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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?"
This may bust your budget, but there are many radio hosts at commercial radio stations who use ISDN lines back to the studio. The digital voice signal is good enough to make the remote broadcaster sound like they are in studio.
I'm sure there is a better, cheaper digital solution out there. Just make sure you have the bandwidth to handle it.
Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
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).
[Insert pithy quote here]
If you are really serious about making it sound "professional", then you'll have to be "professional". This means (ideally) a dedicated link between the hosts.
I listen to This Week in Tech (twit.tv) every week and they encounter the exact situation you have. The way they deal with it is either with Skype (which sometimes causes breakup of one of the hosts due to lag or traffic), or they use an ISDN connection. The ISDN is the best "pro" solution because it allows good quality audio to be passed across a digital point-to-point connection. No lag, no problems. The only problem is that relatively speaking the ISDN is slow and expensive. However, if you want a reliable, lagless P2P connection there's really no better solution for the cost... your next option is a point-to-point frac T1 which can get really expensive. Of course, it depends on the amount of bandwidth you intend to use.
I do some part-time work in a recording studio where often a member of a band is "remote" (or in one case, none of them live in the same cities). Since we're talking multiple high-bandwidth streams the studio actually has several P2P T1's. The results can be awesome as we get real-time audio down the pipe at very high bit rates and resolutions... and the recording can be mixed in real time just as if the band members were there.
Body language might be a loss though. ISDN is good when you're pushing high-quality audio... but you won't be able to get video down that pipe as well. The best way I can think to deal with it is to use two connections; an ISDN for the audio and use an Internet connection with a webcam so you can each see the body language of the other. It'll isolate the traffic so that they're not tripping over one another, and the video feed seems to be the one you can most afford to lose (due to latency, lag, packet drops and so forth).
I wouldn't recommend trying to do a solution across the Internet unless you can live with an occasional dropout.
Also realize that if you're creating either terrestrial radio or podcasts, you have a certain amount of leniency since the quality is lower by default than HD Radio or Satellite. I'm all for spending what it takes... but there's no need to spend more than you need.
Finally, realize also that no matter what the final bitrate and quality of your finished product, the higher fidelity the original streams you mix together, the better. Higher bitrate and quality will give you "headroom" for compression.
Yes, and they generally sound like crap. Yes, you can hear them, but they still sound like crap.
Not if you have a sound-warming tube amp, and gold-plated connectors.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
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.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
I know of a radio show in Austin, TX that is connected to the radio network located in MN through an ISDN line. It's clean, clear, and digital. I don't know the kind of equipment they use, but it is a direct digital channel between both points, and I would highly investigate this as an option. It may cost money, but it's likely worth it ($50-75/month my best guess). Check your local telecos.