8.6: Recording with your Computer

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Page ID: 305822

Mark Briggs
University of South Florida

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To record a phone call digitally, you’ll need another piece of equipment: A telephone recording control unit that sells at Radio Shack for $25. Many journalists already use one of these to record phone calls to their analog microcassette tape recorder. And those same journalists probably have an unruly jungle of tapes on their desk or in a drawer that is unlikely to produce the tape from six months ago that someone might need.

Note

In some states it’s illegal to record someone on the phone without their express permission.

That’s one reason to go digital — organization. With the Radio Shack device you can record directly to your computer, which makes it easy to store files in an organized fashion. And going through the “tape” is easier on a computer since most playback programs like Windows Media Player have slider bars that allow you to quickly go from the beginning of a recording to the end.

Your hardware is ready. Now you need software to manage and edit the sound files with your computer. There are literally hundreds of options for audio software, ranging from Adobe Audition (the choice for most radio professionals, $349) to Audacity and JetAudio, popular free downloads that work great.

No matter which audio software you use, there are a few basic settings on your computer to check before starting your first recording:

File name: You will either need to select File -> New and create a file or choose where on your system this new file will be created. Either way you need to think about what to call your file. This is a good time to come up with a standard file naming convention that will serve you for months and years to come. Include the date and the name of the person you’ll be talking to, so an interview on Valentine’s Day with Paris Hilton would be named “021407hilton.” It’s also helpful to create new folders by year or month for more organization.
Format: You should record in WAV format so your files are uncompressed and, therefore, of the highest quality. You can convert the files to MP3 (Audacity and JetAudio can both do this) once they’re edited for publishing on the Web. You only need to worry about this when recording directly into your computer, not when using a digital recorder.
Input/Mike level: Make sure the software is set to capture data via microphone input. Then find the setting that adjusts the microphone level and set it to about 70 percent of the possible level.

Assignment

Now call a friend and record the call for a trial run. Save the file with your new naming convention. Play it back to make sure it sounds good.

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