Mono or Stereo

[Gene Desepoli]

I am going to buy the giant squid microphone to to classroom lectures but am not sure if mono is fine or if I will need stereo.

Any advice?
Thanks!

[Douglas E. Welch]

Mono is fine for most purposes. If you are only recording you in the lecture, that should be fine.

The stereo mic (like mine) would allow you to clip one mic to yourself and the other to an interview subject if you plan on doing interviews or recording live music. I sometimes just clip my lavs to a music stand or something to capture the house sound in stereo.

Douglas

[Gene Desepoli]

Follow up question: Is there a recorder that will accept both lin input (for the giant aquid) as well as XLR input?

Thanks
gene

[Douglas E. Welch]

Yes, I believe there are. Typically, higher end units will have both XLR and 1/4" stereo plug inputs.

The Zoom H4 has 2 combo XLR/.25" inputs.

(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LGA2K6?tag=thewelchwritecom&camp=...;)

This Marantz unit also has dual XLR inputs.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Z89VNE?tag=thewelchwritecom&camp=...;

I am sure there are others, as well.

Douglas

[Gene Desepoli]

Doug
Thanks so much for you rapid and useful answers!
Just to be sure, the H4 woudl accept the giant squid input as well as xlr's correct?

gene

[Douglas E. Welch]

Yes, you could adapt the 1/8" Giant Squid input with a 1/4" adapter and plug it in directly.

[Gene Desepoli]

Awesome.
Thanks again. I have honeslty never received such help on any other forum I have participated on.

I appreciate it very mich.

[Douglas E. Welch]

Glad to help! That is what New Media Interchange is all about. Glad to have you here. Tell your friends! (SMILE)

[Gene Desepoli]

Whatta ya know..one question leads to another.
Does the H4 have a gain control just in case a dynamic mic level isnt loud enough?

Gene

[Douglas E. Welch]

I do not have one in front of me, but it has on-screen meters and I would be very surprised if it didn't have manual gain controls as well as automatic.

[Mitch Krayton]

So long as the giant squid pay attention, it doesn't matter. All seriousness aside, mono for voice is all you need. You can later mix the single track with music et al. Mono takes less space, too. Why do you need two mics to record a lecture anyway . You need two mics to record a dialog.

[Steve Riekeberg]

Mono is just fine. While we have two ears, we only have one mouth, after all. (And generally, with a few exceptions, all microphones are mono for this reason.)