It seems like my Dad, 84, will be receiving a diagnosis of myeloma shortly. He’s had a great innings, which is something I’ll need to try to keep front and centre in the future.
I only found out today, so my mind is all over the place. Right now, I’m thinking about his grandkids. So I had a thought about doing a Desert Island Discs kind of thing for them, covering music and/or movies… Give them a permanent thing to hold on to. I’m also trying to navigate the news, and his desire to come to the US in May to see my son graduate University before going to Law School.
But – I wouldn’t have the first idea about how to go about doing that. My music library is probably big enough to cover most of what he’d pick. But doing simple things like recording a conversation, adding in music or playing it live in the chat…I have no idea.
So – any suggestions/tips? I’d like to end up with something I can both burn to a disc and also a sound file that can be played on most mobile products. If I’m off beam, tell me…
You can record the audio in your phone with a simple app – I use an Android one called, imaginatively, recorder.
To compile it with audio clips you need a bit of music software. I use Reaper though Audacity is simple and free. You and import and assemble a “timeline” of clips and move them about though there is inevitably a bit of a learning curve. I imagine you can do the same with Garageband on a Mac which I find incomprehensible but I’m not a Mac person.
Then having compiled it to your satisfaction you can render it as an MP3.
The priority, of course, is getting nice clear source material. Compiling it is downstream which is easier if you have pals who can help. Nudge.
I’m so sorry to hear about your dad and that’s a lovely idea, to record him.
I’m a Mac user so I’d use the voice recorder on my iPhone and mix/edit it in GarageBand. If you have an iPhone and use Mac OSX then it’s pretty straightforward – I record and edit my podcasts in GarageBand and it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it.
I also use Hindenburg, which is more focused on speech editing and less bells and whistles than GarageBand. But as Twang says, it’s basically a case of getting your clips into a timeline, and then adding tracks – with music, more speech, whatever you like.
Feel free to DM me if you need a hand
That’s a fine plan – I think you’ll want the best recording quality that’s available from a small, portable hand-held device that’s easy to use.
I’ve recorded practice sessions (in halls, in tents, and in the back of a van), live sessions out in the open at bluegrass festivals, live gigs in marquees and concert halls, and even nightingales singing out of doors at midnight in Sussex. The little device I have is called a Zoom H2n, and has pretty astounding capabilities for the money – about a hundred quid. With fresh batteries, it’ll record for around 24 hours in CD quality stereo or surround sound. I’d heartily recommend you get one.
Take a look and see what you think:
https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/handheld-recorders/handheld-recorders/h2n-handy-recorder/
Foxy beat me to the comment.
Or, if recording with a phone (which I don’t recommend because: faff) buy a decent external microphone. But a Zoom is better all round.
The Zoom H2n is currently unavailable from UK Amazon, it seems, so can’t tell the price point.
It certainly looks a good versatile product. Probably has more options than you’d actually need for basic voice recording, but that might be handy for further use after your project’s done.
Sorry to hear that and I think a good thing to do. Can’t add to any of the suggestions, but I think in this case advances in technology have made things much more complicated. 20 years ago you would have used a microphone connected to a cassette recorder. You then would have immediately have had a recording that could have been played for as long as the cassette remained usable
The advantage of having the recording in a digital file as opposed to a cassette is that it’s easier to burn to CD and it’s also easy to edit the file to your liking afterwards.
Yes, but a lot of procedures and extra hardware required.
A digital recorder and a PC, Tablet or Mac.
Simples.
Thanks everyone
My Mum and Dad are long gone (my Dad around 40 years ago) but I do wish I’d had something for me and perhaps my kids, who never knew them, of course, to be able to learn about them. They lived through (and indeed met in) WW2 and those experiences need personal testament to be real to later generations.
My brother found a cassette recording by a friend of theirs from the late 80s that recounted their times together during and just after the war and it was brilliant to get that detail, even second hand so I heartily recommend what you’re planning.
I’ve thought a few times about recording some of my thoughts on my life pre-kids – later school years, university, meeting their mother etc – not to force them to listen to but just to be there for when I’m not if they want to know. I can’t decide if that’s arrogant or a good thing to do? I know the ideal situation would be to talk about it now but I think that unless they asked me those questions (and like me, they probably wouldn’t) it’s not something I should initiate.
My stepdad was diagnosed with myeloma and died suddenly in hospital the night before his chemo was due to start. Blessed relief, you might say. It is a horrible disease. Good luck with it.
My great uncle was a POW in Burma and refused to talk about his experience, but made it clear to us that he didn’t like the Japanese. This became a bit tricky when Mrs F got a job with Panasonic and passed her Japanese A-level. At his funeral, we were given a printout of an interview he did with a local boy Scout, the only time he ever spoke about his time in Burma, which nobody in the family knew he’d even conducted. It is lovely, if horrific in places, and I keep a copy in my desk drawer. I wish I’d done the same with his brother (my grandfather), my grandmother, and my stepdad.