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</head><body><p>We haven't found Skype 'thin' as long as decent mics are used - the low end of the sound is pretty much as rich as normal. Skype's frequency response seems pretty flat from about 50Hz to 8kHz, which is perfectly good for normal voice work. </p><p>For good quality OBs we use an AKG mic or good radio mic through a USB interface to a laptop running Skype to a broadband connection - using a smart phone is handy and works, but they don't seem to achieve the same quality with Skype - maybe the mobile Skype app automatically selects lower bandwidth/lighter processing options for mobile devices, I don't know.<br></p><p>You're right about dropouts on Skype, but that is why I mentioned making sure a reasonably fast PC is used - we found a lot of the dropout on some systems was actually down to the relatively heavy processing demands of Skype, and not so many of the glitches were down to internet transients. This is especially true if you're using a Skype conference call for a multi-way interview - the processing load on the PC 'hosting' the call rises dramatically as you add additional callers. Of course there still are glitches, but not usually enough to be unacceptable in an OB.<br></p><p><span class="st">Alex<br></span></p><p><br></p><blockquote type="cite"><!-- [if gte mso 9]> --><!-- <![endif] --><!-- [if gte mso 9]> --><!-- <![endif] -->On 03 October 2016 at 13:12 Richard Berry <richard.berry@sunderland.ac.uk> wrote:<br><br><div class="ox-fd968c3246-Section1"><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #1f497d;">We’ve used Skype for a few things on a mobile. You’ll need either an iRig or headset splitter (about £5 from Amazon etc) to hook up the microphone and still use headphones. It’s fine for a few links, but I wouldn’t do anything extensive as the bandwidth is quite narrow so it sounds thin compared to something via a dedicated system like IPDTL, cleanfeed.net or source-connect (https://now.source-elements.com). The last 2 both offer free options and we’ve had good results out of them for OB’s and down-the-line interviews. The thing to remember about Skype is that it is a VOIP product for consumers, and so will drop out rather than buffer audio; whereas a product aimed at radio will buffer or adjust sample rates to make sure something gets through intact. </span></p><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #1f497d;"> </span></p><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #1f497d;">It’s great to see so many ideas here. </span></p><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #1f497d;"> </span></p><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #1f497d;">Best wishes to all </span></p><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #1f497d;"> </span></p><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #1f497d;">Richard</span></p><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #1f497d;">Spark FM, Sunderland</span></p><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #1f497d;"> </span></p><div><div style="border: none; border-top: solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt; padding: 3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm;"><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: windowtext;">From:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; color: windowtext;"> cma-l-bounces@mailman.commedia.org.uk [mailto:cma-l-bounces@mailman.commedia.org.uk] <strong>On Behalf Of </strong>Mike Davison<br> <strong>Sent:</strong> 02 October 2016 20:24<br> <strong>To:</strong> The Community Media Association Discussion List<br> <strong>Subject:</strong> Re: [cma-l] Remote Contribution Infrastructure</span></p></div></div><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"> </p><p>I was hoping someone would mention Skype. We have three kits for live interviewing as bi-lateral operation.</p><p>They are affectionately known as THB1,2 and 3. THB stands for 'Talking Hand-Bag'.</p><p>THB1 is just a simple mobile 'phone with 12volt Yuasa battery powering a car kit in a bag with sockets for mic and headphones. Quality just tolerable but it was a start and simple to use. One of our technophobe volunteers likes it.</p><p>THB2 is a HP Netbook with 3G dongle in a Maplin flight case and sockets for mic and headphones. It is used with Skype only for interviewing.</p><p>THB3 is a Windows phone clamped on a board with notepad and a 3rd party adapter to feed headphones and take a mic. It can be used on Skype or as a mobile accepting a quality reduction if internet connection not good.</p><p>THB2 is also pressed into service for unilateral use on full remote OB operation using Windows Media Encoder streaming directly over the internet to studio where a PC runs WinMedia Player. We have done 4 hour OB's with no glitches being observed on a CD quality stereo link. The down side of using this 'free' software is a 7-8second delay but that's easily covered up.</p><p>Mike Davison, Tempo FM.</p><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"> </p><div><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal">On 02/10/2016 16:16, Two Lochs Radio wrote:</p></div><blockquote><p>We've done numerous on the fly OBs - generally just using a laptop with ICEcast or similar over public internet, with complete success - all it needs is a reasonable broadband connection (we have no 3G let alone 4G within 50 miles!). But that's strictly for one-way work, with the whole show originated at the far end.