Recording Phone Conversations?

[evolvnyc]

Does anyone have any experience with getting decent sound quality with any of the commercially available phone conversation recorders? I have an interview which was agreed to be phone only, and it's an important part of the film, so I will be using it... Any suggestions/ideas for best capturing this audio? Thanks!

 

[Droog]

I don't have experiance with it, but this JK piece seems to be a good place to start. Inline Patch

 

[Matt Grunau]

There used to be a small device sold at local electronics stores which was simply a microphone that was attached to the phone via a small suction cup. It had a mono 1/8 inch jack that connected to anything you want. You may want to look around online to try to find something like that. It was only a few dollars as well.

Something like this:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.a...y_name=CTLG_008_008_012_001&product_id=44-533


Hope that helps.

 

[easymark]

If it's a crucial part of your film, you may want to invest around $200 in a THAT2 box from JK audio that will give you both sides of the converstation at the same level. Or borrow one from a soundman who does ENG work. Be aware however, that any telephone interface device may not work with the multiple types of phones out there, unless you spend around $600 for a JK box that will work with nearly every phone.

The cup solution is low fidelity, but it can work. An even cheaper solution is to record off a speaker phone. Depends on what your needs (standards) are.

 

[BLUESPIDER]

My jelious girlfriend would know how to set one up.

 

[planet E]

marantz tape recorders have phone jacks, and they are pretty high quality recorders. expensive though.

 

[Baluardo]

maybe another option, which i used on one occasion, could be to use one of those phones with external speakers used in offices to share a conversation among more people. If you can get ahold of one which delivers good output and sound quality, that maybe (i dont know the nature of your work) would also allow you to show the video of the interviewer talking at the phone in that way (placing the mic properly, in a way that the sound levels of the interviewer and the person over the phone are comparable).

 

[Derrick_SA]

I might be missing something, but is it not better to record both sides perfect , and then create the effect of a telephone sounding speech in post ?

- Derrick

 

[Droog]

I might be missing something, but is it not better to record both sides perfect , and then create the effect of a telephone sounding speech in post ?

- Derrick

Yes, but its a phone interview for a documentary I would assume. If this was a scene from a script in a narrative I would imagine he would not be posting :thumbsup:

 

[Neil Rowe]

..just install some telecommunications software on your PC/MAC ..like "communicate PRO" or something similar. its software that lets you fax , and send e-mail as well as works like a digital answering machine through your modem. and yes.. you can also record your conversations with it.. right into digital audio there on the PC while you chat on the regular phone handset. I cant remember what the audio quality was or if your could change it but it think so.. i have it still and i guess i could find out. but you can convert that audio file later to any format you want. .. its decent enough quality to start with. and if it sounded perfect, it woudlt bring about that "phone conversation" feeling anyway... ive done this before to record some "sensitive" conversations for a client which i was working for.

free trial download here-all web downloading at your own risk:

http://downloads.theregister.co.uk/Windows/Business/TelephonyCallerIDPaging/communicate-pro.html

 

[easymark]

I looked at the JKaudio.com again and there's an even cheaper interface, the Quicktap, which retails for $125. It may be cheaper at a retailer like Turner Audio in CT (no, I'm not an employee) or Trew Audio in Nashville. Using the proper interface will save you a lot of time in post trying to get it to sound like the real thin. Why not just record the real thing properly?

 

[evolvnyc]

Oh, I do want to record it properly, it is for a doc, and it may be the only shot i get at an interview with a pretty central figure, so I want the best solution, but it seems that software that allows you to patch into the computer may be the best solution (fewest steps to final cut pro sound file). I think i will give the software a shot first, thanks for all of your suggestions!

 

[cassese]

radio solution

radio solution

Radio stations have just such equipment, which is very low noise, and can be recorded digitally. Go to Radio Broadcast (the magazine) and see if they have a listing of such companies that sell these interfaces. If I remember correctly, they are not much money, (around 100.00) for what you want to do. The advantage to these is you plug your phone line directly into them, instead of drawing the audio from the phone speaker(s). The higher end ones have adjustable delays on them to filter out profanity, etc. Try to get the signal as clean as you can BEFORE you start editing the audio.I have used the suction cups, and IMHO they suck. (Unless you WANT it to sound that way of course)

 

[Jay Rodriguez]

Hey man, I have a recording studio. I can help you out with that if you want. It's just a matter of recording it and then tuning it on the mixing board to get the feel that you want.

 

[CrackerJap]

I've recorded phone conversations just by using speakerphone. It sounds like a normal phone conversation, and you can understand the person on the line perfectly. Tweaking the sound levels (I don't know technical names for things...) will give you better results, but even if you don't you should be able to understand it. Just make sure the speaker and the person on the phone are at the same volume level.