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Recording Skype Audio for Broadcast?
Jennifer Leonard asks: "I'm in desperate need of securing a way to record my Skype phone calls at broadcast quality. I just purchased a Plantronics Audio.85 headset with noise-reduction mic and 32-bit DSP ('enhances the audio signal for superior stereo sound and speech recognition') and used it for a phone conversation that's intended to be played for a radio show. What I got was totally unacceptable: the audio quality is horrible! There's a constant droney hiss sound over the entire track, which just ruins the interview. Unfortunately, my radio station doesn't have the capacity to do pre-recorded phone interviews. This is why I've had to go about doing it on my own. So far, what I've tried...sucks. Does anyone know how I can get broadcast quality audio by way of recorded Skype conversations?"
Where is the hiss coming from? Do you hear it while you're on skype, or is it only after you've recorded? Do you hear it when you record straight from your microphone, with no skype involved? What is the setup on the other end - do they have a good microphone and quiet environment to record in?
At this point for all we know, you're trying to do this while sitting in the middle of a field on a windy day, or next to your 8-harddrive 12-fan full-tower PC.
Figure out the exact source of the hiss, then figure out how to get rid of it.
Speak before you think
I reckon you should try asking at www.gamerswithjobs.com two guys there used to do a High Quality Pod cast Show together, via Skype.
Jennifer, you basically have two options. One would be to record it on your computer (which I assume is a Mac because that's what the Audio 85 is designed for) using a utility like Audio Hijack from Rogue Amoeba. The other way would be to use splitter cables for both the audio in and out and use a separate recording device, like a minidisc player or another computer, to record.
I'm curious though, what method for recording were you using before (that resulted in the hissing)?
Take off every sig. For great justice.
Try using Gizmo instead of Skype. Gizmo has the built-in ability to record conversations to disk.
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
You need 2 soundcards.
.90) and finally the Sennheisers. (no Altec Lansing) The Senns clobbered the other 2 so much, it's not even funny. Trouble is I'm not sure if they make them anymore. If you're serious though, please, get real equipment.
Soundcard 1:
- Speaker out: Not necessary
- Mic: Primary microphone (your best!)
- Line in: From Soundcard 2
Soundcard 2:
- Front out: To Soundcard 1
- Rear out: To Headphones
- Mic: Secondary microphone (your cheapest!)
To record:
1. Setup Soundcard 2 to use 4 speaker mode to output to both Soundcard 1 and your headphones.
2. Have Skype use Soundcard 2 to record from mic. Your chat people won't care if they have a crappy mic nearly as much as your audience.
3. Record (using Audigy / Garage Band / etc) using "What U Hear" or "Stereo Mix" on Soundcard 1. Make sure you have Line In and Microphone unmuted in your mixer.
4. If you need a wide range of volume control (I know I do), you can also use front/rear balance on Soundcard 2 to do it.
For those who need the explanation:
Soundcard 2 outputs the Skype conversation not including yourself. This goes to your headphones for talking, so you don't hear yourself. It also goes to Soundcard 1. Soundcard 1 then takes that and mixes it with your quality microphone to produce the mixed recording of both you and the people you're having a conversation with. The people you're conversing with will have a worse mic, but since it doesn't wind up in the end recording, what does it matter if they hear a little static?
THOROUGHLY TEST YOUR VOLUMES BEFORE ACTUALLY RECORDING. Get at least 2 or 3 other people to test it! Skype will normalize the other users' voice, but you need to make sure that the master recording (your good mic + Skype) is on the same level or it will be weird and hard to fix!
After recording:
Use your sound editor to clear out hissing noise or apply other filters to make yourself sound better.
In my experience, the best cheap PC microphone you can get are the Sennheiser PC series. (PC-130 or PC-150) I tried Logitech, Plantronics (the
Ok, there's a bunch of ways to do this... here's a couple easy ones:
c allrecorderforskype.html
Skype + Podcast Recorder
http://www.henshall.com/blog/archives/001056.html
and for the Mac, Call Recorder For Skype
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/email_chat/
...and in my opinion, the first thing you need to do is drop Skype and get something more robust such as Asterisk.
I am the system admin for Wide Awakes Radio and we use a combination of Asterisk and Icecast to make our streams work. Asterisk is capable of DIRECTLY sourcing an Icecast server so it's an all digital audio path.
I highly recomend you check it out.
MTW