</p><p>For really occasional two-way work not needing music from the far end we use Skype - as long as a decent microphone and reasonably powerful PC is used, the quality of Skype nowadays is remarkably good. Of course for really on the fly work you can use a smartphone running Skype for the remote end (and there are some quite high quality proprietary solutions for smartphones).</p><p>For high-quality low-latency interviews and two-way shows we used to use ISDN, but once a regularly weekly two-way show finished we couldn't justify the couple of hundred pounds a quarter for the line rental just for occasional use.</p><p>Alex</p><p>(PS if anybody would like to buy two AudioTX ISDN licences we could talk!).</p><blockquote><p>On 02 October 2016 at 12:17 Callum McLean <a href="mailto:mail@callum-mclean.co.uk"> <mail@callum-mclean.co.uk></a> wrote:<br> <br> <br> I was thinking about the Barix kit, but I didn't get the impression<br> that it was going to be robust enough... <br> <br> Good to know that other people have used the PS-kit successfully - and<br> cheers for the heads-up about potentially high latency in the MP3<br> format! Was hoping not to go down the MP3 route in any case, but still<br> good to know...<br> <br> Good shout about using SIP to negotiate the connection - will look into<br> it!<br> <br> Has anyone used this sort of kit in a flyaway environment - i.e. not in<br> installations? Typically, this is the sort of thing where most people<br> might use a) an ISDN line; b) a flyaway sat connection; c) a bonded 4G<br> link. We *were* going to go down the multiple-carrier bonded 4G route,<br> until the cost just became prohibitive for what we want to achieve.<br> <br> Also, to answer Iain's question, we're only using this over the public<br> internet - the plan is to require the venue hosting the OB to provide<br> us with a solid, wired internet connection - protected within their own<br> networking infrastructure, where possible, and then do everything we<br> can to keep latency and bandwidth down whilst retaining audio quality.<br> The only downside with the Sonifex kit is that they don't support<br> encoding in Opus :(<br> <br> Cal McLean<br> <br> --<br> Station Technician // Halton Community Radio 92.3 FM<br> <a href="mailto:mail@callum-mclean.co.uk">mail@callum-mclean.co.uk</a><br> <br> <br> _______________________________________________<br> <br> Reply - <a href="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk">cma-l@commedia.org.uk</a><br> <br> The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - <a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk">http://www.commedia.org.uk</a><br> Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/community_media">http://twitter.com/community_media</a><br> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation">http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation</a><br> Canstream Internet Radio & Video: <a href="http://www.canstream.co.uk/">http://www.canstream.co.uk/</a><br> _______________________________________________<br> <br> Mailing list guidelines: <a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/"> http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/</a><br> _______________________________________________<br> <br> To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:<br> <a href="http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l">http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l</a><br></p></blockquote><p>> <a href="http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l">http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l</a><br></p><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"><br> <br> <br></p><pre>_______________________________________________</pre><pre> </pre><pre>Reply - <a href="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk">cma-l@commedia.org.uk</a><br></pre><pre> </pre><pre>The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - <a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk">http://www.commedia.org.uk</a><br></pre><pre>Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/community_media">http://twitter.com/community_media</a><br></pre><pre><a href="http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation">http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation</a><br></pre><pre>Canstream Internet Radio & Video: <a href="http://www.canstream.co.uk/">http://www.canstream.co.uk/</a><br></pre><pre>_______________________________________________</pre><pre> </pre><pre>Mailing list guidelines: <a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/">http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/</a><br></pre><pre>_______________________________________________</pre><pre> </pre><pre>To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:</pre><pre><a href="http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l">http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l</a><br></pre></blockquote><p class="ox-fd968c3246-MsoNormal"> </p></div></blockquote><p><br> </p><blockquote type="cite">_______________________________________________<br><br>Reply - cma-l@commedia.org.uk<br><br>The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - http://www.commedia.org.uk<br>Twitter: http://twitter.com/community_media<br>http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation<br>Canstream Internet Radio & Video: http://www.canstream.co.uk/<br>_______________________________________________<br><br>Mailing list guidelines: http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/<br>_______________________________________________<br><br>To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:<br>http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l</blockquote></body></html>