Hi all,
I am looking for a solution to conduct sports related interviews from my smartphone and Mac. I will be phoning people I am interviewing (mobile to mobile) and I need to record the interview for broadcast purposes.
Is Audacity suitable for this? If so, will I need anything else (mixer etc.) or is there other software that would work?
Thank you for any feedback.
Antony
I think this is a Google job.
https://www.androidpit.com/how-to-record-a-phone-call-android-smartphone
I do very well with a special-purpose analog microphone and Audacity, but that’s with a land-line, not a smartphone (you may need to zoom your browser to see the whole thing). It fits in your ear. That’s how it picks up both sides.
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/clips/TP7SoundTest1.wav
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/clips/TP7SoundTest2.wav
That’s an Olympus TP-7 with adapters or TP-8 without. It’s intended to be used with one of their personal recorders (I use a WS-823, too), but the recorders may have troubles with a cellphone so close.
Working a radio transmitter (cellphone) right next to a microphone causes interference and sound distortion. So the only reliable way in my opinion is to get the smartphone to do the whole job. If you do it that way, try to get a recorder which splits your two voices left and right on a stereo recording. If you don’t, you’re stuck with the sound mix.
Post back with how you did it. Remember, it’s a forum to exchange ideas, not a help desk.
Koz
Thank you for your feedback Koz.
No plans on treating this as a helpdesk, but need advice on where to get started in order to get started on something.
My use will be strictly mobile (smartphone) to mobile phone or landline (the person I am interviewing), in otherwise interviews by telephone, so I have to find a solution using that. Your suggestion looks ideal, using that kind of equipment together with my smartphone, MacBook Air, and Audacity.
I’ll look into this some more and come back here with the results.
Thank you again and if you have anything further to add, please feel free.
Antony
PS. The quality of your recordings were very good for what I am looking for.
The picture is a Windows laptop with pink Mic-In.
It supplies the voltage and management the microphone needs by just plugging it in. TP-7 with the little adapter, TP-8 without.
For machines with no Mic-In like my older Mac, I use a StarTech ICUSBAUDIO adapter to make a Mic-In from a USB connection.
The only time I ever tried it with a cellphone, I got swishy, windy, surf noises in the sound as the smartphone radio interference came and went. Not usable.
The cellphone just kills you on jobs like this. On a high-end sound shoot, the first thing is the audio engineer does is make everybody turn their cellphones off.
I found how one of the SmartPhone APPs works. They make you use your hands-fee conference setting and record the microphone for both sides with the speaker turned up. I guess that would work, but that means you need a quiet room and you have to be alone. No recording at Starbucks. Also the far side goes through sound processing twice, so it’s not going to sound very clear. They don’t address this, but I bet you lose some echo cancellation, so the far side may hear their own voice coming back. That’s super annoying, so plan on only one interview per person.
Sorry for the cold water. This is one of the killer recording problems I don’t have an easy solution for.
Koz
Hi Koz,
The best solution I have found since our previous exchange is a simple Android call recorder app. I’m still going through them. It seems pretty good and as my sole aim is to record interviews with people by phone, this is probably the most cost effective solution too. I can then use Audacity to process the sound.
I also have a ZOOM H2n Handy recorder, so I’m not sure if that can be connected to the phone somehow to record. More research needed.
Thanks for your feedback.
Antony