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Doug Kaye’s Weblog

12/23/2007

Skype for Interviews - A How-To Video

8:45 am

After years of discouraging the use of Skype for interviews here at The Conversations Network, we’re now saying a resounding Yes! Paul Figgiani and I have prepared this audiovisual presentation that covers all you need to know in order to get true broadcast-quality Skype recordings.

For more info and discussion, visit The Conversations Network’s forums.

49 Comments »

  1. Huu. You guys obviously KNOW YOUR STUFF. Thanks a million times for this great tutorial.

    Comment by George Appiah — 12/23/2007 @ 9:38 am

  2. Nicely done! You’ve encapsulated this very well and was so pleased you delivered this since many ask me how *I* deliver high quality interviews and it’s been tough to point them somewhere. I just did a post at my blog Connecting the Dots and thought you’d like to know.

    Comment by Steve Borsch — 12/23/2007 @ 1:33 pm

  3. Doug and Paul .. great job. I’ve been using Skype for interviews for several months now and even though I’ve gotten very good results, your demo has clarified a couple of areas of ‘fog’ and validated my much held belief that Skype is now, very much ‘of age’. Thanks

    Comment by J. Leslie Booth — 12/23/2007 @ 3:50 pm

  4. I posted a screen shot on how to setup a DLink DI-624 wireless router (G)
    http://geoffhankerson.com/podcast/recording-interviews-over-skype.html
    Thanks - fantastic info as usual

    Comment by Geoff — 12/23/2007 @ 10:03 pm

  5. I came over to see this from the posting on the AirDaily list serv - how wonderful! thanks!

    Comment by Marjorie — 12/24/2007 @ 3:41 am

  6. Excellent tutorial! I’m going to refer my group of virtual assistants to this posting, so they can better serve their clients they edit audio interviews for. My clients are always asking me how to get a good interview recording done, and now that I have this information I can provide the help they need for doing this via Skype.

    Thanks so much.

    Andrea Kalli
    Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC
    http://www.virtualassist.net

    Comment by Andrea Kalli — 12/24/2007 @ 8:17 am

  7. What a wonderful holiday gift indeed. Two of my favorite people teach us . Thank you both for what you add to our community and new media.

    Comment by Victor Cajiao — 12/24/2007 @ 9:08 am

  8. As usual the work you guys have done is exemplary! Like a lot of podcasters I learned most of this the hard way over the past two years. It is great to see it all in one place that can be used to explain it to others.

    Comment by George Starcher — 12/24/2007 @ 9:32 am

  9. Thanks. That is a very good tutorial. Especially how to set the firewall. Will similar settings also apply for video on Skype to enhance the signal? What else do you guys know?

    Merry Christmas

    Comment by dave — 12/24/2007 @ 10:47 am

  10. Thanks so much for this!

    Happy Holidays..

    Comment by Eddie Dickey — 12/24/2007 @ 4:12 pm

  11. AWESOME!. I was trying to get the techincal info window to come up on a PC the other day. Thanks for the Tips on being patient.

    Comment by Dave Jackson — 12/25/2007 @ 10:18 am

  12. Simply OUTSTANDING work, Guys! Excellent all the way through…Thanks!

    Comment by Vincent Wright — 12/26/2007 @ 1:16 pm

  13. I’d like to sincerely like to thank both of you on an information filled presentation. Great information that can go to improving the sound in podcasts and call recording I do.

    Thankyou

    Comment by Adam — 12/28/2007 @ 6:14 pm

  14. Hi Doug! Excellent and timely information.

    I just finished using skype to record three long-distance interviews for a recent podcast. I wish I had heard about this tutorial before I started. But I guess one gains a sense of perspective by doing things the hard way first.

    Here’s how Windows users can display the Technical Call Info by editing Skype’s config.xml file and changing value for the “DisplayCallInfo” tag to “1″:

    http://forum.skype.com/lofiversion/index.php/t17231.html

    Thanks again! Hope to see you again this year at the Public Media 2008 conference in Los Angeles.

    Comment by John Tynan — 12/30/2007 @ 4:28 pm

  15. Fantastic Tutorial!! I have forwarded the ports on my router and in windows, still get 4 relays calling Echo123, but only from my apartment (Verizon DSL in NYC, if that makes any difference) When I take the exact same laptop to another (cable) connection - no relays! Is there anything else I can check?

