Recording phone audio ...

[Jeff Rambo]

Does anyone out there know of any cheaper solutions than the Gentner SPH10 ($430-$450) price wise, yet effective quality regarding getting my phone interviews for an online talk radio show into a mixer (Mackie 1202VLZ Pro)? I already tried the $3.95 Radio Shack Telephone Pickup Suction cup and it doesn't work ... since the quality is poor, it doesn't even stick to the phone ... and it only records the convo into the file ... it doesn't provide a cross where my voice also would go into the phone ... so I'm looking for something reasonably priced ($50-$250) that won't put me over the top like the Gentner is going to do. However if there isn't anything out there I will sacrifice better sound quality on my phone interviews for a higher price tag ... but I'm sure you can relate to where I'm coming from having to price cringe.

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Someone on the About.com Home Recording forums suggested a device from Markertech that he said was $40 that would work as well as the Gentner for picking up phone interviews ... but I've tried going to the link he gave me (www.markertech.com) and it says Under Construction, and I looked up the registrar info and it doesn't appear to be registered to a company ... so does anyone know about them? And where I can find there website? Or at what stores (online or off, if off ... in the Los Angeles area) can I find this product? If no info on this ... then back to the above question regarding the proper equipment for getting the audio (mines) into the phone and outta the phone (theirs) into the mixer.

 

[Diragor]

I'd go searching for spy/surveillance equipment websites - they have good devices for recording phone conversations. Here's one I just turned up: http://spycompany.com/teletap.htm . Towards the bottom there's $40 device that looks like it would do the job. It connects between the handset and base of the phone, so you'll need a corded phone and a 1/8" mini-plug to 1/4" adapter for running the audio output into a mixer.