Record phone calls in Skype!

[Lyecdevf]

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# 0. Introduction #
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In this tutorial, we will discuss a simple way of recording phone
calls with skype. Why, you may ask. Well, maybe you found a phone
number that has an interesting error message, or maybe you're
planning on doing a simple podcast, and you need a way of recording
the conversation. Whatever the case may be, these simple steps
will get you up and recording with as little pain as possible.

There are two ways you could go about this. Maybe you're recording
completely with skype, in which case, the easiest way to record is
with a second box, by three way the recording box into the skype
conference.

You could also use a phone conference, and call in with a regular
(cell) phone, while also calling in with your recording box.

Either way, here's the basic setup for your skype recording box.

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# 1. Needed Materials #
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(See links at the bottom of the tutorial for download locations)

#0 OS of your choice (I've tested both Windows and Linux)
#1 Skype (Obviously)
#2 Audacity (Or your choice of recording suite)
#3 lame mp3 encoding libraries (Optional)
#4 Either a virtual audio loopback program, or a standard
loopback audio cable (3.5mm). (My personal preference is a
shielded loopback cable [hardware], because none of the
virtual software worked to my likings. As long as your
cable is shielded, the loss of quality will be minimal.)

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# 2. The setup #
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Okay, now that you have all of your software (and hardware) let's
go ahead and get this thing rolling. First of all, plug the
audio cable into your computer. Insert one plug into the
microphone port of your soundcard, and the other end into
the speaker/headphone jack.

At this time, go ahead and configure your sound card settings
to allow input from the microphone. If you're using linux, then
configure the correct "capture" settings with alsaconfig.
If you're using Windows, then open up the volume controls, go
into the input settings, and adjust the microphone settings
accordingly. Also, your output on the speakers should be set
about mid-way... same goes for the microphone.

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# 3. Recording #
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Now, startup audacity. (NOTE: If you're using Linux, then run
Audacity with the following command "aoss audacity".) Adjust
the microphone gain inside the audacity interface. The slider
should be located in the top part of the window.

(NOTE) If you're using Linux, make sure that you download the
latest beta version of skype. This version is setup for alsa
sound as opposed to OSS.

Start skype up, and login to your account. Go into audacity
and click record. Finally, place the call in skype, after
the call is initated, make sure you mute the microphone
from within skype, or you'll have a horrible echo inside
of the conference. The recording won't have an echo, but
recording with the echo is extremely annoying.

By this time, you should have your recording complete.
Hang up, stop recording, and edit the audio file with
audacity. Viola, you have your recording/podcast.

In order to export your recording, you need the lame
mp3 encoding libraries. If your recording was nothing
but voice, you can safely export the audio at anything
from 16kbps on up, without that much quality loss.
The lower the bitrate the smaller the file will be.
If you're going to have people downloading your
recording, I'd recommend either 16kbps or 24 kbps.
These settings can be altered in audacity by going
to Edit -> Preference -> File formats. From there,
you should see MP3 Export properties. Set the bitrate
accordingly, and export your recording.

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# 4. Links #
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1. Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
2. Skype (http://www.skype.com/)
3. Lame (http://lame.sourceforge.net/)

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# 5. Wrap up / Shouts #
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Okay, thanks for making it this far into the tutorial.
Author: stderr (stderr.dev [ at ] gmail . com)
Hopefully this helped you out in some way.

Shouts: xplicit, zipk0der, Venom, exvitel, k0shi,
ahtrum, craqbin, Michelle, and the entire OS crew.

[bad_brain]

oh, sweet....I use Adobe Audition, should also work that way...