recording an accurate heartbeat

[Mr. Tunes]

a couple that i'm friends with is having a baby soon and they're interested in knowing if there's a way i can record the mom's heartbeat for when the baby's born they can play a CD of this sound to help soothe the baby to sleep. i've read a few things online about how this is a common technique. the only instrument we have access to is a stethoscope, no lab equipment. is this a good idea? or are studio sample library recordings a better go at the project then recording yourself? if so how do you record sound from a stethoscope?

[OverDose]

do you think that something like this could help?...some people on the reviews talk about getting clean audio, maybe you could record that with just a good mic and some creativity...although the speaker on the thing looks a bit small, but if you look around for similar products you'll find some models that seem to use headphones, so you could use that output jack aswell.

http://www.amazon.com/BT-200-Fetal-Dopp ... 671&sr=1-1

but who knows man, maybe there's an easier way, and i'm not sure if this method could give the results you're after.

[G&L_player]

if so how do you record sound from a stethoscope?

Seems to me there would be some sort of hardware plug-in...

[Mutant]

Hehehe i remember recording my heartbeat with a cheap set of headphones connected to mic in and firmly pressed to my chest (of course it can't be the best way to do that, but you may at least try).

Be sure to use some sort of an underwater effect and/or other womb environment simulating filtering on the recording.

[MaxSynths]

I've done a recording of my heartbeat for a project: press your mic on the chest with a boost of +15dB at 80hz.

[Meffy]

I attached a cheap condenser mic cartridge to an extra screw-on earpiece that came with my stethoscope. Not high fidelity but it cost nothing.

[timobrien]

Did they even think to talk to their doctor???

Most sonograms these days have the option of giving the couple a copy of the video/audio tape....

[grillo]

Use a contact mic, either on the chest or the scope flat surface. They're cheap, will give you a different result than sticking regular mics there.

[Mr. Tunes]

thanks for the helpful replies everyone!

hey grillo do you know where you get a contact mic from? are they in electronic surplus stores or what?

tim - yeah i assume the sonogram's soundtrack is pretty crappy and lacklustre or he would've brought it up to me. or maybe they dont have a copy of it?

overdose - thanks for the suggestion but some of those specialized medical analysis tools are too expensive for this i think. probably the best way to go though if you have a lot of money to spend on the project