What kind of mic should I use to record lectures in a large classroom? - eviltoast

Nursing student here. I record lectures so review them at high playback speeds, and to share with classmates who aren’t able to make it to class.

I’ve been using the small clip-on battery powered mics made for doing interviews, but last semester revealed a few weaknesses: The profs don’t like to actually wear them, so I just clip them onto the lecture podium - works fine while they’re standing at it, but they don’t have good range, and most of the profs move around a lot as they lecture, so the volume of the recording is all over the place or completely silent if they stray too far away. Also 99% of the time a student asks a question, the mic doesn’t capture it at all, so I just get a few seconds of silence followed by some random info with no context. The battery is also only enough to get through about 2/3 of a class period - fine if I remember to swap them out during a break, but not ideal.

Going forward, I’m hoping to find an option I can just plug into my laptop, sit near the front, and record. A normal desktop conferencing style mic stands out as a decent option, but thinking of the range issue I’m having with the portable mics, I suspect a conferencing type product will have the same issue since it’s made to record sound coming from like two feet away from the mic.

I’ve seen like giant fuzzy mics used on movie sets - should I look for something like that?

And are there specific product recommendations you’d make that are on the less expensive end of the spectrum?

Thanks all!

Edit-

Thanks for all the feedback folks! Time to dig through reviews.

  • hitagi@ani.social
    10·
    1 month ago

    Maybe a small condenser microphone. The Samson Go is a bit old (not that consumer-grade microphone tech has changed much) but it’s small and just plugs into a laptop with a USB port. There are probably newer small models that do a better job and I’m not aware of its existence.

    I suspect a conferencing type product will have the same issue since it’s made to record sound coming from like two feet away from the mic

    This is the case with dynamic microphones (the microphones typically used for live events), but condenser microphones are usually very sensitive and will pick up almost every bit of noise with enough gain.

    I’ve seen like giant fuzzy mics used on movie sets - should I look for something like that?

    These are condenser shotgun microphones. The ones used in movie sets use XLR and need some kind of audio recorder (you’ll be carrying a lot of stuff with you). There are small ones that use 3.5mm connectors though (usually made for cameras). You need to have this pointed at the sound source at all times (hence why you see people manually operating these in a movie set).

    Anyway, I recommend looking into handhelds with built-in microphones (like the Zoom H1) so you can move it around easily.

    Disclaimer: I’m not an audio professional, just an audio hobbyist who works on student films sometimes. :D