    Comment by Todd — 1/3/2008 @ 1:09 pm

  16. Thanks for this demo. I can’t begin to say how much it has helped.

    Comment by Joe J. — 1/4/2008 @ 8:16 am

  17. I am on Mac 10.4 and Skpe 2.6 but cannot get the technical call info. All I get is the option to record my message to see if Skype works. What am I doing wrong? Thanks,

    Comment by Sam — 1/4/2008 @ 6:25 pm

  18. Whoops. Never mind. Missed the box to check in preferences….

    Comment by Sam — 1/4/2008 @ 6:27 pm

  19. This is awesome stuff. Thanks! What do you use for post-production on a Mac? Garage Band? I’m a total newbie at this, so any “further resources” you could recommend would be greatly appreciated. Just to be sure, The Levelator isn’t post-production software, right? It’s just for, well, “levelating.”

    Comment by david — 1/5/2008 @ 6:17 pm

  20. I have done the whole port forwarding thing, even to the point of writing rules for Skype in software firewall. I still can’t get that puppy to display zero relays.

    One thing I noticed though is that since version 2.5 or 3 (can’t remember) this hack stopped working for me. I used to do it with 100% success - now nope. Makes me think that Skype has changed something.

    The other thing is forward tcp/udp or just udp?

    Also I have analyzed the waveform from Call burner and it is woeful, awful and produces average results. I have been using MX Skype Recorder for ages now and it is excellent. It splits the recording into left and right for host and other and puts it down as a PCM (.wav). To record longer than 5 minutes you will have to shell out some cash, but it is minimal.

    The URL for those guys: http://www.skyperec.com

    Try it out and see what you think but I think it is far better than Call Burner.

    Great work all the same - esp for Mac users. Now all we need is that record button from Skype :)

    Comment by Dave Gray — 1/6/2008 @ 5:16 am

  21. Thank you! Any thoughts on how to deal with the router issues when you are in places like . . . hotels? Also are you going to publish the slides?

    Tom Cagley
    http://www.spamcast.net

    Comment by Tom Cagley — 1/6/2008 @ 3:18 pm

  22. Please post all questions on The Conversations Network forum, http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/forum/viewforum.php?id=22, so that everyone can see them and the responses. Paul and I will try to answer them there. Thanks.

    Comment by Doug Kaye — 1/6/2008 @ 4:34 pm

  23. Kudos for a great tutorial. I especially like the clear description of the SuperNode issue. Time to tweak my router settings.

    Comment by Doug Schmidt — 1/9/2008 @ 10:07 am

  24. Very intereting - but I was not able to watch the video, just heard the audio. Am I missing something? Great job done.

    Comment by Chris Singh — 1/10/2008 @ 9:33 am

  25. mysteries solved! It was incredibly generous of you to make this info available.

    Comment by Susan Kuchinskas — 1/10/2008 @ 12:10 pm

  26. From this non-geek a big thank you. We’ve been loving our skyp-based and Olympus interviewing
    - kare, movingingfrommetowe

    Comment by Kare Anderson — 1/11/2008 @ 3:31 pm

  27. That was amazing. I shared the link to this page with two dozen fellow journalists. Well done!!!

    Comment by Bob Andelman — 1/11/2008 @ 4:51 pm

  28. Excellent tutorial. Thank you for having spent the time to put it together!

    Comment by Paolo Tosolini — 1/13/2008 @ 12:05 am

  29. Great Audio Tutorial. Exactly what I’ve been looking for. Been struggling to improve my audio interviews for quite some time. Thanks!

    Comment by Leonard — 1/17/2008 @ 8:36 am

  30. Thank you so much for an incredible wealth of knowledge which you have shared

    Comment by Tom — 1/23/2008 @ 4:16 pm

  31. Too bad this is in a video form. Don’t people WRITE anything anymore?

    Comment by SteveSgt — 2/5/2008 @ 10:56 am

  32. hi yoy are say to me we want your permisson what do you mean thank you

    Comment by 0mar al top — 2/7/2008 @ 5:11 am

  33. If you’re having problems getting to “0 relays”, another thing to remember: check your computer’s software firewall.

    Mac OS X 10.4 doesn’t have the firewall turned on by default, but it’s a Good Practice to do so. Mac OS X 10.5 does have the firewall on by default. Either way, if your software firewall is enabled, you need to “poke a hole” for that Skype port. For some reason you need to enable both the TCP *and* the UDP ports inbound.

    If you’ve done everything correctly you should notice “0 relays” and MUCH better fidelity in your sound.

