One Option For Recording Phone Conversations
August 11, 2008
There was a question the other day on the New Media Expo Pathable Community mailing list about how to record phone conversations via POTS connections.
I use a Telos-One-R (R = rack mountable) that I picked up on eBay and this is a diagram of my setup:
The Telos One comes highly recommended from two very smart audio gurus at IT Conversations: Doug Kaye and Paul Figgiani.
Paul has posted some great resources about the topic over at Podcast Rigs especially this post "Telos One, Talkshoe and Skype." There is also a great podcast with Doug Kaye (MP3) over at Podcast Academy that covers this topic.
Both Paul and Victor Cajiao at the Typical Mac User Podcast helped me setup the configuration of my unit - which is done manually with a small screw driver. I also borrowed Paul's unit diagram of a Telos One for my picture. Thanks Paul!
I am pretty happy with how this is working now, but I would recommend doing some post production processing on the phone track (usually your guest) with something like SoundSoap.
I also use the Telos 1. Two differences in my setup. 1. Since I regularly record five women, I have a main mixer and a second mixer to bring in my Telos signal or Skype signal. The output of the small mixer goes into my main mixer. 2. For recording more than one person in the studio and using the Telos 1, the mixer will have to have an AUX out where you can de-select the Telos or Skype in signal (from the small mixer). Whew. I need a white board...
Posted by: Robin Maiden | August 13, 2008 at 02:02 AM
Robin this setup sounds interesting. Since I'm a visual learner I'd like to see a diagram or picture if possible. - Steve
Posted by: Steve Holden | August 13, 2008 at 06:32 AM
Nice post. The diagram is very helpful.
Posted by: Tracy Evans | August 13, 2008 at 07:12 AM