on the company's website. If you want to record an interview with Zoom then you will need a subscription.

Recording instructions
Managing and Sharing Recordings -- You will want to following instructions for how to download.

A note about recorded Zoom Recordings

There are Zoom Cloud Recordings and Local Recordings. The biggest difference is:

Cloud Zoom Recordings are stored with Zoom and you get an audio transcription.
Local Zoom Recordings are downloaded directly to your computer. For Local Recordings, this means they are not saved within your Zoom account. You need to identify a storage space for them on your computer or on Google Drive or another cloud storage provider.

Local recordings don't support the following features:

Record Active Speaker, Gallery View and shared screen separately
Audio transcription
Shared screen recording layout with active speaker thumbnail or without any thumbnails (local recordings will always show a thumbnail gallery view with the shared screen)
Record using the iOS or Android app
Note: If you require these features, use cloud recording.

How do I find the recording that I want to upload to Google Drive?

Note: These concepts are the same, but your computer may look different because you use a Mac or PC. Your goal is to locate the recording.

IMPORTANT!: Make sure you rename your recording file to the file naming standard required by your project. Doing this will make finding the recording easier.

These are basic instructions for how to locate a document (file) on a Mac or a PC.

Where can I find instructions for how to upload and download a recording into Google Drive?

Google has instructions for how to upload and download a recording file. You can find them on the company's website. Remember there are other cloud storage options available to you. Check out the options found on this page. These company's will also have instructions that can be found on their websites.

How to upload files and folders to Google Drive