With a geographically undesirable partner for your show, traditional methods will certainly limit your ability to get together unless you have both an ISDN line (service and expensive equipment), already own a private jet, or you like spending an obscene amount of time in the car. There is another way. And get ready for this… it is free! You can use Skype in a way that is similar to having your own personal free ISDN line. As I am sure that you already know, Skype is a free computer to computer VOIP system that is really easy to use and gaining quickly in popularity. I was first introduced to using Skype in this way by Leo Laport who has the largest podcasting network and uses this service on his nationally syndicated radio program.

Skype Logo

There are several ways to capture the conversation either with software or external hardware. The most common would be to use a USB headset that comes equipped with a microphone like the Plantronics DPS 400. This device is great for most podcasters and is certainly be a quick and easy solution with great results. There are several software package that are out there that will capture the dialogue and give you an audio file that you can then use a free program like Audacity to add theme music, promos, commercials, announcements, and make edits. The computer you already have, a $50 headset for each participant, a free editing program, and you are there.

That being said, what if you want to step it up a notch? What if you already have a good amount of audio gear and you want to get the most out of it using Skype? This is where the fun begins. Lets say there is a situation where there are three people in three different cities that want to do a high quality podcast. There are two ways this can be accomplished.

The first is that one of the three participants will be in charge of making the recording. This should usually be the one that doing the most talking or is the host of the show. This is because the mic that this person is talking on will go directly to the recording gear at the highest possible quality. Next is to route the two Skype calls to a channel and record them. The two people that are on Skype will be in a conference call and will be able to hear one another just fine. The real trick is to send them your voice without sending their voices back to them creating an endless loop. This kind of mix is called mix-minus. Mix-minus is a particular setup of a mixing console, such that the output to a certain device contains everything except the input from that device. It sounds confusing, and it is… but once you get it straightened out in your head, it really makes perfect sense. In addition to all of that setup, the two people that are not at the base station can really up their quality by using good preamps and microphones that are fed into Skype. This will produce a dramatic improvement over the USB headset mics. I generally recommend a large diaphragm mic like a Shure SM-7, EV RE-20, Heil PR-30 or PR-40, or Sennheiser MD421. I usually do not like the use the condensers in this situation because they pick up a lot of background and room noise. Unless you have a treated room, you will be better off with a  Shure SM57 over a more expensive condenser mic.

Did I mention that there is another way? Indeed I did. If the quality is still not up to par for you with your friends on the Skype end of the line, there is still hope. Have them record their audio from the mics that they are using with no other source material to a track. That track can then be exported and sent to the member that is doing the recording and lined up with the original conversation. This method requires much more time and effort. Some times the files will not add up exactly especially the longer the program. For short shows, there should be much less of a chance for disaster. In this scenario, we have both people from the Skype end sending in full fidelity audio and the mix down would then sound as if all three parties were actually in one room.

Here is a little more to think about. Your Podcast shows will never be send out to the public is high quality wav or aiff files. You will most likely be sending out an MP3 files at 128kb or less. That being said, it will mask some of the quality loss of a Skype call. It really all depends on what your priorities are and how much time that you have to dedicate to your show.