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So you want to be a podcast superstar? Well, while this article might not make you a superstar, the aim is to help you record quality audio using Skype. Skype recording can be a tricky, but the benefits far outweigh the time investment it takes to learn. We use it on the Web 2.0 Show podcast to capture our interview audio and it has allowed us to interview some very big names without being in our interviewee’s location. Or running up large phone bills. This article will cover both Mac and Windows based recording techniques, and we will post follow-up articles covering post-production of the audio and how to upload and track your podcast.

Your mic plays a big role in sound quality. This is not an area I would skimp on, the more you can spend, the better the end result will be.

• Budget choice: Any usb headset with inline DSP. Logitech makes a nice Premium USB Headset 350 that works great.
• Ideal choice: The SnowBall
• High end choice: A Marshall MXL990 and a M-audio fast track USB converter.

If you go with either of the Marshall or the Snowball, remember to use a nice set of enclosed headphones to avoid feedback.

One major note before we go on. Be absolutely sure to go into Skype preferences, then connections, and look at the port number. Ensure that port is forwarded from your firewall to your computer running Skype. This will allow direct connections between all the Skype callers, thus improving bandwidth and latency for everyone (and cutting down on the number of audio cutouts).

Mac Skype Recording

So we’ll start with the setup I use most often, the mac setup. I purchased a Mac mini (powerpc) to play around with and decided that podcasting would be a great use for it. After doing some research I found a company called Rogue Amoeba that makes a recording package called Audio Hijack Pro. When you combine its audio “hijack” ability with SoundFlower, you can create a really nice setup.

I have been through many different iterations of this setup and I have found the following works best, as this is the closest to real time monitoring.

1. Install SoundFlower on your Mac, this allows us to input and output sounds from different programs and have it all mix together.
2. Configure Skype output to use SoundFlower (2ch). Skype input will be set to Default System Input or your USB recording device.
3. Setup a new component on AHP to use the SoundFlower (2ch) as the input and set the output to silence.



4. Add a second new component to AHP and set the input to Default System Input or your USB recording device. Choose the output to be silence (You may opt to output the sound to SoundFlower (2ch) and setup a third component to record the mix you have created, then there is no need to mix it later from two files.)



5. Add a third component and set the audio source to Application and choose Skype.



6. Go into each component you created and click on hijack.



7. When you hijack the Skype monitoring component, it will prompt you to ‘instant hijack’ or ‘quit and relaunch’. Just quit and relaunch, it is fairly quick.

Now we will setup the recordings.

1. Go into the first two components and choose the recording tab. Set each one to record to mp3, you can setup the naming however you want. (Mp3 recording is VERY processor intensive and I find it can bring my mac mini to its knees if I try to record two at once. If you find this, be sure to use a different format like Apple lossless or wav.)



2. Start your skype call.
3. Go into the first two components again when you are ready to record. Hit the record button and make sure the red dot shows up next to each (WARNING: This is critical or your audio won’t record… We did this with one episode).



4. Record your interview, you can keep an eye on sound levels on the effects tab of each component. It is important to make sure you are staying under 0 and you don’t make the clip light go red.



5. When you are finished, hit recording again for the two components. You can also stop hijacking the three components and shutdown AudioHijack Pro.

This process will leave you with two seperate mp3 files. You can use any sound editing programs (I use Audacity) to sync them and mix them together. That’s all there is to Mac-based Skype recording.

While writing this article, ecamm released a Mac-based program similar to Hot Recorder, Call Recorder. I haven’t had a chance to play with it, but it looks pretty straightforward.

Windows Skype Recording

Windows-based Skype recording is actually a bit more straight-forward than on the Mac. Hot Recorder is the windows program that handles everything for Skype recording. It is a $15 purchase, and well worth the money if you are doing everything in Windows. The only downside is that it records both sides of the conversation into one file and this can make things more difficult in post-production if your sound levels are way off.

1. Install Hot Recorder and put in your key, the free version will record with limitations, but it can’t convert to mp3.
2. Start your skype call.
3. Bring up Hot Recorder and hit record.



4. When you are finished just hit stop, and fill out the Skype call details. This will name and save your file in an .epl format.
5. Now open up Audio Converter, it is under Program Files in the HotRecorder folder. Browse to your file (C:\program files\HotRecorder\PhoneCalls is the default) and choose mp3. Hit convert. You should see a success message.

Now you should have an mp3 file created in the same spot as the .epl file. Windows Skype recording is much easier to setup, but not as flexible in post-production. That’s all you need to know to create clear, crisp podcasts using Skype. Happy Podcasting!

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