Using a small sound booth with your students will not only help block out external sounds while recording, but will help your students create a more pure sound with less sound reflections (bouncing), allowing for your students to create more professional audio clips. Additionally, it can provide a private, focused space for your students to work. A portable sound booth is an easy and cheap project to build and keep in a classroom or library. There are many different tutorials out there that you can follow. I decided to make mine using my neighbour’s stack of cardboard egg cartons, and then spray paint it a light blue to make it seem “special”. I learned quickly, however, that cardboard egg cartons tend to absorb the paint rather than get a thick coverage. Oh well.
Once you have your sound booth made, it is time to get a decent recording device. After some research, I decided that the best tool for my school would be the Zoom H1n, which retails for about $130 at London Drugs. I chose the Zoom because it can store audio on an internal hard drive, on a micro-SD or using a USB cable, directly onto a computer. The microphone itself is well designed to pick up audio and has good ratings in terms of its “durability”, an important feature in any school environment. The Zoom comes with a free download of a recording software, or it can be used with both Garage Band or Audacity, which we have already installed at our school. I would also want to get the Zoom accessory package for $30 which comes with a bigger mic handle, small boom, a foam case, longer cables, mic protector, and a sound shield if you wanted to use the mic outside of the sound booth. Overall, I feel that this tool would be an easily integrated piece of technology and I love that it can be purchased at London Drugs which has good customer support, and some great sales!!!
But for now, I will use it with my iPad, until such day that we get a microphone. Check out the audio clips to hear the difference between recording with an iPad out of the sound booth (in my kitchen) vs inside the sound booth! I will let you be the judge :)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f17JMR-_kWBO69RGSOgcCQdBOsYjarrH/view?usp=sharing
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