Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Home broadcasting Headaches

So Franc and I went live with some gibberish today, and we actually got a few listeners.

We are working on a big problem. We want to be able to broadcast live while taking phone calls. We have been, obviously, recording the phone interviews fine for about a year. The problem now is that the speakerphones we have been using don't work while the modem is operating. We can hear them, they cannot hear us.

I thought I had such a brilliant idea: have the caller listen in to the station while we talk. What a brilliant perosn I am. HOWEVER! The station has a 5-second delay that we cannot adjust. I thought we could, but we can't. This would cause a slow and boring broadcast that no-one wants to hear.

The person we call hears some of our conversation, but not enough to make it meaningful. So I'm on the internet looking through page after page of home recording manuals and message boards about recording phone convos. I know about all kinds of 500 dollar equipment and computer phone hookups and mixers, but everyone still has the same problem.

I need to call some tech heads. But I just want to get this done as low-tech and low cost as possible. Basic is best. Of course, we have a shitty sound card. Of course, our extra sound-blaster stuff doesn't work with XP.

Here's an idea to bounce off myself: does a mixer route a mic into the system, so that I could choose line-in, and talk to people through something like Yahoo Voice Messaging? Or, would I buy a small mixer form a pawn shop, connect the mics to it, connect it to the computer, and again use yahoo or paltalk to interview live? Could I broadcast a paltalk chat without paltalk suing me? I'm thinking a private room, of course.

Anyone know anything about this stuff?

2 comments:

Aaron Kinney said...

Im just about finished getting my Computer Information Systems degree at DeVry University, and even I cant think of any solutions for you other than to throw alot of money at it and buy expensive crap.

But then again, Im not a sound guy.

Rev. Barky said...

Now I know that if I were THERE for a few hours I could come up with a good solution for this - it's just hard to for me to fully understand what your situation is by reading a blog. I spent a few days setting up my music studio last month and I could never explain it accurately without a few diagrams. Unfortunately, with it being summer and starting my new job it isn't being used too much right now.
Maybe I could give you guys a call and see if I can help out...?