I did a search and there's plenty of links that will try and explain how but none of them really seem all that helpful or at least easy to pick up on

can anyone break it down to me in an easy to follow format?

I'm using the VIA sound controller on my motherboard and I have up to 8 different output plugs but I'd most like to find a software solution rather then get into mixer boards or re-wiring my setup.

I'm using a stand alone Plaintronics mic but I'm probably going to upgrade to a real decent mic if anyone has suggestions on a fairly affordable omni-directional one.

I was checking out this one at Amazon

MXL 990 Condensor Mic

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...glance&n=507846

My thanks.

I heard that Audio Hijack does the trick of capturing any audio generated from your computer. I'm assuming this would include Skype as well. I know I've heard of some podcasters saying they use this method.

I use a registered copy of Hot Recorder with Skype. I've done over a dozen interviews with musicians but I've never had a problem. Bibb and Yaz seem to have trouble with Skype but I don't.

That's how I do it. If you have any questions Skype me or email me.

thanks guys... i'll check those programs out

and PCRant, love the Jerry Chapman song... exactly what I'm feeling these days, something's gotta give

Thanks man. Yeah some days are better than others.

Is "use Gizmo Project instead" an annoying answer?

-R

On Nowhere in Mulberry we use Freecorder to record skype cause it's super cheap. Skype isn't always perfect either sometimes it's fine other times it's a pain in the ass. It was a huge headache till I got it right. In the windows sound mixer in Record Control select 'stereo mix' the person on the other end will get feedback for a bit turn the settings all the way down till the feedback is gone and slowly inch the levels up to recordable levels.

Are you trying to record interviews or have a co-host participate remotely? If it's the latter, the sound quality is much better if you do a double-ender; record each half of the conversation locally and then merge them together. That's a lot to ask from an interviewee, but if you have a regular co-host, it's a lot simpler and sounds much better than attempting to capture the audio output from Skype or whatever...

hm. i find it's easier to understand directions when punctuation is used. Might just me me though.

The MXL 990 is a solid large diaphram condensor mic. It performs very well despite it's price. MusiciansFriend.com has them for $50. You may want to test-drive a few mics at a local audio store though. I decided not to go with the MXL because it picked up a little more high-end than I wanted with my voice. I was lucky enough to have a gift certificate that allowed me to spend a few extra bucks on something that worked better for my voice.

Um I believe I used Punctuation El Nacho, if that is your real name?

Check out Freecorder http://www.replay-video.com/freecorder/index.php

I think he means your tips could have been followed easier if they weren't all in one chunk. Of course it's his real name, this is the internet!

I used to have problems with Skype, but once I managed to get the Windows mixer to record the "What You Hear" everything was funky.

For phone calls I find using my webcam mic works well because it cuts down on echo on the interviewees line - but still allows me to keep good quality recording my end.

It's just really hard to explain lol. My best advice is to not give up and keep monkey'ing with it and you'll either figure it out or smash your computer.

A little OT from your main post, but since you asked - I got an MXL 990/991 kit (2 mics) plus the shockmount for the 990 from Guitar Center for $80, so if you go there, remember to haggle.

I don't know a good from a bad condenser mic, but so far (minimal use) I'm pretty happy with it. And I'm pretty sure it's what Nate and Di use, so that was good enough for me. Definitely better than the crap Radio Shack mic I had.

But be warned, any decent 'real' mic is going to require you to get a a mic preamp with phantom power (or a mixer that includes these, which is the route I went). You can't just plug-and-go, as the mic needs to get 48v from somewhere. SO even though you said you didn't want to get a mixer, you might want/need to rethink that.

I never did the Skype recording thing, but I did test it out once. I used a mixer and my iRiver, though.

There's also the option of doing a double-ender - the conversation is recorded live on both ends, then the remote sends you his/her audio file and you merge it with your end. For quality, that's the way I'd go. For dealing with folks who don't know from audio recording, I'd obviously wire up the mixer.

If you're curious, the way I patched things was thus:

1 ) Skype -> Laptop headphone out -> mixer input 1

2) Mic -> mixer input 2 -> mixer effects loop out

3) Mixer effects loop out -> mic in on laptop -> Skype

4) Main mixer out -> iRiver input for recording

The reason I used the effects loop was so that the other end of the conversation didn't get fed back to Skype - only the mic input (Input 2) does. But both parts get sent to the iriver for recording.

HTH.

