Recording audio over the phone?
 

I have a client who may want sound bites for a video from various offices around the world. There is a VERY SHORT turnaround time on this and there is a degree of uncertainty if any of the offices have access to a digital recorder to make the recordings and email mp3s or any other audio files.

Can anyone recommend hardware that might provide decent audio over a phone line (call in)?

Thanks

Reed

You could start here:

RadioShack.com - telephone recording search results

Or....you could use PhoneValet - it's a message system and may be overkill for what you want....

PhoneValet Message Center

Geoff

Be VERY VERY careful not to run afoul of wiretapping laws. They are stringent can carry Federal penalties. And they are NO JOKE.

The best and very affordable solution I have found is from Dynametric. I have their TMP-636S and have used just about all of their gadgets. Very good sound and easy to use. There are a variety of configurations and you can plug most right into a laptop for quick recording.


DynaMetric Offers Telephone Recording Equipment and Other Phone Recording Device - Home

This is not for covert purposes. The folks on the other end are basically giving a phone interview to be used in a video.

If they are being recorded, it's always a good thing to ask permission to record them at the beginning of the recording, even if you are 100% sure that they will say yes. It's a good habit to develop.

Regarding equipment, beware the cheap stuff. We bought a 2-3 hundred dollar phone interface for our live, remote corporate meeting/presentations. We had electrical (not just acoustic) feedback problems integrating it with our live sound system. At one meeting everything was rolling along fine and we got a big BANG and their line went dead. We now have a $2,000 box used by radio stations and we finally have good sound. I believe that it's from JK Audio, but I don't know the model number offhand.

Reliability won't be a crucial for you if you're not doing a live event, but you'll want a good unit for sound quality reasons. I'd look for stuff designed for radio station use.

Thanks for the info. I was looking at some of the JK gear. Basically, the folks calling in will be calling in specifically to add their "voice" to the project. Not unlike when my son phones in an audition for voice-over work.

I just want to be sure the quality does not sound too much like a 'tinny' sounding phone.

Not sure about the quality but if you called over SKYPE I believe Audio Hijack Pro could record the conversation. Maybe someone else knows for sure.

SKYPE is a GREAT way to do this, and the quality of audio (dependent on their mic of course) is WAY better that a voice line. If you do use a telephone line, the Telos One is one of my favorite phone hybrids. It's about $1200, but it has balanced XLR in/out and constantly optimizes the quality between send to caller/caller output. The JK stuff is good, and Gentner make many good phone couplers (one way) and hybrids (two way).

Another thought would be the SlingBox/SlingCatcher. You can even get video to go with your audio with this combo...

I use a Gentner hybrid coupler for phone feeds.

Recording a telephone conversation, via traditional telephone landline, will always sound "tinny" as the phone passband is 300 to 3300 khz, iirc. So any means of communication that has a wider bandwidth would sound better in that regard. OT, it annoys me how many radio spots have people on phone-filter effects, trying to sound like they are being "interviewed". Nobody cuts radio spots over a phone... (gripe finished) /Battle Vaughan

PS: try B&H Photo or Markertek for various phone-patch and hybrid devices at any number of different prices and qualities.../bv


Edit: doh, that should be 300 to 3300 hz, not khz. But it is a very limited audio passband at any rate. /bv

Thanks Battle

I'm fortunate enough to live within 30 mins drive of B&H. Well, maybe fortunate is NOT the right word as I usually spend more than I need to! I'll check out their offerings next week.

I'm still hoping I can get the client to send in files but if not, I'll settle for the phone-in.

Reed

For starters, make sure you are using landlines, not cell phones.

If your on a budget, the Rolls PI9 is probably the cheapest 'pro audio' interface. JK Audio also makes a number telecom interfaces starting at under $100usd.
Like Marco said, "use landlines"... On both ends if possible.

The cheapest $5 "computer microphone" or headset and Skype beats all but the most expensive traditional telephone-circuit solutions. The internet data connection bandwidth is ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE greater than anything you can push through a traditional audio telephone circuit.

I use the JK Audio QuickTap on land lines, they also make a celltap.

Here's a quick demo I made for someone that needed to use an Edirol R-09 and the QuickTap. It gives a pretty good idea of the quality you can get. Fast fwd to the end to hear the actual recording.
YouTube - Edirol R-09 with QuickTap for Phone Recording

As Jon mentioned, JK Audio has some higher-end solutions for live radio station style interviews. Markertek carries these and more.

Guy

Thanks for the link to the demo. I will definitely check out the JK gear.

Reed

If you are really blunt-broke,you might try plugging your headphones, mono preferably, into the mike input of your recorder and place one of or the active headphone cup hard against the ear outlet of the telephone handpiece as close as you can force it, mabye coming from the back of the telephone handpiece will get you closer to the voice coil in the handpiece. Older telephone handpieces with larger speaker coils may work better.

This hopefully will give you a mainly inductive, not acoustic couple to the telephone audio.

Not broke and I want to achieve the highest possible quality audio from this if I move forward on it. Right now my client is leaning towards having me come into their offices and record voices live. This might be the best way to go but I still want to explore capturing interviews over the phone.

I think the live voices option might be best. Like putting the salt in the stew, it is very hard to take it back out again if you create the effect in a live recording.

My comment about blunt-broke might have been mistranslated from strine to amerenglish. It was in no way intended to imply you were actually broke and reduced to such desperate measures. Sometimes the most simple solutions can be the best.

There used to be for sale, sucker-cupped induction mikes for recording from telephone handsets. They have probably been supplanted by more modern and tidier "record out" facilities provided by the likes of the Gentners suggested above. I haven't seen one in years since I bought one ages ago to record ground-to-air and air-to-air radio traffic before the modern generation of handheld scanners came along with record-out jacks.

Bob

No offense taken at your previous post. I fully understood the spirt of your suggestion. I actually have one of those phone suction-cup things. Dug it out today and tried it. Then I remember why I put it away in the first place!

Going to go the live route.

Reed

Hi Bob,

Since your emphasis is on call quality, I'd say the four options are:

1. VOIP, i.e. Skype on both ends using "record what you hear"

2. VOIP/Skype on your end, dialing out of the network to a POTS line on the distant end

3. Digital telephone hybrid, as the Telos One and a mixer to split "aux send" (eliminate feedback loop)

4. Double-ender, recording both ends of the calls at the source, having them send the distant end file to you and you mix them in post

Obviously, #4 would be best if the distant end had good equipment and competent technical staff. #1 is great when both ends have good Internet bandwidth, high quality mics, etc. #2 is acceptable, assuming the distant end is not on their cellphone. #3 is okay but a bit pricey and requires some technical expertise to setup and adjust the levels properly.

And me? I started with #3 but prefer #1 or 2. I can't do #4 since my interviewees aren't tech-savy and don't have the proper gear.

Good luck, Michael

Skype also has a recorder add-in - I think it's free for recording up to 30 minute files. The beauty of it is that it tends to level out the difference between the local voice level and the distant one.