1. How to Audiotape a Conference Call

Transcription

1 Passive Revenue For Coaches Lesson #9. Mechanics of taping and hosting RealAudio files Page 1 of 8 Lesson #9 Theme for this week is RealAudio e courses from your TeleClasses Mechanics of taping and hosting RealAudio files pdf version past lessons change address coachville.com typo ale Dear Coach... with thomas leonard Please note: This lesson is not yet complete. I've just purchased a supposedly clever computer/audio recording device and software from dynametrics.com but haven't got it tested yet. Hopefully this week. When I figure it out (my computer guru is stopping by today at 1pm to troubleshoot), I'll update this lesson. But the content below is pretty good, as it is. It's just not complete given the new system I'm testing. Welcome to this lesson By audiotaping your live TeleClasses and converting these tapes to RealAudio files, you'll be turning active revenue (leading TeleClasses) into passive revenue. And if you doubt that people will buy RealAudio versions of your live TeleClasses, let just say that you'll be pleasantly surprised. Here are the steps to creating a RealAudio file yourself. Note that CoachVille does have a commercial service called TeleAudio.com that will do the same thing and even host the RealAudio file for you for 2 years for about $70 per hour taped. But you can also do this process yourself. It may sound a little tricky but it works... SPONSORS Resources below 1. How to audiotape a conference call. 2. How to create a RealAudio file directly from your computer. 1. How to Audiotape a Conference Call Introduction Assuming that you have full permission from all participants on a call, here's how to record the call to a standard cassette recorder. Step 1 Buy a special adapter

2 Passive Revenue For Coaches Lesson #9. Mechanics of taping and hosting RealAudio files Page 2 of 8 Buy a special adapter HelloDirect.com sells an adapter for less than $50. It's item #3698 but isn't visible on their website, but if you call them at HI-HELLO and ask for this product, they'll ship it to you. Step 2 Connect the adapter between your telephone and cassette recorder. One end of the adapter fits into your phone and the other end plugs into the MIC or LINE-IN micro jack of your cassette recorder. (Make certain you have/buy a cassette recorder that HAS a MIC or LINE-IN micro jack. Some don't -- all they have is that built-in microphone. Radio Shack sells a simple cassette recorder with a LINE-IN jack for less than $50.) Step 3 When the call has started, push the record button on your cassette recorder. Your cassette recorder now picks up both sides of the conversation, but your voice (when you're speaking on the call) will be about twice as loud as everyone else's so either hold the phone away from your mouth, or speak softly to equalize. One way around this problem when calling into a conferencing bridge is to use two phones -- one for speaking and other for recording. (Using an extension line doesn't work very well.) Remember, it is generally illegal to record a call without the full knowledge and express permission of everyone on that call. Notes 1. Once you've taped the call on your cassette recorder, you can then plug that machine into your computer and play the tape into RealProducer (from real.com). RealProducer 'captures' the casette as it plays and converts that into a RealAudio file which you can then uploaded to a web server that plays RealAudio files should you want folks at your website to be able to hear this taped call. 2. There is a product for $199 from RadioShack.com called the Soft Call Recorder which is a mini hard drive that records the call onto its mini hard drive. There are cables that connect it with your computer and the specs say you can save/transfer the audio file to your computer's hard drive and/or burn it to a CD, but I've never tried it and the catalog doesn't say which format the audio file is in. 3. Radio Shack also has a product similar to Hello Direct's connector, called Telephone Recording Control, Radio Shack part number for about $20. You may order this online at or call

3 Passive Revenue For Coaches Lesson #9. Mechanics of taping and hosting RealAudio files Page 3 of 8 online at or call to order. 4. See Resource #2 below for how to host/upload the RealAudio file you're creating. Another Option I have a company that has a system that calls into your bridge and records the call to our hard drive/server, converts the file into RealAudio and s you with the URL/link to use at your site. (We host the RealAudio file on our server.) Cost is $69 an hour. Details at 2. How to create a RealAudio file directly from your computer. Before You Start Make Sure You Have A computer that has a built in microphone and/or a plug for a microphone. 2. A microphone with a microplug. Available at any computer store or Radio Shack. Step 1. Download and install RealProducer Basic It's very tricky to find this free version. But if you go to you'll see the link at the bottom of the page. Step 2. Launch RealProducer Basic Please note: The examples below are from RealProducer 7.0. The current version is 8.5 so it might look slightly different than the images below. Step 3. Select 'Record From Media Device' Your microphone is a media device. But if you already have a wav file of your recording, you would select "Record From File" instead because RealProducer would simply convert the wav file into an.rm file (rm stands for RealMedia).

4 Passive Revenue For Coaches Lesson #9. Mechanics of taping and hosting RealAudio files Page 4 of 8 Step 4. Check the box preceding Capture Audio Because you're not capturing video. Step 5. fill in the information requested. This information will display in the Real Player when someone is listening to your clip. Step 6

5 Passive Revenue For Coaches Lesson #9. Mechanics of taping and hosting RealAudio files Page 5 of 8 Step 6. Select single rate for Web Servers This, because the file size will be much smaller, although you'll lose some sound quality, but it's not bad. Step 7. Select 56k Modem That'll be safe.

6 Passive Revenue For Coaches Lesson #9. Mechanics of taping and hosting RealAudio files Page 6 of 8 Step 8. Check Voice Only Unless you're using background music as well. Step 9. Name your file The file should end in.rm, which stands for RealMedia.

7 Passive Revenue For Coaches Lesson #9. Mechanics of taping and hosting RealAudio files Page 7 of 8 Step 10. Insert your microphone in the plug in the computer Cheap mikes run about $20. Better mikes run about $100. Really good mikes run about $500. Fantastic mikes run about $1500. The better mikes have XLR plugs vs the microplug, but I've been able to buy adapters from Radio Shack that let me plug my good mike with XLR plug into my microplug hole in my laptop. Wild. Step 11. Review information and then click play And start speaking. When you're done, click Stop. You can preview what you've created and record over if you wish, until you get it right. Step 11. Upload your.rm file via FTP Now that your recording has been done, you need to transfer the.rm file to your webserver/isp. Most ISPs will

8 Passive Revenue For Coaches Lesson #9. Mechanics of taping and hosting RealAudio files Page 8 of 8 y p play your real media files, but make sure they offer that service in your price plan. We have our ReaAudio and Windows Media files by playstream. It's very affordable. Step 12. Create a link from your web page to the.rm file you just uploaded. This is easy. It will look something like this. ColdCallingForCorpClients-1_ PM.rm Your link will be a lot shorter, probably. There are 4 important sections of the link: Section 1. The first part of the web address of the server... We use playstream.com for our hosting of real media files. Section 2. A special little command that will play the Real Media file... :8080/ramgen/ This little command lets you bypass the cumbersome process of creating something called a ram file which is a pain. Section 3. The second part of the web address of the server... thomasleonard/ in my case, it's my account name at playstream.com Section 4. The file name of the.rm file... ColdCallingForCorpClients-1_ PM.rm Your file name will probably be a lot shorter than this! Just make sure it ends in.rm and you'll be fine. When you're done, it may look something like this Click here to hear my recent class Step 13. Upload and test the html file that contains the link. Test to make sure it works correctly, and you're done! Copyright 2001, CoachVille.com.