Recording telephone interviews

[JPS]

I will be setting up to record some telephone interviews, which will then be edited with the most interesting material for later radio broadcast.

I initially looked at a few Radio Shack phone devices and found that they are total crap. No way usable. An internet search came up with JK Audio, which makes a large variety of telephone interface devices. I am on a very constricted budget, so I went with the JK Audio AutoHybrid ($150). It is not totally what I was looking for. It does have a "caller" line-level XLR out and a "send" line-level XLR for my vocal. But, the "hybrid" devices blend my voice back into the caller voice in a what they term "mix-plus". This is still probably doable for me, but I was hoping to totally separate the tracks, edit then adjust the volumes. And I'm sure a compressor will help adjust the volumes to within acceptable levels.

But I am wondering... Perhaps, I could phase invert a send of my voice into the caller track, which would then remove, or reduce my voice to extremely low levels. Any body tried this before.

It is possible to buy the JK Audio Broadcast Center interface for $500 which will give a stereo track with totally separate voices. But I don't plan on doing a whole lot of these, and if I can accomplish the same elsewise, I'd rather save the $350. I'm currently using a 002r. Thank for any tips or experience you have had in this area of recording.

[stormpro]

The best way to do this is to have your microphone go directly into pro tools. Take a send from pro tools (with just your voice) and input that into the hybrid to go to the caller. Take the caller out and input that into a track in pro tools. You will now have your high fidelity voice recorded on one track and the callers output from the hybrid recorded on another.

After you initiate the call, hang up the phone and just talk to the caller via your mic, monitoring with headphones.

Gentner hybrids are the best. You might be able to find a used one on ebay.

[JPS]

Thanks, Stormpro,

What you described is basically what I did. And during my initial test calls the AutoHybrid volumes on the "caller" track are way out of line. This device has two basic problems: first, it is not able to give me an output with just the callers voice. It only outputs "mix-plus". Second, the caller voice on the mix-plus" is way too low and my voice (interviewer) is way to high. The Auto hybrid has no active gain so the problems cannot be fixed. It is looking like the only solutions is to apply very heavy compression/limiting and then remove as much noise as possible. So my "economy" device is not really up to the task.

But you mentioned that Gentner are the best hybrids. Do you have some experience with hybrid devices? If so, I would be interested in your opinion of why.

[stormpro]

I'm surprised the hybrid won't give you just the caller out. The method I described is very standard and the way that all radio stations would conduct an interview. I bet the unit you have is designed more for just casual recording of phone conversations.

As far as experience I did a lot of live radio tours with bands like Journey, Toad the Wet Sprocket, J Lo et al. We would have the band in the studio performing live and the radio station DJ would call in and interview them live on the air. In the early days we usede to send the 20k audio through an APT codec and then it would get beamed up via satelite to the station. The DJ would call up the hybrid and I would route the caller only output into the board and then into the bands cue feed.

Later, all stations had Telos Zephyr's and I would have the station call me G.722 but send them back a nice stereo feed.

The gentner Hybrids's were great. If you can get your hands on one of those you won't be dissapointed.

Good Luck!

[JPS]

I'm surprised the hybrid won't give you just the caller out.



Yeah, me too! I did purchase an "economy" device, so I guess I cannot expect too much. Others have also recommended the Gentner. They were bought by ClearOne, then the hybrid division was later sold to Comrex. However, there are quite a few units olded units available on ebay. I might go this route, but clearly reparis and service will be a problem.

Thanks. I remember Journey. They were a pretty incredible band. Sounds like you have had some awesome experiences. So, I imagine you weren't paying a lot of attention to the Gentner. I won't even ask what model.

[Grassdancer]

I also have an economy phone interface for radio interviews and I use it with a regular old 002 system. It behaves much the same way, where it blends my voice with the callers, to get around it I simply have to fader ride a little bit to match the volume of my mic with that of the callers. I then route my mic feed and the caller (that I'm fader rideing) to a minidisc for a nicely matched, little editing package. Now if I already know I'm chopping up the thing to use in a news story I don't worry about my voice quality, because it will never air. I apologize ahead of time if this seems like a simple suggestion, but it is how I get around the level problem.

[stormpro]

The hybrid we used to use was the Gentner Digital Hybrid II. I think they later came out with a three. I used the one model a couple times. They all worked great. Later they came out with the DH20 which was a more economy model. I bought two of those for the studio. All the Gentners worked great and were bullet proof. I never had the sniff of a problem.

Sounds like you've got it down. Just need to get the right tool for the job. Once you get a good hybrid, the quality of your interviews will be very high.

[soundeziner]

You guys are discussing two different animals of interfaces;

There are various analog interfaces which use POTS (this is plain old telephone service) lines. I have used Gentner and Telos interfaces (the Telos One works great for me). $250 and under is average price for these types of interfaces (been a long time since I had to buy one)??? No matter what mic you use or how quiet your booth is or the quality of your phone lines, what you send out will ALWAYS sound like it is coming over a phone line (cause it is).

Then there are ISDN interfaces/hybrids which use ISDN lines and have 'broadcast quality' sound (many can even send/receive AES digital). These start at a few thousand. The lines are more expensive than POTS for both monthly service and for making calls/connections. The Telos Zephyr and APT interfaces fall in this category. The ISDN interface is what is most commonly requested and used by networks.

But to answer your issue; Use a mixer's aux sends or buses to get one mix to the talent's head set and another mix down the telephone line

[JPS]

I have considered the Telos One. New they are about $699 and can get one for $600 street. And you're right, Stormpro mentioned the Zephyr, but I understood that it was ISDN capable. Actually, I think ISDN are 4-wire devices and do not require a hybrid, since they already have separate incoming and outgoing lines.

Anyway, I think the most economical (new) device that really has broadcast quality is the JK Audio "Broadcast Host" for about $550, which seems to have most of the features that would make my life easier. But I'm watching out for quality used devices, too.

[Mount Royal]

Following with interest, a project I need to get going on before the opportunity is lost is to record some of my daily phone conversations with my Mom. Anyway, where do you think you'd look to buy a JK Audio Broadcast Host as some sort of discount?

John Caldwell

[JPS]

I got a small discount with Full Compass when I bought my current JK Audio AutoHybrid. Usually a rep can knock off a few more dollars than their express service. I plan to check price tomorrow, so I can let you know what they are offering.

Update: Well, I got a quick response beause my rep was still in. Luis Sarcosa ext#1178, offered it at $430. Usually, there is a shipping charge, but should be less than $10 for UPS. If you like the price, talk to him. You can tell him John passed on his extention and price.

[Mount Royal]

Sounds good John. Thanks kindly.

John-

[Ellery]

I know I’m going to get shot for this one. But this is how i do it. Buy a speaker phone Take the phone apart and Solder a Radio shack Catalog #: 273-1374 1:1 Isolation Transformer in parallel between the speaker lead’s and a 1/4inch jack. This way you only get the callers audio. I have had good luck with it Specs say you lose anything below 300 Hz. But in my experience you only lose about 50 Hz and down. If you want them i have some sample recordings from a local radio station.

Ellery

[JPS]

I know I’m going to get shot for this one..... Buy a speaker phone Take the phone apart and Solder a Radio shack Catalog #: 273-1374 1:1 Isolation Transformer in parallel between the speaker lead’s and a 1/4inch jack. This way you only get the callers audio.
Ellery



So, if you take it apart, how are you going to talk to them?

Bang!!!