Recording Skype Calls

[Rico]

I think I may have outlined this someplace before, but I thought I would do it again.  There are many ways to do this of course, this is just the way I've setup my gear.  Two computers are needed - connected to the internet.  One should be a fairly ok system, to record the call, edit it, etc.  The other machine just is your Skype connection and can be a real barebones system, a laptop - whatever.  A simple mixer is really needed for this too. 

So what I do is have a standard headset plugged into the machine that hosts the Skype call.  The mic on that headset is what the Skype callers will hear from my voice - but it isn't what gets recorded on my main system.  Take the audio out from this computer, and plug it into an input channel on your mixer.  I have my main, studio microphone plugged into the mixer already (what I use to record my voice for all podcasts).  Take the output from the mixer and plug it to either the mic or line-in on your main recording machine.  So the mixer will feed the audio from the Skype call (callers, but not my voice) to the recording machine and my voice will come in on my main microphone.  I have earbuds plugged into the mixer to monitor the audio.

So, when I record in Audacity I can watch the levels of both the caller voices and my own.  Using the mixer I try to balance them as close as I can while the call takes place.  This setup means I'm actually talking into two microphones at once - the headset and my studio mic.  The headset just is sent to the Skype callers and the studio mic gets recorded for my voice.

It all might seem a little complex, but once you get it all worked out, it really works well.  Most people who podcast by using Skype or some other chat system do something much like this.  It takes a bit of playing around, but it gives you a lot more control of the final product I think.  I'd be happy to help if anyone has any questions.

[Meds]

Great thanks Rico. All i need now is my darn internet connection working and i can try it out.

[billybob476]

Still a no go on the web connection Meds?