I record skype without any additional hardware (except the soundcard)

I use adobe audition, what I do is arm track 1 to record directly off my USB mic. I then arm track 2 to record from the wave mapper (you should also be able to select your soundcard in the list as the wavemapper should be the soundcards default output). I then go into the creative mixer (I have an audigy) and on the far right in the mixer change the record column from microphone to "what u hear" or "wave" either one will pump the person coming in over skype back through the wavemapper and if you have it armed as a recording track it should record the sound.

the caveats with this method are:
1) Need a usb mic. if you switch to "what u hear" and are using an analog mic it will most likely kill your ability to record yourself
2) Any other sound events on your machine will get recorded along with the person coming in over skype, so make sure to disable other sounds and/or shut down IM programs that have sound alerts.

If you want to use my method but have an analog mic plugging directly into the soundcard, you could also use a second soundcard, or onboard + a separate card.

Any questions regarding our setup - reply, or drop me a line over at www.uncompressed.org

Cheers,
Tony

I ran into some problems with Skypeout and Hotrecorder so I got this little gadget at Radio Shack that works great. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...rentPage=search

I can connect either to my cell phone or into the headphone jack on my cordless phone.

The easiest thing in the world.
http://www.powergramo.com/






Charley

Wow, the pro version will even split it into two tracks for you? That's definitely worth $20...

hey guys, thanks for all the input and suggestions


I've been so busy I haven't been able to get back to this matter but I wanted to just get it done and over with tonight but I cheesed out and picked what looked like the easiest and simplest solution that I've read so far

and that was the PowerGramo one

and right now that program is so buggy that I'd hold off on it until they really patch and fix it up

When it works, the program is extremely easy to use and records both parties on Skype really well.. but while it's supposed to encode to OGG, it often fails encoding it and you are left with a PGA file which can only be read by the companies "Standalone" player which they haven't even released yet

the absolutely amazingly ridiculous thing is.. THE RECORDER WON'T EVEN READ IT'S OWN PGA FILE

yup.. there is no function to load up previous recordings to even attempt encoding it as an OGG or WAV after the first failed attempt

the program integrates into Skype and needs Skype to play back the PGA files for you and I think uses Skype to list and organize your chats and recordings and if those listings don't show or get erased then you're SOL and you're left with a useless PGA file that the very program it was created on cannot access

and I tried posting this on their support forums but their forums are buggy too and u can't post anything there because they have php coding problem

so yeah... nifty neat and completely free program... ONE DAY WHEN THEY GET IT TO WORK

so back to the rest of you all keep ya informed with what I finally settle on

Audio Hijack looks great but it's only for the MAC

after messing with PowerGrammo I'm loathe to get any program that saves it in it's own proprietary file form and that's what Hotrecorder does unless you buy the Pro version

Freecoder lets you try it out for 2 minutes on the trial version

and I'm curious about Gizmo but getting people to use Skype was a hassle as it is so I'm not going to spring Gizmo on them, but I will check it out for sure to see how it records and may use that on occasion

next up.. Adobe Audition, I've been meaning to check out that program anyways


and thanks for the MIC suggestions too... but after hearing everyone's wonderfully produced, sparkling clean recordings with your snazzy intro jingles and podsafe music, I kind of like being the dirty trashy bastard of the family... hell if I'm even considered part of this family ahaha

anyways... the Skype search continues! Will post my results for any future cheap bastards...

This recording is a direct result of this thread... so THANKS ALOT!!

I think...


don't worry, it's like only 15-20 minutes in playing time but alot more sure went into making it grrr....

oh yeah.. there's intense language involved... OGG, VORBIS, weird words... so be warned

#25 Keep it Raw Dirty but Clean

*
*
*

and if you could stomach that, just listen to this 10 minute blurb which was the very 1st recording I ever tried on some basic WAV recorder which I stubbornly stuck to until today ahaha

#1 Fumbling and Bumbling

Glad to hear you got it working!

Dont stress too much over audio quality -- it seems to be a never ending battle. We had ours pretty well ironed out, then we got my cohost set up with a fancy new Samson C01U mic, and we need to relearn how to produce it all over again...

Ive heard that if you are doing a 1 on 1 conversation (as opposed to conference calls) Google Talk sounds better than Skype. Thom and I plan on trying it for episode 7 -- so tune into "Uncompressed" next week and see how it goes!

I've taken lately to a new credo, despite the name of the previous poster's podcast, and that is:

Compress. Compress like CRAZY.

Actually, funny thing, I don't do much compression on my own stuff. Why? Because I've gotten lots of practice at keeping my volume from fluctuating, and my iRiver+Plantronics headset combo seems to give me a nice even and high-volume recording. Result: I get a nice full "wave" without compression.

And then I add other recordings in, and people gripe at me that they're having to lunge for the volume control.

So now I compress. I compress A LOT in some cases. Whatever it takes to give everything a pretty similar fullness so that the listener doesn't have to leap for the sound mixer...

