Ah, I see, and the term is accurate. The ones I work with were recorded in studios, usually professionally.

I wish people would hire engineers to record oral histories!

<L>
Lou Judson
Intuitive Audio
415-883-2689

On Jan 20, 2016, at 5:18 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Lou:
> 
> By "surface resonances" I meant table tops, fridge tops, floors, whatever the cheapo cassette recorder with the built-in mic was sitting on. These resonances and combing effects plague many oral history recordings I've worked with. The best of these kinds of recordings I've heard go back to mics with plug-in cables, and someone knowing where to put the mic so it predominantly captures the voice of the person being interviewed. Even better when there are two mics, one for each person, and they are placed near each person and not handled during recording. Those kinds of high-fidelity interviews are rare.
> 
> -- Tom Fine