how do I record phone interviews

[kozikowski]

Yes, the broadcast people have the advantage of a multi-bus mixing console to take advantage of the split feeds. The grownups even have a special service called "mix-minus." The caller hears everything going on in the live radio or TV show except themselves (which would echo and cause all sorts of problems.).

I'm going to copy a piece I wrote on a Radio Shack device that just made it out of testing. It seems to be a really good, cheap way to make good quality recordings and it's not married to the device or phone. Forget the 3013 microphone. That's something I force to work because I have it. This thing is much better.



Olympus Test

I did a real world test of the Olympus TP7 phone pickup.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/clips/OlympusTP7Test.wav

It's better than the 3013 tie-tack microphone because I don't have to glue it to my face. It's a fitted earpiece and you get to choose the size of rubber comfort nubbie that goes over the unit to suit. The StarTech ICUSBAudio and most soundcards use the central ring for battery and the unit uses a sharing system at the tip. Not to fear. One of the adapters included in the package works famously. So a TP7, a StarTech USB adapter and a computer is all you need for a very simple, reasonable phone capture. Any "held to your head" device should work.

ICUSBAudio $20
TP7 $20

I think the only way you could get away cheaper past the Skype systems, is put the cellphone on speaker and record your computer built-in microphone on the kitchen table. This will not work with most non-corporate desksets and wireless telephones, and it will pick up the refrigerator noise in the kitchen.

Oh, and no replacing 3013 batteries once a year. It uses the computer USB battery. That could cause trouble on computers with dirty power.

Koz