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Faced with a moving chef in a busy kitchen unable to answer tedious questions on the rising cost of food in New York, I learn how to record a phone conversation on Skype. Now you can too.

Published on 13/11/08
by Collin

New media publishing requires being able to plan, source, edit and upload with speed. Yadda yadda. If you’re new at this or like me, you’ll often have this awesome photo slideshow only to lament your lame audio actuals. While, it’s not ideal, you can bolster your slideshow or even your video by calling your source on Skype. You can record the conversation with software like, Audio Hijack and then mix the new actuals over the images.

To make this work, you should be sure that you always record ambient sound while reporting and be familiar with something like Audacity or other sound editing software.

Here’s the how to record phone conversations on Skype:

  1. First, plan story.
  2. Then go take photos.
  3. Be sure to record ambient when you get there, as you won’t get this chance again. Record ambient sound from where ever you get your actuals from.
  4. Get as many actuals as your storyboard requires.
  5. Go home and edit. Realize you’re missing material. Doh.
  6. Open Audio Hijacks. Then open Skype. (Only this order works. You’ll be prompted to quit Skype if you reverse order.) Ready? Test. Then call sources and explain. I’m fully honest that I’m laying this new audio over the “older” slideshow. I even ask that they imagine that they are back at the scene. If this is unethical, let me know.
  7. Once you’ve got your material. Edit it. Use Audacity’s noise removal feature to help get rid of the phone tone.
  8. Lay your actuals over the ambient sound you recorded. Tweak accordingly.
  9. Once you’ve got your clips. Export as .WAV and insert into slideshow. Voila.

Maybe Google’s new video chat will warrant a new post about how to record online conversations, but for now, Audio Hijack seems to do the trick. Bummer is, you gotta pay $32 for the software. If you’re reluctant to cough up the cash, then consider this free stuff and other options.

This is the resulting video in its rough cut form:

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