Audio Interviews Over the Phone

19 replies
Does anybody have any tips on how to
Do Quality Audio Interviews when the people
are not in the same place?

In other words how to get the best Quality of
Audio over the phone ...

Jack
#audio #interviews #phone
  • Profile picture of the author Scott Voss
    Hi Jack,

    If you have two people who are tech savvy and are willing to work together, then this method is doable.

    Have each side record just their audio from the conversation. It is best to have both sides use an earpiece to hear the other side, so they do not end up picking up the other person's voice in the background.

    Then, through audacity or your favorite audio editing program, you can merge the two audio files. If both are using a good quality usb microphone, then you can end up with a very crisp.

    It just comes down to playing around with track 2, until you are happy with how the two tracks merge.

    Now, if you are interviewing someone as a subject matter expert and they don't have a vested interest in the quality of the recording or the technical knowledge to do this, then obviously this won't help.

    So, the second option would be to at very least go in and remove the background noise from the audio that you record from the conversation. Since inevitably one person's recording will be softer, you can go in and manually boost the levels on that person's areas.

    The major problem with this is that you end up with a lot of extra editing time on the project.

    The final tip I can give to not fix the quality of the recording itself, but address it from the beginning. You can record a separate intro where you talk about the information that will be provided and explain that it was recorded from a phone conversation. Go on to explain that the quality might be less than perfect, but the content will more than make up for it.

    Hope this helps at least some,
    Scott
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  • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez

    Josh Anderson originally shared that link. It will answer every question you have.
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  • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
    The best quality I have found is using a piece of software called PhoneValet. It is only available for Macs, but is the recorder I have ever seen. BOTH sides of the conversation are recorded in absolute clarity.

    Just hook your phone line to your Mac and you're golden.

    Hope you've got a Mac.

    Cheers,

    Millard
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    • Profile picture of the author Jack Bastide
      Originally Posted by MWGrubb58 View Post

      The best quality I have found is using a piece of software called PhoneValet. It is only available for Macs, but is the recorder I have ever seen. BOTH sides of the conversation are recorded in absolute clarity.

      Just hook your phone line to your Mac and you're golden.

      Hope you've got a Mac.

      Cheers,

      Millard

      Millard

      I haven't gone over to the Dark Side yet

      Jack
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      If you can drive Biz Op Phone Calls .... I'm Buying

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    • Profile picture of the author Kevin AKA Hubcap
      Hi Millard,

      I've never heard of phone valet. When recording phone interviews does it record to two separate tracks?

      Originally Posted by MWGrubb58 View Post

      The best quality I have found is using a piece of software called PhoneValet. It is only available for Macs, but is the recorder I have ever seen. BOTH sides of the conversation are recorded in absolute clarity.

      Just hook your phone line to your Mac and you're golden.

      Hope you've got a Mac.

      Cheers,

      Millard
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      • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
        Originally Posted by Kevin AKA Hubcap View Post

        Hi Millard,

        I've never heard of phone valet. When recording phone interviews does it record to two separate tracks?
        You can find it here:

        PhoneValet Message Center

        When I talked to the owner of the company, he told me that they used to have a PC version, but the operating system of the PC had so many glitches in it, it was better to just focus on the Mac version.

        As to your question... the recording is one recording in an ACC file, I think. Very small file size and absolute clear quality.

        Hope this helps.

        Millard
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  • Profile picture of the author Don Schenk
    I have a phone patch on a Marantz PMD222 cassette recorder that gives me audio out from the phone system, and I plug it into an mp3 recorder.

    There are a bunch of PMD222 recorders on ebay. I just push in the safetY-locK in the recorder - the thing that pushes against the left-hand side of the back of the cassette), put the recorder in record mode, and hit the pause button.

    To get the audio levels of each person be around the same, I put the mp3 file through an audio compressor. I use an old software called Pyro5, but Audacity should do that too.

    :-Don
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  • Profile picture of the author Quentin
    We use skype for all our phone interviews and a free recorder that records on two channels so we can then edit both conversations separately.

    Great quality and if you can get your talent to use skype is free or else purchase credit and is very cheap.

    Free Skype Sound recorder | The Internet Marketers Club

    Q
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    • Profile picture of the author Jack Bastide
      So there will be Two Tracks ( One For Each person)
      so you can edit them separately?
      Jack


      Originally Posted by Quentin View Post

      We use skype for all our phone interviews and a free recorder that records on two channels so we can then edit both conversations separately.

      Great quality and if you can get your talent to use skype is free or else purchase credit and is very cheap.

      Free Skype Sound recorder | The Internet Marketers Club

      Q
      Signature

      If you can drive Biz Op Phone Calls .... I'm Buying

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      • Profile picture of the author mentalfloss
        Audio Acrobat is perfect for that.
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        • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
          Jack,

          Be sure to start with a high-quality phone on your end to begin with, and tell the person on the other side not to use a cordless phone or speaker phone.

          I've done hundreds of recorded phone interviews (with conference-call lines) and I can tell the difference in quality when someone is using a cheap tinny phone unit.

          Also, be prepared to do some editing of sound levels if one side comes out loud and bell-like and the other side is quiet and muffled. Basic audio editing is as easy as cutting and pasting in Microsoft Word, and there are free programs to use, like Audacity and Wordpad.

          Good luck,
          Marcia Yudkin
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          Check out Marcia Yudkin's No-Hype Marketing Academy for courses on copywriting, publicity, infomarketing, marketing plans, naming, and branding - not to mention the popular "Marketing for Introverts" course.
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  • Profile picture of the author kmckillop
    I'll add to the Skype list. Call them using Skype (either direct to their Skype account, or their landline) and a Skype call recorder.

    Easiest method possible, and doesn't require any additional equipment.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jack Bastide
      Originally Posted by kmckillop View Post

      I'll add to the Skype list. Call them using Skype (either direct to their Skype account, or their landline) and a Skype call recorder.

      Easiest method possible, and doesn't require any additional equipment.
      what do you use to record with Skype?

      Jack
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      If you can drive Biz Op Phone Calls .... I'm Buying

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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Gosse
    I use skype video and audio recording for sellable products. It's awesome.
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