Anyone figured out how to record a phone conversation?

[Michael Jones]

I have a (potential) client that wants me to record a phone conversation for training purposes for his business.

I have a Nuendo (PC) based system, with the Steinberg 96/52 sound card, tons o' mikes and a butt-load of pres.
Inputs on the card are ADAT and S/PDIF.

I need to record the conversation; both voices.
Any ideas?

[cellardweller]

I have an answering machine that records both voices pretty well.

In the past with my ex-wife, I resorted to tapping and recording phonecalls to catch her up in her web. I bought a cheap little Radioshack phone mic of some sort, I think it had a phone in and phone out jack which then ran to a tape recorder. It worked but the voice at the other end was indistinct at times...

They have probably improved upon this design by now...

[Track Rat]

Years ago I cobbled together something just for this. I got an audio transformer from the RatShack and wired it to the phone line and put a toggle switch on it. The output on the tranny went to a recorder. It worked out pretty well as I recall.

[Blue Bear Sound]

This might do the trick...

http://www.markertek.com/MTStore/pro...eItem=ST%2DTC1

[Blue Bear Sound]

Or this:

http://www.markertek.com/MTStore/pro...WK%2DTAP%2DIFB

[Michael Jones]

Originally posted by Blue Bear Sound
Or this:

http://www.markertek.com/MTStore/pro...WK%2DTAP%2DIFB

That looks like it would do the trick!
XLR out to the in of the converter.... turn it on, hit record.

Thanks Bear.

[dirtythermos]

I have a cordless phone with a headset jack - 1/16" TRS, I think. I was able to hook it up to my mixer so I could talk into a 57 and listen through my monitors.

[c7sus]

$120! Yikes.

RS has one with a 1/8" out for about $15 bucks............

For $120 that box better give me PRETTY girls doing phone sex!

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally posted by c7sus
RS has one with a 1/8" out for about $15 bucks............

Yes - and it's a useless piece of junk -- I tried it......

No matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to work without HUGE hum............

Sometimes, you really do get exactly what you pay for.......

[fenix]

i have a friend who rigged up a phone cable so that it's phone jack to xlr. it works really well. i'm not sure how the wires go though.

[shackrock]

go to radio shack and get a phone with a tape in it. it records whenever you tell it to. It's funny - just like, a mini-tape inside a cord phone.

and then you can put that to your comp.

[c7sus]

Originally posted by Blue Bear Sound
Yes - and it's a useless piece of junk -- I tried it......

No matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to work without HUGE hum............

Sometimes, you really do get exactly what you pay for.......

I used mine into a mini-cassette recorder and it was okay. Taped phone conversations just fine. Hiss from the tape machine was much more audible than any humming.

Of course, we don't use telegraph lines and those old wind-up phones down here anymore, either.

[NYMorningstar]

You can hook the phoneline directly into a modem and with software record directly into the computer.

[glynb]

Originally posted by cellardweller
I have an answering machine that records both voices pretty well.

In the past with my ex-wife, I resorted to tapping and recording phonecalls to catch her up in her web. I bought a cheap little Radioshack phone mic of some sort, I think it had a phone in and phone out jack which then ran to a tape recorder. It worked but the voice at the other end was indistinct at times...

They have probably improved upon this design by now...

Hmm, would this type of 'evidence' be admisable in a court of law? Or was it just to confront her with her lies I wonder? I know in the UK you have to tell people by law if you are recording the telephone conversation.

[christiaan]

Once I just opened up a cheap telephone, tapped the earpiece by soldered a cable to the right points and jacked the other end into the mixer. Worked well enough.

[DigitalDon]

Here's something else. A little pricey though ($495)
http://www.jkaudio.com/broadcast-host.htm

[Armistice]

Tell him to convert to Islam and there'll be all sorts of people willing to record him for you....

[Michael Jones]

Originally posted by shackrock
go to radio shack and get a phone with a tape in it. it records whenever you tell it to. It's funny - just like, a mini-tape inside a cord phone.

and then you can put that to your comp.

Those are crappy. Plus, you have to transfer from mini-cassette to PC.
My sound card, nor my converters have 1/8 inputs.
I want something that'll interface from phone, directly to my AD/DA converters, which are XLR.
Anything less is a waste of money.

I still like the Bear's suggestion.

[Michael Jones]

Originally posted by NYMorningstar
You can hook the phoneline directly into a modem and with software record directly into the computer.

I don't have a modem on my audio PC.

[Wireneck]

You could hook a phone with "speaker phone" onto the same line you will be carrying on the conversation. Isolate the speaker phone and mic it like you would a guitar amp or anything else. Always worked great for me.
The radio shack thing sucks because the person you call is always recorded quieter than you are. I don't know why but I tried one and thats what always happened.
The speaker phone method always worked pretty good in my experience. We should all be pretty good at micing speakers, right?

[dave@soundmind]

I use the radio shack thing, and it does have a bunch of humm. It works quite a bit better if you connect it to an instrument input or di box and compress the f''' out of it. Overall, it sucks and i'm looking for an alternate solution.

I've tried recording with a voice modem but the drivers seemed to only be 8 bit which sounded horrible. Not to mention the software that would support it's recording destroyed my OS.

The unit that blue bear linked looks really cool.

I just remembered a friend of mine telling me that what we need is called a "phone patch".

check out these old units

http://search.ebay.com/search/search...ty=MetaEndSort