VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[PJHawke]

As usual, pardon my ignorance, but......

I notice several posts concerning phone patches, and have priced them at however many hundreds of dollars for a particular model... is the idea to get full product-quality sound thru the POTS line, or just a "good" (better than phone) sound for in-session direction by the client? If a simple transformer can get you into the pots line, and they only need to hear you to give you directions, what are the machinations and benefits of the patch devices? I've seen DIY instrux online, from the absurdly simple jury-rig

http://negativland.com/audiogadgets.html#howto

(that one, I noticed, is probably dangerous because it has no spike protection) to the slightly more complex.

How high-end does a phone patch need to be to offer an actual benefit to a VO's marketability? Advice is appreciated, as I'm pretty new to the audio-techie world in general. I finally located a voice coach in St Louis (she appears to have excellent credentials, I'm psyched), so I know where most of my "disposable" (yeah right) income is going to go for a few months...any cost corner I can cut while building a kit is something I want to consider, but of course if it ain't of a helpful quality, it jist ain't worth it.

Pat

[Bruce]

[mcm]

I'm not necessarily recommending this (simply because I can't always predict where economising is going to hurt), but I have been using a cheap solution from Radio Shack - the little telephone switch gizmo with a headset and little microphone so that I can stand at my regular mic and talk to the client, and they can direct me. The audio is recorded in the usual fashion. The drawback might be that I can't play the recording back to the client. This hasn't come up yet, and I haven't had much call for the patch.

I bought the thing in the first place, way last year, so that I could get VO training over the phone and record both sides of the conversation onto cassette. Then last month I got a call from a new client and we made arrangements to do a spot and then he said "by the way I need to be able to direct you. " So I had a day or two to come up with something and that's what I used. The way it's set up right now I'm only recording my side of the conversation, because only my studio mic is actually recording - the telephone conversation is not relevant to the recording if that makes sense.

I've used the patch once since then. It works great for what I've needed it for so far.

[Frank F]

Mary, My Lady - you are so-o-o-o right again. Phone Patches which are simple, are the best. The ones which cost an arm and a leg - well, they work.

I use a Phone Patch to record conversations FROM the phone line for a certain client. I have both the expensive and the in-expensive. Most of the time... I use the cheap variety.

If your cleint is not interested in "real-time" record on THEIR end (i.e.: ISDN), then the phone patch is the next best answer for the client to direct your session... the limitations, quality - low (phone quality is not wonderful), to have the client hear the playback you need to work with either your spakers and hold the phone near them, or have a system where it can playback through your mixer and then down the phone line to the client... hassle, but it works.

The next step which is forthcoming is the VOIP Phone Patch session, using the standard G.722 codec or the new standard available only through some VOIP connections - .mp4 (.m4a). There are VOIP connections using Asterisk (a specific protocol for VOIP) which have the capability to utilize the standard .mp3 and .mp2 codecs now used by ISDN, however they are limited in quantity.

O.K., so the VOIP solution is to do what Telos has just done, come up with an .mp4 codec which works. It is currently in the works, rollout in 2006 (2nd quarter). Until then, use the standard PhonePatch to allow your clients the ability to listen-in and direct your session, or real-time codecs such as AudioTX Communitcator, or Musicam, or ... via ISDN. Many of these now offer an IP solution for sending VO's via the internet in a two way mode... the catch at present - you both must own the same system to make it work - - - the bottom line is $$$$ cold $ $ $ hard $ $ $ $ cash.

Frank F

[Charlie Channel]