    Nicely done Doug and Paul.

    -bill

    Comment by Bill — 2/7/2008 @ 10:17 pm

  34. We can’t use usb headphones with Skype and still record. Shoutcast is what we use and it doesn’t recognize usb connections. Also, my sound card will NOT do what some do, namely record “what you hear”. You can here me just fine, but my guest is silent on the recorder. That again forces me to use an analog headset so that I can record what comes over the speaker (guest), and also record myself(host on mic). If there’s anyone that can help me get around this, I would be most grateful

    Comment by Dave — 2/20/2008 @ 10:17 am

  35. The problem is that most of us use the generic, in this case Leopard (10.5.2) firewall. How to configure that firewall is a mystery. Any suggestions?
    Thanks

    Comment by Kevin — 2/26/2008 @ 8:32 am

  36. Thanks for a great tutorial! We rely heavily on inter-continental Skype conferencing. Until now however we have thought of sound quality problems as “good or bad Skype days”.

    And now a piece of advice: In our experience, Skype conferencing over wireless connections - be it WiFi or 3G - are more prone to packet loss. We always try to use TP cables. We don’t need to record the conferences but still need comfortable every day discussions.

    Comment by Gabriel Sandberg — 3/6/2008 @ 6:40 am

  37. excellent tutorial!

    i use skype very often so this article will be good one :p

    Comment by funnyvideo! — 3/11/2008 @ 8:07 am

  38. Any tips on how to poke hole in firewall of OS 10.5???

    Comment by Russell Pell — 3/17/2008 @ 2:26 am

  39. Sweet resource, just what I have been looking for.

    Comment by Bubbila — 3/27/2008 @ 3:22 pm

  40. I am amazed at the quality that is achievable here. I have been producing my own recordings in house via my digital recording system and can easily compare this quality to almost CD definition. Well done, thanks for a fantastic free video & keep up the great work you are involved in.

    Comment by David Jewell -United Kingdom — 4/18/2008 @ 1:00 am

  41. This article is what I want.Regards

    David

    ———————-
    Not everyone broadcasts their personal information, but maybe you know
    it and you want to add it to their profile.

    Extended Contact for Skype
    https://extras.skype.com/1471
    —————————
    Import SkypeOut contacts from a CSV file

    Contacts Manager for Skype
    https://extras.skype.com/1451

    Comment by wugongxing — 4/29/2008 @ 12:02 am

  42. What a great video. I actually replaced my home land line for Skype. Now I’m only paying $6.00 a month instead of $70.00 with my land line.

    I really enjoy the freedom I have with my wifi phone. I take with me when I go traveling. I just find a wifi area and start making my calls.

    Comment by Your Auction News — 5/6/2008 @ 8:26 am

  43. Hi

    What a wonderful holiday gift indeed. Two of my favorite people teach us . Thank you both for what you add to our community and new media

    thanks

    Comment by e-okul — 5/22/2008 @ 6:37 am

  44. How wonderful. I really love skype - get to talk to family in other countries for near nothing and I can be found when travelling internationally. As soon as I get home I will do the fixes that you suggest. Not only is this going on my usefulness blog, but I am also going to use this as a teaching tool on what is needed for a truly excellent presentation. Thanks again!!!

    Comment by The Fix-IT guy — 6/5/2008 @ 2:13 am

  45. You can try out Call Graph as well http://www.callgraph.in we also offer online storage and transcription services. Pls. have a look.

    Comment by Rajiv — 6/26/2008 @ 11:52 pm

  46. Glad to have run across this posting. We have been using Skype and Pamela to record shows for the last 18 months, and while we have had great success, these tips will help improve it I think. I am also excited to give the Levelator a shot with our next show. Thanks!!

    Comment by Jeff — 7/1/2008 @ 10:37 am

  47. I was wondering is there a way to record in MP3 and not have a media a player pop up.

    I have a site where a user would like to hear a word, one word, and then replay it a few times, then the user might pick another word, and repeat the process. Is there a technique that would allow this with out the lag time of the Player loading and in some cases linking to a screen that blocks the original page?

    Comment by Peter Toohil — 8/7/2008 @ 4:24 am

  48. Excellent! I use skype so will help me a lot. thanks again

    Comment by Abhi — 9/3/2008 @ 9:10 am

  49. Great tutorial. Thanks.

    Comment by Bill Hung — 11/27/2008 @ 11:03 pm

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