Recording Multiple Inputs Over the 'Net?

TFGeditor asks: "Thanks to the advice of fellow readers from a previous Ask Slashdot, I now have a PC system optimally configured to produce professional on-air radio programs. Now I have a new problem: my radio co-host and I are in different cities located a few hundred miles apart. In order to give the show a real-time (i.e. 'live') sound, we need to somehow connect us so that we can produce a show complete with co-host banter, real-time interaction, and so on. I want it to sound as if we were both in the same studio. How can we do this? Will Skype or other VOIP applications do this without the result sounding 'tinny' (like a phone connection)? Are there other apps that will do a better job?"

Comments

VOIP

[rlp]

I listen to a lot of podcasts on my daily commute. Most use some form of VOIP. Usually sounds fine (as long as they're not doing CPU or Net intensive tasks in addition to VOIP). Some of the podcasts do interviews with non-techy folks in which case they digitize an analog phone line or use VOIP through a gateway (Skype). For off-site interviews, podcasters use various types of digital voice recorders.

Two podcasters that have info about their podcasting technology on their sites are: Leo Laporte (http://www.twit.tv) and Glenn Reynolds (http:/www.instapundit.com).

Ventrilo VoIP

[WidescreenFreak]

I use Ventrilo every weekend with my nephew about 20 miles away and friend about 500 miles away during our network gaming nights. The sound is really good, it's completely "in conference" where anyone who knows the IP address could join in, and I've never heard the drop-offs or digital skipping that occurs frequently in Skype or Google Chat.

Apparently, Ventrilo also allows different sampling rates, so you might be able to pump through a higher bitrate to make the vocal quality better; however, I've never played with that function, so take that with a grain of salt. The default setting works well enough and doesn't sound like a telephone.

It's also available on several platforms. I run the server on my Sun Blade 100 with Solaris 9, but the three of us use the Windows clients for gaming.