[Air-L] Recording phone interviews

[Michael Klontzas]

Hi Zach,

I tried various combinations including several mobile phone apps that 
are supposed to record phone conversations. There was a great deal of 
inconsistency in quality and reliability depending on the device and app 
recording method. Ideally, the app would be able to capture unprocessed 
audio data internally, rather than through the mic, but depending on the 
OS and the device this is rarely possible. The problem is the apps 
cannot tell without trial and error, and you may find out there was a 
problem after the interview. In the end, for reliability I opted for 
simplicity -- one of the many audio recorder apps that can use the phone 
mic to record a conversation on loudspeaker. The quality is the same as 
that of a telephone conversation. The added advantage is that I can use 
a backup dictaphone. On Android I would recommend Audio Recorder (no 
frills, dependable, and FLOSS) 
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.axet.audiorecorder

Best,
Michael

On 17/07/2020 13:00, Karin Assmann wrote:
> Hi Zach,
> Not sure if this satisfies your need for privacy, but I‘ve used the Skype add-on Ecamm Recorder. It‘s about $30 for a perpetual license and works with Skype and FaceTime.
> I keep a $10 credit on Skype and make the (very inexpensive) call from Skype to any phone (landline or cell). The recorder pops up automatically and I press record after I get consent etc. A file is created locally that can be converted into whatever format you need (mp3, wav ...).
> Works the same way with Facetime calls. You do have to make the calls from your computer since this tool does not exist as a phone app.
> The quality is excellent or rather, as good as the phone connection, but that‘s the case no matter how you do it.
> Hope this helps, good luck.
> Karin
> 
>   
> --
> Karin Assmann, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism
> College of Journalism and Mass Communication
> University of Georgia
> 
> 120 Hooper St.
> Athens, GA 30602
> kba at uga.edu
> c: 202-697-1844
> 
>> On Jul 17, 2020, at 07:37, Nadine Kleine <nkgkleine at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hello Zach,
>>
>> I can second Andrews' suggestion - we are using the method with the
>> in-ear-mic of Olympus and the quality is much better than recording
>> conversations over loudspeaker.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Nadine
>>
>>> Am Fr., 17. Juli 2020 um 13:15 Uhr schrieb Andrew Chadwick <
>>> A.Chadwick at lboro.ac.uk>:
>>>
>>> Hello Zach,
>>>
>>> Probably the best solution is an old-skool hardware phone pickup mic that
>>> you can plug into your own hardware voice recorder/dictaphone. Olympus do
>>> these sorts of things and the new ones work fine with mobile phones.
>>>
>>> Good luck!
>>>
>>> Andy
>>>
>>> • • •
>>> • www.andrewchadwick.com
>>> • www.lboro.ac.uk/research/online-civic-culture-centre
>>> • www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/communication-media
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 17/07/2020, 11:12, "Air-L on behalf of Zach Bastick" <
>>> air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org on behalf of zach.bastick at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>     Hi everyone,
>>>
>>>     Given these times of social distancing, a colleague and I are
>>> conducting
>>>     interviews by telephone. We are looking for solutions to record the
>>>     interviews locally (so that we can transcribe them), but also maintain
>>> the
>>>     privacy of the interviewees. We have considered various options (from
>>>     conducting the interview over loudspeaker with a recorder next to it,
>>> to
>>>     using Google Voice, to using subscription services). We have decided
>>>     against services that ‘join’ the call as a conference call participant
>>> and
>>>     send you the recording because we would like to maintain full control
>>> over
>>>     the recorded data (again, for ethical reasons). So, we were wondering
>>> what
>>>     the experience of the community here has been. Are there any recent and
>>>     reliable tools that people here are using? What have you found to work
>>> well?
>>>
>>>     Thanks!
>>>
>>>     Zach
>>>
>>>     Dr. Zach Bastick
>>>     Postdoctoral Researcher in Political Science
>>>     European School of Political Science, France
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