Best way to record voice mail? at DVinfo.net

Nick Medrano · April 15th, 2006, 03:33 PM

Hello folks,
I had some guy do the voice mail greeting for my home office phone number and played it off my computer speakers into the phone's speaker. However, it sucks....lots of background noise even though I try to make it as quiet as possible.

Does anyone know of any better ways to get cleaner audio or even audio directly into the phone's speaker? What about pressing a headphone into the phone's speaker?

Just wondering how it normally is done.....thanks.

Buddy Frazer · April 15th, 2006, 06:12 PM

Depending on your phone, you can sometimes tap into the phones earphone connection. Run that into your recorder. Earphone jacks are very common on cell phones, but some cordless land-line phones have them, too.

Buddy

Glenn Davidson · April 15th, 2006, 06:43 PM

Use a good pair of headphones like the Sony 7506, (maybe you can borrow a pair from a friend) hold one cup against the phone's mouth piece and play back the audio at relatively low level. It will be a very clean transfer. I do this a lot when I need to preview something I am working to a client over the phone.

Jared Silvia · April 17th, 2006, 09:45 AM

something like this unit - http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2104040 will give you decent results, providing you can dial into your voice mail from a landline.

Dan Brown · April 17th, 2006, 11:23 AM

JK Audio - InLine Patch. It connnects between the telephone and the wall jack and gives you a stereo line level output (among other I/O), with the line on the left channel and the telephone mic on the right channel. It is a very fine product for recording telephone commmunications.

Tim Gray · April 17th, 2006, 11:56 AM

I actually recorded a voicemail of a cell phone with a senn MKH 50 pointed at the ear piece of the phone (in a quiet room). Came out sounding pretty good - sounds like its from a phone, but it fits the mood.

I did need a lot of gain on the mic pre, but the 722 didn't let me down.

Nick Medrano · April 17th, 2006, 09:39 PM

Guys,
I purchased a $15 stereo from Radioshack today and used it to playback the audio from my MP3 file into the phone's speaker.....man.....bad idea. Coudln't even get it to play loud enough so the phone can pick it up.

Scratch that idea.

I'll try the other ideas you guys had. Thanks!

J. Stephen McDonald · April 18th, 2006, 03:16 AM

I think what Nick wants to do is send a recorded voice into his phone, not take anything out of the phone. He apparently wants to record this voice onto his phone's answering greeting, to be heard by those who call him.

A phone that had a headset jack might do the job. The headset has a microphone and plugs into such a phone. If the voice coming from the computer's audio output could be matched in its level to a mike output and the connections adapted to fit, this might work. Perhaps the computer output could be re-recorded onto some audio device that could be better at facilitating this transfer. The phone's output circuit to the headphones of a headset, might be ignored in the headset jack. A line connection with an attenuator might allow the audio output to be brought down to a mike-output level or the headset jack might not be very fussy about the level of an input. Play around with combinations of these ideas and a solution might be found.

Steve House · April 18th, 2006, 04:56 AM

You need to send a line level out down the phone line. Make up a little patch cord from a piece of telephone cable and a spare mono mini-plug and a couple bucks worth of parts from Radio Shack. You need a 600 ohm transformer, part 273-1069, a 0.1 micofarad capacitor and a bit of perf board to hold them. Connect the green wire in the phone cable through the capacitor to the end of one of the windings on the transformer and the red wire to the other end. Use a bit of audio cable to connect the plug to the other winding. Use a "Y" jack like you use for an answering machine to connect it and your telephone to the wall. Plug it into your headphone jack or line out on your playback recorder. Call your voice mail service and rock and roll.

Samuel Birkan · April 18th, 2006, 06:02 AM

As Dan Brown mentioned "JK Audio" is the company for this kind of problem, most of their products are designed to interface pro audio with telephones. I have used their "That 1" many times to put professional voices on various voicemail/ACD systems.
see here - http://www.jkaudio.com/that-1.htm. I believe there is something similar from Radio Shack but you get what you pay for.

Dan Brown · April 18th, 2006, 07:36 AM

The In-Line Patch also has a "send" input with level adjustment knob that allows you to couple any line level source into the telphone line.

The JK Audio products are perfect for this kind of work, and they are reasonably priced too.

Steve House · April 18th, 2006, 08:11 AM

Agreed, a commercial phone patch is better - but for a one time deal, $10 at the Radio Snak is hard to beat

Nate Ford · April 18th, 2006, 10:08 AM

symetrix used to make a good phone interface. they no longer make them, but they show up at reasonable prices on ebay from time to time.

April 15th, 2006, 03:33 PM	#1
Nick Medrano Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 331	Best way to record voice mail? Hello folks, I had some guy do the voice mail greeting for my home office phone number and played it off my computer speakers into the phone's speaker. However, it sucks....lots of background noise even though I try to make it as quiet as possible. Does anyone know of any better ways to get cleaner audio or even audio directly into the phone's speaker? What about pressing a headphone into the phone's speaker? Just wondering how it normally is done.....thanks.

