Brief summary of activity
After learning how to use portable recorders, the participants go in a quest to record different sounds or languages around their town.
Aim of the activity
Raise awareness of different languages or sounds
Expected Outcomes
At the end of this activity, the participants will know:
- Recording Devices and different types of Mics
- Further awareness of the sense of hearing
- Getting to know how do differ between sounds, languages and people
Experience and skills required
Experience on the use of portable recorders
Infrastructure, setting, resources
If trainees know digital editing, laptops or studio might be required for editing. If they don’t, these wouldn’t be necessary.
Length
2 to 4 hours depending whether participants are editing their recordings.
Material
- Different types of microphones,
- 8 or more headphones,
- computers.
How the activity should take place
Divide the group in pairs. Each pair of participants get a portable recorder and could choose if they want to “catch” 5 strange “unknown” sounds or to record 5 “unknown” languages in the city.
The two partners should share the task of recording.
Back in the studio, they could cut the material (if they already learned how to…), otherwise it has to be clear before that they need to plan the recording in such a way it won’t need editing and it would facilitate the listening experience of the other participants.
The added value is the quest feeling behind it and the diversity of the material.
Recommended max. number of participants and trainees to trainers ratio
Depending on the number of portable recorders, but it should be an even number.
Variations
It is possible to make a game out of the activity: who completes the quest first? Where does the language come from, what is that sound?
Tips for Trainers
If working with a vision impaired group, trainer should ensure portable recorders have voice guidance or whether they are using their mobile phones.
As an example on how to explain the work of a portable recorder, look at the handout Description-of-Olympus-LS14, and consider that this task will be one to one, so more time will be required for the demonstration, as well as for the recording exercise, that can be set as homework for the participants.