HOW TO RECORD WITH AUDIO TAPES
It is recommended that you use an external microphone when using a tape recorder for audio tape recording. One shouldn't use built-in microphone on recorders, since they are of substandard quality. In buying microphones, there are two types: omni-directional and directional. You should use a directional microphone only. This will pick up sound in the direction you are recording. The omni-directional microphone, on the other hand, is not good, as it will pick up sound in all directions, and cause too much unrelated noise.
Audio cassette tapes are adequate for one-on-one interviews and small groups. We do not recommend audio cassettes for focus groups. Rather videotape your groups using a camcorder with good audio input. You will almost always get a higher quality focus group transcript with a video taped recording.
Another thing to note. Use new cassettes because if you employ used cassettes you might have an old piece of recording on it which will cause unnecessary confusion.

