pinback wrote:AArdvark wrote:Sounds like you had a lot of fun, when is the weekly podcast going up again?
I very much want to do this, or something like this.
Can someone tell me how to do this
You need the following: Audacity to edit sound files; LAME to create MP3s; FileZilla to do FTP; and a microphone or headset with microphone. I'll go over all of these.
Get a copy of Audacity from
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/ and install it. It's a free, open-source application to create and edit audio files. It will create WAV and OGG vorbis files. You are able to edit audio files as easily as you'd edit text. You select a particular part of the audio stream with the mouse, then you can perform actions on that part, such as fade, blank out, or cut/copy/paste. One use can be to delete long strings of dead air, mistakes, or pauses such as uh, ahm, um etc.
Audacity has a hook for creating MP3 files but for technical reasons it does not include MP3 creation out of the box. (See the next paragraph.)
Get a copy of LAME, the MP3 encoder from
http://lame.sourceforge.net/ and the file it will provide is called lame_enc.dll. The creating of MP3s is subject to a patent by Fraunhaufer Institute so Audacity only includes hooks to an MP3 encoder, it does not actually do MP3 encoding itself. Since the user - you - puts the MP3 encoder in, the makers of Audacity are not violating the patent.
Copy the lame_enc.dll file either to the directory where Audacity is installed or along the path, typically to WINDOWS\SYSTEM32, and then Audacity can create MP3 files. If it can't find that dll, you will have to tell Audacity - the first time only - where it is. The rest of the time it will know where it is and will handle it automatically.
If you don't have FileZilla, get it from
http://filezilla-project.org/ and you use it to upload the MP3 files you used Audacity to create to your system via the FTP protocol. Then you can just put up a page and list your MP3 files that are downloadable and let people pick them up.
You should have a microphone or a headset with microphone (if you've seen some of my earliest videos I'm wearing a headset with a mike), and then you can just record whatever you're going to say.
If you want to record off a cell phone you need a phone tape recorder - I saw one used in the movie
Taken - I used to own one. It allows you to insert the recorder into the conversation stream, it plugs into the headset jack and the phone headset plugs into it. Radio Shack sells them for about $30. I always had "interference" problems when I'd try to use it, I'd often get background "hum," but other people may have better results.
To record off a land-line you either need a portable phone with a headset socket, and you can capture off that with a jack-jack cable (an audio cable with a plug on each end), plug one end into the phone, the other end into either the microphone or the line-in socket on your computer, whichever works best. Otherwise you need a suction-cup microphone to stick on the back of the phone to capture the conversation.
Audacity can be told to record either from the microphone or from Line In. They just updated it to version 2, there are some new features I haven't looked at yet, it may have fixed the problem where it stopped being able to record the stream going to the speakers. (Very useful for capturing stream audio such as when I recorded your show.)
Note on recording telephone conversations:
The person on the other end of the conversation may need to be informed if you're going to record the conversation depending on where you are at. If your state does not have a rule, Federal law controls and the federal law only requires any party to the conversation to consent (this is called the "one party" rule. Several of the states in your area require everyone on the conversation to consent (sometimes called the "two party" rule.) Linda Tripp got in trouble over this when she recorded phone calls with Monica Lewinsky because Tripp was here in Maryland which is an all-party consent state. Had she been in DC or Virginia she wouldn't have had a problem, they are one-party states.
This is why a business you call that has you on hold will mention your conversation may be monitored or recorded, this way you know what they are doing. The alternative to notification is a "beep" tone every 15 seconds.
I'll cover the general area around you. California, Nevada and Washington require all parties to be informed or consent to the recording. Oregon and Arizona only require any party to the conversation to consent (since you're a party, presumably you consented to the recording by making the recording.)
So if you're in California you have to let them know or get their okay to record them over the phone; in Oregon you do not.