Note: this would not go well if there were a background hum or something, as it would bring it up in volume, and, yuck. No one trick fits all situations.

The reason I bring this up here is that it's not unuseful in making recorded Gizmo conversations sound less "recorded in a bucket" and I theorize it might help likewise with Skype methods.

For what it's worth,

-R

I have used Audio Hijack to try it out, but I haven't produced any interview podcasts yet. It works okay. The trial will give you a good idea if its something for you.
I haven't upgraded to the pro version yet, hoping that there is a cheaper (or free) option out there. If you know of one, please post.

I'll add a plug for using HotRecord with Skype. I had a problem with one of my recordings so I emailed them. They were able to give me a utility that fixed the file in less the 24 hours. Good support goes a long way in my book.

Corey
501c3cast
"If we keep working together, it will get better."

me too! Now I can keep playing my non-pod friendly music up until the RIAA starts suing me... which won't be happening anytime soon unless more people start listening in haha...

I'm starting to love Audition and I've been messing with alot of the controls such as the noise filters and the hiss, pop and noise removers and I'm pretty satisfied so far but ultimately it all boils down to the limitations of my $20 Plaintronics standup mic haha...

My girl Brandy is coming out clear and sexy out of Skype but like a previous post mentioned, she comes in at a louder volume so I've been messing with the normalization settings to equalize our levels. Now I just have to remind her to raise the mic above her mouth so she doesn't breathe so hard into it, as much as it turns me on

Haven't messed with compression yet but I definitely will check it out... found this interesting little 'cast' done by a developer at Adobe explaining how to clean up your Podcasts using Audigy. I believe he talks about using compression as well.

here it is:

http://blogs.adobe.com/kevin.goldsmith/200...s_first_po.html

Thanks for the Audio Hijack suggestion! Just downloaded the trial version, and it seems to work fine.

I'll be sure to try it out on Skype in the next few days.

audio hijack...*shudder*
tried it twice. system restore needed both times.

One thing that helps me configure Skype for recording, is the user "echo123"... just add it to you contact list and call it. Its a little computerised systems that helps you check to make sure your Skype input and output or configured correctly. I call it to test that I'm recording both sides of the convo. And, BTW - I use Audio Hijack with no problems.

-Adam

I have tried out Power Grappo, which works well.

I did an interveiw in my first podcast:

www.dygash.co.uk/b1.xml

Its not a fantastic solution but until i get enough money for one of the proper recorders, i used the trial version of HotRecorder which only records for two minutes. It also only seems to record my interveiwee's voice on Skype so what i did was record my end of the conversation in Audacity and basically when the two minutes was up we stopped i saved the recording and then recorded again continuing where the conversation ended, We got about a 6 minute interveiw and it was relatively easy to line the recordings up with my own end. I recommend it to anyone looking for a free solution and who has the time to line the tracks up. Who knows you might get your end recorded by HR too, then its even easier.

Ciao

Dygash

I used PrettyMay to record Skype calls simplely.
and it's free

Hi guys,
Why not try PrettyMay which allow you to record calls/conference/Skypecasts and saved in either mp3 or wav format which you selected.furthermore,you can Broadcast audio(mp3 or wav format) to conversation/Skypecasts.

Dude, are you a spammer or just overexcitable? We get it.

HOTRECORDER is only recording the person calling me> what's up?

And what's about a prog called SkypeCap? I've tried it recently, but fully satisfied with it's quality.

For record Skype conversations,i use SkypeCap too.It's one of the best Skype recorders.And also you can control of your records,choose level of quality etc.I like it's programm.

<delete>

Personally fro me the best tppl for recording Skype conversation is SkypeCap.

I use IMCapture for Skype to record audio and video conversations in different formats and high quality.

I prefer to use IMCapture for Skype.
It records audio and video conversations in different formats and in high quality. You can find the information about this program here:
http://www.imcapture.com/IMCapture_for_Skype/

as for me I record Skype with IMCapture for Skype too

I like IMCapture for Skype. It records audio and video calls in different formats and hih quality. It is easy to use.
http://www.imcapture.com/IMCapture_for_Skype/

Just try IMCapture for Skype! it works good without any problem! Thanks!!!

I'm using IMCapture too.I'm realy pleased.

If you want to record skype conversations, you can use screen recorder to help you. There are many on market.

The one I used can help me record any actions I made on computer screen, and it also can record the webcam video. So, I often use it to capture skype video when I was making video calls with my friends. After recording, it will help save the recording automatically.

Hi, as for how to record Skype conversations, I personally found that you could try to use a computer audio recorder to capture Skype conversation. Choose one of the suitable ways by yourself.

I use a program called MP3 Skype Recorder that's free, and for a no-frills, easy-to-use program, it's quite solid.