Recording telephone conversation
 

Anyone know what the best way to get a good recording of a phone conversation. Is there some way to hook up a telephone to a recording device?

The best way to use a phone sounding conversation in video is to do this in post.

Record the actor's voice as dialogue replacement. Since most scenes involving the off screen voice are the ones using the telephone bandwidth technique, there is no issue with sync.

In Adobe Audition or others, look for a pass filter entitled telephone bandwidth. This limits the frequency range to what you would hear on the phone which as you know is a much smaller spectrum.

If you really have to tap a phone device, check out your local security/superspy store. But if this is for a video production the quality can't even begin to come close to doing this in front of a studio mic.

Here is my reply from a post about a page or two back

Here is a Link to That 1 - I have used them to get professional recordings into Voice mail systems that only have telephone interfaces - they work very well
http://www.markertek.com/Product.asp?baseItem=THAT%2D1&cat=INTERFACE&subcat=AUDINT&prodClass=TELEPHONE&mfg=&search=0&off=
or here
http://www.jkaudio.com/products.htm

I bought a gadget from Radio Shack that wasn't too expensive a few years ago and was able to record to minidisc. It turned out fairly well.

I recently recorded a conference call, and I used a QuickTap, from JK Audio. B & H has them:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=265063&is=REG

Comes with cable for mini-jack and rca jack.

So Gene ... is this the direction you are looking for?

Perhaps you can reply ... just so we are aware of your exact requirement...

http://www.professionalsound.com/catalog/ph-tap.htm

werks good for us....

I wasn't sure about weather I should record directly from the speakerphone as that would be cumbersome to set up at a moments notice. So I thought, what if there was a device that I could just turn on and hit record. I've heard of doing it in post but this would be for a documentary in which case getting the talent to show up might be an issue as they could be across the country. I'll check into your recommendations(the Quicktap looks cool) and thanks so much for the advice. Peace.

There is some software that will record the phone thru your modem on the computer( can't remember the name).The sound isn't great but as has been said That's a function of the phone line
If the situation is controllable you could do this a few ways and get good audio.You could have the actor setup with a recording device( iRiver, computer,etc) then have them begin recording while on the phone go thru the questions etc. when done the actor could email the file to you)