Project Planning
Excerpt from Do It in the Kitchen: a step-by-step guide to recording your life stories (or someone else’s)
Chapter 2
What’s the scope and objective of your project? Do you intend to record one person—yourself or someone else—or will you record the stories of a group of people? Will the stories be shared or archived? Do you dream of creating a podcast series and distributing it to the entire world?
Questions such as these will help you define the scope of your project and write an objective statement. An objective statement is the first step toward a successful recording project. It’s the roadmap to your destination.
As an example, here’s an Objective statement I received from a committee that hired me to record a series of oral histories: We intend to record one-on-one interviews with nineteen members of our group and upload them to the Montana History Portal.
That statement gave me the information I needed to identify recording locations (three in this case) and create equipment lists for each location. The committee also asked me to interview each of the members, which meant research and question preparation. For this project, meticulous planning was paramount because most of the recording sessions took place 200 miles from Bozeman, where I live. Before I drove out of town, I had to be sure all the scheduling details were accurate and confirmed, and that every necessary piece of equipment was inside my vehicle.
For the in-person interviews, we reserved a “podcast” room in the local public library. Because the room was very small, I knew I’d need to use tabletop microphone stands. I prefer not to use tabletop stands, but in this case I didn’t have much choice. There wasn’t enough space in that small room for floor stands with boom arms, which are my preference.
The rest of my equipment list looked like this:
digital recorder with multiple microphone inputs
cardioid microphones
XLR cables
memory card
(Don’t worry about the terms “cardioid” and “XLR” for now. We’ll get into all that shortly.)
Several of the interviews in that project took place online via Zoom. That equipment list was shorter:
laptop computer
USB microphone
But I had to tweak the acoustics in my home studio space (not the kitchen, this time) to prepare for those sessions. More about that in Chapter Eight.
The last part of the committee’s objective statement—"upload them to the Montana History Portal”—told me the rest of what I needed to know to complete the project: file formatting and sharing procedures. Thanks to their concise statement, I was able to coordinate myriad details and complete the oral history project with a minimum of stress and time-sucking mistakes.
Before you buy a single piece of equipment, a domain name, or a plane ticket to visit Aunt Millie, please prepare an objective statement. Here’s how:
First, take a few minutes to define your project goal. What type of recordings do you want to make?
single recording(s) of yourself or another person—one microphone
recording(s) of yourself and one other person(s)—two microphones
group recording(s) using two or more microphones and/or an online service
more than one, or all, of the above
Note: For now, keep in mind that the term “microphone” means a recording input. Smartphones, tablets, and computers all come with built-in microphones, so they might be included on your planning list. Or they might not. You’ll decide that later.
Now, use your goal to write a simple objective statement to narrow the scope of the project enough to keep yourself from being overwhelmed by all the possibilities and technology choices. Use the following examples to help you write your statement:
I intend to record myself interviewing ____ members of my immediate family, in person.
I intend to record my own stories about _______________ and share them with my children.
I intend to record ____ online interviews with my ____ cousins from San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato, Mexico.
Project goal:
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
Project objective statement:
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
The details in your objective statement will determine the type of equipment or services you’ll use to make your recordings. Some of your choices are:
smartphone
tablet
computer
digital recorder
online service, such as Zoom
recording studio
cassette recorder and the pile of blank tapes you have stashed in a closet (Yes, these could work, too. I’ll tell you why and how soon.)
The recording option(s) you choose will mostly depend on how many people you want to record, and where they are. You can do a solo recording using any of the above. But if you want to record yourself having a conversation with Aunt Millie, using two microphones, things get slightly more complicated. Ditto if Aunt Millie lives a thousand miles away. But, don’t worry. In upcoming chapters I’ll explain how to record with more than one microphone and clarify your online choices.
Do It in the Kitchen: a step-by-step guide to recording your life stories (or someone else’s)
