Using a Mixer w/Audacity to do Interviews on a Landline.

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

I am using Audacity v2.02. I am also using Windows XP x32 but I may be upgrading to Windows 7 x64. I want to conduct interviews via a landline using an Alesis MultiMix4 w/USB connector. My PC is connected to the landline through an Intel (R) 536 EP modem v.4.76.70.

  • In Audacity there was a phone line selection in the input dropdown menu which I selected. But I didn’t hear a dial tone when I clicked record.
  • In Control Panel > Audio Devices and Properties > Audio tab, there is a selection for modem #0 record and modem #0 playback. I selected these. The same selections are in Audacity in the input and output dropdown menus. I selected them too. But this configuration gave me an error that said I needed to check the input source and the sampling rate. The sampling rate for a landline is 8Khz. I changed the sampling rate but kept getting the error.
  • The Audio tab in Audio Devices and Properties also has a USB Audio CODEC option which I selected thinking it would be a better connection to the mixer. And yes, it does let me record to Audacity through the mixer when the microphone input is selected, but there still seems to be no connection between Audacity and the landline. I thought that through the USB, I could not only talk to who is on the phone through a microphone which is connected to the mixer, but listen to them through the mixer too.
    Can the forum give me any help? Thanks.
2

According to the data I could find, the Intel (R) 536 EP modem is just that, a modem, Modulator Demodulator. It’s a way to get your computer to digitally connect to another computer or server by slowly sending data as audio tones.

It’s not a telephone hybrid. You can’t talk through it – it doesn’t handle voices.

You can send or receive a FAX.

Koz

3

By far the easiest way to do telephone interviews is with one of these.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008AGP5EW/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1/183-1257325-4058009?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_r=082SK9DGH5Q319TSJFKR&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_i=B000GU88CQ

You jam it into your ear and plug it into the Mic-In of your computer. It runs from the computer battery at the connector. It picks up your voice and the person at the other end. I’ve used it (actually the older TP7 and an adapter connector) several times. It works best if your phone has a volume control on it so you can balance the voice volumes.

Here it is:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2141764

Koz

4

Found it.
Macs don’t have a Mic-In, so you have to build one.
Koz
olympusTP7.jpg