April 15th, 2006, 06:43 PM	#3
Glenn Davidson Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Nevada City, California Posts: 499	Use a good pair of headphones like the Sony 7506, (maybe you can borrow a pair from a friend) hold one cup against the phone's mouth piece and play back the audio at relatively low level. It will be a very clean transfer. I do this a lot when I need to preview something I am working to a client over the phone. Last edited by Glenn Davidson; April 16th, 2006 at 12:17 PM.

April 17th, 2006, 11:23 AM	#5
Dan Brown Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Fort Worth, Texas Posts: 235	JK Audio - InLine Patch. It connnects between the telephone and the wall jack and gives you a stereo line level output (among other I/O), with the line on the left channel and the telephone mic on the right channel. It is a very fine product for recording telephone commmunications. __________________ dB

April 18th, 2006, 03:16 AM	#8
J. Stephen McDonald Major Player Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Eugene, Oregon Posts: 909	I think what Nick wants to do is send a recorded voice into his phone, not take anything out of the phone. He apparently wants to record this voice onto his phone's answering greeting, to be heard by those who call him. A phone that had a headset jack might do the job. The headset has a microphone and plugs into such a phone. If the voice coming from the computer's audio output could be matched in its level to a mike output and the connections adapted to fit, this might work. Perhaps the computer output could be re-recorded onto some audio device that could be better at facilitating this transfer. The phone's output circuit to the headphones of a headset, might be ignored in the headset jack. A line connection with an attenuator might allow the audio output to be brought down to a mike-output level or the headset jack might not be very fussy about the level of an input. Play around with combinations of these ideas and a solution might be found. __________________ Steve McDonald https://onedrive.com/?cid=229807ce52dd4fe0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/22121562@N00/ http://www.vimeo.com/user458315/videos

April 18th, 2006, 04:56 AM	#9
Steve House Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Posts: 5,742	You need to send a line level out down the phone line. Make up a little patch cord from a piece of telephone cable and a spare mono mini-plug and a couple bucks worth of parts from Radio Shack. You need a 600 ohm transformer, part 273-1069, a 0.1 micofarad capacitor and a bit of perf board to hold them. Connect the green wire in the phone cable through the capacitor to the end of one of the windings on the transformer and the red wire to the other end. Use a bit of audio cable to connect the plug to the other winding. Use a "Y" jack like you use for an answering machine to connect it and your telephone to the wall. Plug it into your headphone jack or line out on your playback recorder. Call your voice mail service and rock and roll. __________________ Good news, Cousins! This week's chocolate ration is 15 grams!

April 15th, 2006, 06:12 PM	#2
Buddy Frazer Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Addison (Dallas) Texas Posts: 88	Depending on your phone, you can sometimes tap into the phones earphone connection. Run that into your recorder. Earphone jacks are very common on cell phones, but some cordless land-line phones have them, too. Buddy

April 17th, 2006, 09:45 AM	#4
Jared Silvia New Boot Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 23	something like this unit - http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2104040 will give you decent results, providing you can dial into your voice mail from a landline.

April 17th, 2006, 11:56 AM	#6
Tim Gray Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Media, PA Posts: 144	I actually recorded a voicemail of a cell phone with a senn MKH 50 pointed at the ear piece of the phone (in a quiet room). Came out sounding pretty good - sounds like its from a phone, but it fits the mood. I did need a lot of gain on the mic pre, but the 722 didn't let me down.

April 17th, 2006, 09:39 PM	#7
Nick Medrano Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 331	Guys, I purchased a $15 stereo from Radioshack today and used it to playback the audio from my MP3 file into the phone's speaker.....man.....bad idea. Coudln't even get it to play loud enough so the phone can pick it up. Scratch that idea. I'll try the other ideas you guys had. Thanks!

April 18th, 2006, 06:02 AM	#10
Samuel Birkan Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Cincinnati Ohio Posts: 79	As Dan Brown mentioned "JK Audio" is the company for this kind of problem, most of their products are designed to interface pro audio with telephones. I have used their "That 1" many times to put professional voices on various voicemail/ACD systems. see here - http://www.jkaudio.com/that-1.htm. I believe there is something similar from Radio Shack but you get what you pay for.

April 18th, 2006, 07:36 AM	#11
Dan Brown Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Fort Worth, Texas Posts: 235	The In-Line Patch also has a "send" input with level adjustment knob that allows you to couple any line level source into the telphone line. The JK Audio products are perfect for this kind of work, and they are reasonably priced too. __________________ dB

April 18th, 2006, 08:11 AM	#12
Steve House Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Posts: 5,742	Agreed, a commercial phone patch is better - but for a one time deal, $10 at the Radio Snak is hard to beat __________________ Good news, Cousins! This week's chocolate ration is 15 grams!

April 18th, 2006, 10:08 AM	#13
Nate Ford Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: new york, ny Posts: 121	symetrix used to make a good phone interface. they no longer make them, but they show up at reasonable prices on ebay from time to time.