Need some technological help

thenpaanan · Post by **thenpaanan** » 14 Mar 2008, 21:30

Dear Rasikas

I am planning to take some "phone" classes in the near future. I have been skeptical of remote learning for CM in the past but I have no real alternative now. I would like to record the classes so that I can hear them over again and the teacher seems to be ok with this. But often the off-the-air recording from the telephone speakers is pretty bad quality. Does anyone know of a good way I can connect the telephone to a recording system (such as a laptop even) when I am using it. The headset jacks on telephones seem to be incompatible from your standard RCA jack. (Skype calls are often unreliable especially if many people are dialing in together.)

I realize this may not be the right place to ask this question. If you know of alternate forums where this question might be answered please do let me know. Surely there must be Internet bands these days that meet and have "jam sessions" on the phone and phone line quality is high enough to merit good recording setups.

Many thanks
Then Paanan

vainika · Post by **vainika** » 14 Mar 2008, 21:57

Have jammed using iChat, Googletalk (Jabber client) as well as Skype on a 256kbps connection. You can take the earphone output (1/8") to a regular boombox and record it.

mri_fan · Post by **mri_fan** » 14 Mar 2008, 22:01

is that headphone jack you have on your phone a 1/8 in type? if so then you can plug it directly into your computer used a double sides 1/8th cable

thenpaanan · Post by **thenpaanan** » 15 Mar 2008, 01:45

mri_fan wrote:is that headphone jack you have on your phone a 1/8 in type? if so then you can plug it directly into your computer used a double sides 1/8th cable

Yes, from visual inspection it seems to be a 1/8 in "mini-phone plug". If I plug this double-sided plug into my computer, will this allow me to use the phone at the same time as it is recording? In other words, is it going to split the signal so that it goes to the phone as well as the computer? Just seeking to clarify. If yes, it would perfectly fit my requirement.

Thanks
Then Paanan

money · Post by **money** » 16 Mar 2008, 13:15

Skype is the best for distance classes.You need a good broadband line for it.For voice quality,intelligibility and volume it is the best. I have seen group singing chats with upto 8 persons with no noticeable loss of quality. Secondly telephone headsets are not known for their audio quality. Intelligibility is its main feature .
Use a good quality headset with mic and use skype with a broadband from a reliable service provider.

thenpaanan · Post by **thenpaanan** » 17 Mar 2008, 21:34

money wrote:Skype is the best for distance classes.You need a good broadband line for it.For voice quality,intelligibility and volume it is the best. I have seen group singing chats with upto 8 persons with no noticeable loss of quality. Secondly telephone headsets are not known for their audio quality. Intelligibility is its main feature .
Use a good quality headset with mic and use skype with a broadband from a reliable service provider.

Money,

No disagreement here. It is just that pragmatics sometimes force some local decisions. I found that skype calls start well but over the time period of a class, an hour or more, the chance that a skype call will act up in some way seems almost 100%. And I cannot predict what the problem will be -- it is not just bandwidth but other technical problems like someone on the conference call suddenly not being able to hear anything -- and even if they can be simply fixed, they disrupt the flow very badly, not something you want or tolerate when you just got into a warmed up exchange. Phones seem better for reliability of the call but telephone sets can be quite bad too and it is not just the headsets. The speaker phones can be quite bad in terms of saturation, dynamic range, and volume control. It is not so simple for me to change Internet service providers either, it will mean changing TV and phone providers as well.

So net net, the best compromise locally seems to be to use the phone with a good quality headset that reduces distortion better than speakerphones. These headsets are no match for stereo headsets but in the interactive back and forth of a CM class (as opposed to just _listening_ to a hifi concert where quality may be a bigger concern) they seem adequate. However, this option nixes the possibility of recording the class, hence the question of whether it is possible to do both -- use phone headsets and record at the same time.

Thanks,
Then Paanan