Search
Account
Search
Account
Here you will find information on the recording and audio equipment Lewis currently has ready and available for patron use.
You'll also find general information on how audio equipment works.
Please see the tabs at the top for pages with more information.
Below is a current list of all the equipment Lewis has to offer in circulation.
The items may be borrowed by MIT community members; visitors are welcomed to use these items in the library.
Handheld audio recorders
Video recorders
Webcams
Microphones
Microphone stands, tripods, and accessories
Audio cables
Interfaces
Mixers
Disc drives
MIDI keyboards
Portable turntables (New!)
Other
Not seeing something?
If you have equipment suggestions for purchase, please let us know by emailing Caleb Hall at hallc@mit.edu
This is a list of the types of microphones. Each kind has their own uses and polar patterns. I encourage you to experiment with different types to learn what mic will work best for your needs.
Follow this link for more details on mic types and their uses.
A polar pattern is the directional field of sound a microphone can pick up. This field determines to which direction the microphone is most sensitive.
There are number of polar pattern types, here are a few of the most common:
Follow this link to see visual representations of the above mentioned polar patterns.
This is a short list of standard audio equipment that we have available in Lewis.
When setting up audio equipment, it's important to keep in mind the path that the audio signal will follow. Keeping track of the path, especially when using a lot of instruments, mics, etc. is extremely important.
The pathways can be analogue, digital or a mix of both.
Examples of each are as follows:
Analogue: Live sound, using a PA system, plugging a guitar into an amp.
Digital: Creating an instrument inside a DAW, manipulating prerecorded sounds/music.
Mix: Playing an instrument that is plugged into a DAW, for either recording or live performances.
The simplest way to think about a signal pathway is a simple input and output. No matter what goes in-between these two, the goal is always to have sound coming in and sound going out.
Here is an example with the least amount of steps possible:
(Input) Guitar -> Amp (Output)
Adding a few more steps looks like this:
(Input) Guitar -> Chorus pedal -> Delay pedal -> Loop pedal -> Volume pedal -> Amp (Output)
While there are more steps in the second example, the idea is still the same. Getting the sound from the Input to the Output.
This goal does not change when adding digital components. In every DAW, there are I/O (Input/Output) settings, these should be set to read the Input device, so the sound is coming in from the correct place, and the Output device, so the sound goes out in the correct place.