The corpus consists of single digits, connected digits, phone numbers, phonetically balanced sentences, computer command phrases and spontaneous speech. Each speaker has read a subcorpus of 85 items: * 11 single digits (0-9, with the two pronunciations of 2 (`zwei', `zwo')), * 19 connected digits (10-19, 20-100 in steps of ten), * 12 computer command phrases, * 30 phonetically balanced sentences, * 5 6-digit phone numbers, * 5 7-digit phone numbers, * 2 phone numbers with area code, * 1 minute spontaneous speech (monologue). The speaker was placed in front of a standard IBM-compatible PC. The backround noise was limited to the usual noise in office environment, eg. door slam, backround crosstalk, phone ringing, paper rustle, PC noise, etc. The head of the speaker is in a range between 2-4 feet to the screen, 1-2 feet from the desktop microphones. The speaker is not forced into a special position. The speaker is wearing a Sennheiser HD 410 and is free to use the keyboard or the mouse in front of him. The three desktop microphones are: Sennheiser MD 441 U, Telex (Soundblaster) and Talk Back (AT&T). Speakers were selected to achieve the demoscopic density of the German spoken areas in Europe (including Austria and Switzerland). The recorded sound samples are stored in NIST SPHERE format. The resolution is 16 Bits. The sampling frequency is 22.050 Hz except for speakers 001 to 036 which were recorded with 11.025 Hz. Each microphone channel is stored into a separate file. A transliteration of spontaneous speech according to Verbmobil Format is also provided. RVG1, Part 1 contains 197 speakers recorded through 2 microphones. (RVG1, Part 2, with 303 speakers recorded through 2 microphones will be available from the beginning of 1999.)