VOIP usable as a phone patch ?

[bigmouthmedia]

Just recently someone introduced me to Skype for VO sessions - it's damn easy - you just switch the audio output from the internal system to the USB Box (mine's an Edirol), and all that's fed through my system goes to the listener on Skype, and I just loop the output from the computer speakers to a small earset and i can hear them clear as a bell.

But.....if i was on a VOIP system, is there any way of treating that like a phone patch in any way ? Considering you can't use your conventional phone leads in/out, is there a way of tapping the system so you could monitor them while they monitor you recording directly via the computer/USB audio box ?

[Paul Plack]

I use a separate computer for Skype, (my laptop,) and connect it just as I would a phone patch. I use a mixer, so I have a little more flexibility than USB boxes, but I'm not sure why the same connections you'd use for a patch wouldn't work.

(Skype wants to use whatever is defined as your "mic" input, and I have that input muted on my record machine, because I use the analog line input fed by the mixer.)

In my case, I use one of the mixer's aux sends to create a mix-minus to feed the mic input of my laptop, and route the laptop's headphone output back into a channel input on the mixer. I can assign the audio coming in from Skype to either my headphones only, as you would when taking direction remotely, or actually include it in the mix, which I do for interviewing.

Here's a brief sample of a recent podcast interview I recorded using Skype. I'm not sure you'll be able to tell in a 128K stereo MP3, but the quality on the guest can be as good as a G.722 ISDN connection if he has a decent mic (and knows how to use it.) Audio latency is less than a high-quality ISDN path. It's certainly plenty good enough for directing a session.

This guest is using a $40 Logitech boom headset. I panned this one about 4 dB left/right, to make it a little more interesting to listen to, since the file was spec'd for delivery in stereo anyway.

[Paul Plack]

Paul, I just re-read your question...what VoIP service are you using or considering?

Skype is a VoIP app, but if you're talking about a dedicated VoIP telephone service to which you would normally hook a telephone, you can hook it up the same way to an ordinary hybrid phone patch. (With telephone-like audio quality, of course.)

I had VoIP phone service from Comcast, the local cable TV provider here, and the frequency response was superior to a traditional landline. The two big downsides were unreliability, and severe, distrating distortion on voice peaks if the caller was loud.

[bigmouthmedia]

Maybe a separate phone later on, but honestly - I did a Skype VO session between myself and two producers (both in different locations in the UK) - and it went a treat....edited and debreathed within 1 hour :)

I feed my USB box on the Mac to the Skype output, and plug a cable between the headphone output of the Mac into a sub channel on my mixer so i only have one headphone to wear, and it was pretty bloody good :)

[Paul Plack]

Great! Glad to hear it worked out.

I feed my laptop for Skype using an aux send from my mixer, and people at the other end say they had no idea Skype could sound that good. Most have only heard cheapo computer boom headsets.

I love having one-button capability to either feed the other party only to my headphones for direction, or to the mix, either in mono or split-track.

Computer-to-computer, Skype sounds terrific.

[merva]

Originally Posted by bigmouthmedia

Just recently someone introduced me to Skype for VO sessions - it's damn easy - you just switch the audio output from the internal system to the USB Box (mine's an Edirol), and all that's fed through my system goes to the listener on Skype, and I just loop the output from the computer speakers to a small earset and i can hear them clear as a bell.

But.....if i was on a VOIP system, is there any way of treating that like a phone patch in any way ? Considering you can't use your conventional phone leads in/out, is there a way of tapping the system so you could monitor them while they monitor you recording directly via the computer/USB audio box ?

hi,
there is a phone patch named "rylwy" that connect land line and cell phone to skype.
you can use both lines as an extention via skype.
the link is:

http://rylwy.com/
daniel

[Jacoby]

I use Skype as a phone patch exactly how Poul does. As for using an all VoIP-line, I have no hands-on experience.

[Yog-Sothoth]

I also use Skype as a phone patch. I just figured out that with a setup that includes both internal and external interfaces, it is not necessary to use a second computer/laptop... use the internal interface for Skype and the external one for recording and playing back takes for the client.

[alkis]

Hi,

This is a new phone patch to skype that divert landline and cell phone for

free to skype free. the name is "rylwy"

http://rylwy.com/

your incoming calls from your landline and cell phone will follow you for

free anywhere you travel, to another skype connection.

[chucktaylor]

Not the type of phone patch we're talking about here but thanks for the info anyway.

Originally Posted by alkis

Hi,

This is a new phone patch to skype that divert landline and cell phone for

free to skype free. the name is "rylwy"

http://rylwy.com/

your incoming calls from your landline and cell phone will follow you for

free anywhere you travel, to another skype connection.