Recording Phone Interviews as Podcasts

podcasting tips for travel bloggers
Updated: Apr 3rd, 2010

While we are all travel “writers”, you may also want to consider adding podcast interviews to your repertoire.

Or even if you don’t want to use these recordings to publish on your site it is a great way to have a record of your conversation to listen to again as you write your article.

There are many ways to do this, but the method that I have found works best is using a headset with Skype to conduct the phone call, Pamela to record the conversation, and Audacity as the audio editor.

The best part about this setup is that it is extremely cheap and flexible.

Headset:

I purchased the Everyman headset from Skype for $22.95. At this price, I didn’t expect much, but was pleasantly surprised. Skype also offers several other models with prices ranging from $40-$60 and I am sure you can spend even more than that if you want. For my (and likely your) purposes, the Everyman is excellent and works very well for phone interviews.

Skype:

Free for Skype-to-Skype, or $0.021 / per minute for US domestic calls, or $2.95 per month for unlimited calling to Canada and United States. For those of us doing International calling, the unlimited subscription is only $12.95 per month (per minute charges vary widely – see http://www.skype.com/prices/callrates/ for more information).

Pamela:

After trying several ways to record a Skype conversation, I settled on Pamela. For those of us completely cash strapped, there is a “basic” version of Pamela that is limited to 15 minutes of recording time, a 30-min version for $14.95 and then the “Professional” version for $29.95 that is unlimited and includes a variety of other functions to aid in podcasting. http://www.pamela.biz/en/

Audacity:

Audacity seems to be the de facto standard for free audio editors right now, and it is more than sufficient if you are looking to take the file you just recorded in Pamela and edit it into segments, compress it, or add additional pieces of audio such as an intro, advertisements, or a conclusion.

Audacity is also an audio recorder if you want to produce those audio ads, or add narrations to your podcast.

~James

Are you creating podcasts? Share your advice!

About James Hills 2 Articles

James Hills is the creator of ManTripping.com, a destination for guys looking for awesome mancation and guys weekend travel ideas. He started Man Tripping while working with two other niche travel websites and discovered that while there was tons of stuff for "moms" and "women" there was nothing out there for men. So he started one!

In addition to being an avid writer, a lover of trying new things, and helping people find new ways of doing business, James runs a social media and PR agency in Chicago, mhn PR & Internet Marketing.

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9 Comments

  1. I just started using Skype for podcast interviews, and I’m thrilled that I’m no longer making trips to Radio Shack to find cords and gadgets to connect my phone and computer (and that was just a few years ago).

    Like blogging has done for travel writing, podcasting has opened “broadcasting” to a new set of producers and audiences.

    Thanks for the post… and for anyone thinking about giving podcasting a whirl – go for it!
    .-= Corey T´s last blog post: Irish Government Acquires Irish Fireside Podcast and Blog =-.

  2. I got Supertintin for Skype and found it worked great – for 29.95 I can record calls of an unlimited length. (http://www.supertintin.com)

    I “tried” to record a conference call but couldn’t get quality sound via Skype. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

  3. for those who are on a Mac I recommend CallRecorder to record Skype. It is simple to record and reliable. There is some post processing because it records as a .mov file which you and your caller on seperate tracks.

  4. Thanks for the great advice. We’re looking to add podcasts to our marketing strategy and your advice is much appreciated.

  5. For Skype recording best solution is using IMCapture.Allows to customize output quality. (stis software also has autorecording function)

  6. Great tip – I actually think that having callers on separate tracks is a huge plus – since you can edit multiple tracks at the same time in Audacity…..one of the issues I’ve had is that not all of the callers voices were at the same levels or quality – it’s tough to edit them when they’re on the same track. Thanks!

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