I need a digital voice recorder that is powerful enough to capture the teacher's voice in an anatomy class from my seat in the classroom. Sometimes the teacher moves around as she stands behind her desk.
I bought a Sony for $100 a couple of months ago and even talked with the customer service representative about it. I am not impressed with its distance recording ability. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.
By Holly from Dallas, TX
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Would it be possible to set your recorder on the teacher's desk?
If you have a legitimate medical reason for recording the class, you can get special permission to have a seat right in front of class saved for you. Eliminating the distance will help with the sound recording. I taped my classes using just a small, relatively cheap recorder, and it worked just fine.
There was background static, but that is normal when taping in any larger room. It's always a problem with instructors turning their backs and mumbling. I took notes to try to fill those holes in the sound recording. Then, at home, I'd listen to the tapes and fill my notes in with details.
It was extremely time consuming, but what I needed to do. You can also ask a person in the front row to set the recorder on their desk or table if you have to sit farther back. But you'll have to remember to pick it up quickly at the end of class, since that person will just leave once class is over and it isn't their responsibility to watch your recording device.
Most instructors will not allow it placed on their desk and even if they did, the sound of their voice would be covered over by the sound of them turning pages of notes, walking to the whiteboard, fumbling with the book, class door opening, etc. The recorder will also pick up all background sounds: people talking in the halls, classroom whispering, book pages turning, students getting things from backpacks, etc. Unfortunately, there's no place to get a good recording sound, classrooms in schools are just too noisy. But you can make do.
Yes, the recorder can join all the other recorders on the teacher's podium. That's not a problem. I even attached a butterfly key chain to the recorder so no one picks it up in error.
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