Plz HELP! Recording Skype with Audacity on Windows 7

[jerkflavorkoolaid]

Im trying to record a podcast and would like to take live callers using Skype. I have the latest versions of both Skype and Audacity, and using Windows 7. Can someone please tell me how I can record Skype calls using Audacity? There seemes to be no simple tutorial on this anywhere on the net, just false leads.

How do I need to set up Audacity to record the Skype calls? I also play music in the backround and have theme songs for certain people I want to call, so how do I also play music tracks (mp3) also using Audacity while the phone is ringing on Skype while my guest answers the phone?

By the way Im using a USB mic, no headset.

THANKS!!!

[kozikowski]

Pamela Professional and Pamela Business will record conversations both directions and put them on their own track (left and right) for processing later. You an easily mix them into a completed podcast in post production.

I believe you can force Total Recorder to do this as well. All other combinations either record one side or the other of the SKYPE conversation.

I'd be surprised if you were allowed to play music behind the recording. Skype and Pamela use up all the sound channels and there's nothing left to play the music. After you capture the show conversations, you can certainly add the music later in Audacity post production.

The other two versions of Pamela either have time restrictions or aural watermarks.

Koz

[jerkflavorkoolaid]

Thanks for the reply but this wont work for me. I want to record everything live and not have to insert the calls via post production.

Tons of other podcasts do things this way including adding music...why cant I find someone who knows the answer? LOL

Please someone tech savy help me!

[kozikowski]

<<<Tons of other podcasts do things this way including adding music>>>

Maybe you can get them to tell you how they did it. Then post back here. Nobody here has ever been able to get that to work, and some very talented people have tried.

As you noted, there are a lot of false leads out there. We all know how to do that using two computers....

Koz

[waxcylinder]

@Suprimer: if you are a genuine poster and not just a spammer advertising a product, perhaps you could be good enough to explain in detail just how to use this tool to record both sides of a skype call as most posters on this forum seem to have extreme difficulty in using any software to achieve this. Please note that your future posts will be monitored by the forum moderators!

Other readers please note that this piece of s/w was formerly known as SkypeCap - and we did get lots of intrusive spam postings for that product. And also note that it is not free - it costs UK£32.33 or US$49.95.

WC

[kozikowski]

The problem with doing this all inside one single computer is that the computer runs out of sound channels.

The computer naturally has two: record and playback and Skype takes both of them. The capture programs create a virtual machine inside the computer and gets two more to capture both sides of the conversation, but sound management starts getting interesting. Live production demands that you be able to change the volume in real time.

You would need more sound channels for each show element plus the management of each one -- who gets to hear what -- without interfering with all the others. Who gets to hear the opening music, for example, and how do you keep it from recording twice? Once direct and once echo from the caller.

That's not to say it couldn't be done, but you would run into all the problems that Audacity has (How come my ION turntable has an echo) but much worse. And there's a really good chance the software wouldn't work cross platform.

The grown-ups like Car Talk do it in post production at WBUR, Boston a day ahead and the "really" live shows like Dr Laura do it through a large, multiple channel mixing desk and switching system in Sherman Oaks, CA.

Koz