Recording a family member’s story is one of the most meaningful things you can do — not just for yourself, but for every generation that comes after. The good news is that you don’t need professional equipment or a journalism degree. A little preparation and the right questions will take you most of the way there.
Simple Recording Setup
Your smartphone is already a capable recording device. Apps like Voice Memos (iPhone) or Easy Voice Recorder (Android) capture clear audio in quiet rooms. For longer sessions or noisier environments, a dedicated digital voice recorder — the Olympus WS-853 or Sony ICD-PX370 both cost under £40 — gives you better battery life and easier file management.
- Place the recorder or phone between you, not in front of just one person.
- Test the sound before you begin and play it back immediately to catch any issues.
- A soft surface underneath (a folded towel, a tablecloth) reduces table noise from cups and hands.
- Aim for sessions of 45 to 90 minutes — long enough to go deep, short enough to avoid fatigue.
Question Types That Work
The worst question you can ask in an oral history interview is a yes/no question. Instead, build your list around three types:
- Open-ended openers: “Tell me about the house you grew up in.” These let the person choose where to start and often surface memories you’d never think to ask about.
- Sensory prompts: “What did your grandmother’s kitchen smell like?” or “What sounds do you remember from the street you lived on?” Sensory questions unlock vivid, specific detail that general questions miss.
- Follow-up probes: “What happened next?” / “How did that make you feel at the time?” / “Can you give me an example?” These are your most powerful tools — they deepen any answer.
Prepare around 20 questions but expect to use only half of them. The best interviews go off-script when something unexpected surfaces. Follow the story, not the list.
Preserving the Recording
A recording that exists in only one place is a recording waiting to be lost. The moment the session ends, copy the file to at least two locations:
- Cloud storage (Google Drive, iCloud, or Dropbox) gives you off-site protection against hardware failure or fire.
- An external hard drive kept at home gives you a copy you can access without internet.
- A shared family folder means siblings or children can access, annotate, and add to the archive over time.
Label every file clearly: Name_Date_Topic.m4a — for example, EthelMoore_2026-09-04_Childhood.m4a. Vague filenames like “recording1” become meaningless within weeks. If you export a transcript, keep both the audio and the text together in the same folder.
One Last Thing
Let the person know in advance what you’d like to talk about so they have time to think. Many people say the days before a recorded conversation are when their best memories resurface. The interview itself is just the beginning — the stories that come up over the dinner table afterwards are often just as rich.