How to Use Skype & Pamela Software to Record Your Podcast

Transcription

1 How to Use Skype & Pamela Software to Record Your Podcast Network 3000 Publishing

2 Table of Contents Introduction...3 What is Skype?...3 The Popularity of Skype...4 What is Pamela?...4 Time to Get Started...5 The Pamela Call Recorder...5 Interacting with the PCR...8 Pamela Call Recorder Toolbar:...9 Recording...10 Call List Window...10 Tray Icon...11 Call Recording Options...12 Uploading Your Podcast Using Pamela s Pamcasting Tool

3 Introduction How to Use Simple Tools to Record Your Podcast So you ve decided to launch one of the most effective marketing tactics available today for entrepreneurs the podcast. Good for you! You re well on your way to reaching hundreds of thousands of people online using a medium that suits our mobile ways. Podcasts can be downloaded onto an ipod or any MP3 player; they can be played directly from a computer through someone s favorite speakers to allow easy listening in the bedroom or throughout the house while cleaning! The fact that individuals can consume podcasts in ways that are comfortably suited to the way we live today is a huge bonus for this method of marketing and communications. Now that the decision is made to launch a podcast here s a guide to show you how to actually do it using a very popular method the combination of a voice over Internet system called Skype and recording software called Pamela. What is Skype? Skype was introduced to the world in Essentially this free software that is accessible at allows individuals who live next door to one another or half way around the world, to engage in real-time conversation over the Internet. All you need is an Internet connection, a computer and a microphone to begin. If you want to see the person you re speaking to and if you want to be seen, you also need to use a webcam or some kind of video recorder that can be connected to your computer. Skype is also very useful as a videoconferencing tool. You can connect to several people (up to 25) allowing all to be seen and to see each participant in the conference call (depending on whether or not each participant decides to use a webcam/video camera for the call). The great love that people have for Skype is rooted in the fact that users can receive calls from other Skype users directly on their computers without phone fees or long distance charges completely free (except for the ongoing cost for Internet access). There is also a service called SkypeIn that allows Skype users to receive calls on their computers that are dialed by those using a conventional phone. There may be limitations depending on the country in which you are located. 3

4 The Popularity of Skype Today there are more than 700 million users on Skype today. At peak times over 50 million people are on Skype. When you sign up for Skype you are asked to create a unique Skype name. This is the name that is then listed in the Skype directory. Skype allows registered user to communicate with each other using instant messaging and voice chat. Voice chat is the technology that allows telephone calls between two Skype users. It also allows conference calling (where there are more than 2 people on the call). Skype supports conference calls up to 25 persons at a time. What is Pamela? Pamela is free software that allows you to record audio or video generated through Skype. There are different versions of Pamela Pamela Basic, Pamela Call Recorder, Pamela Professional and Pamela Business. Each version offers similar features and all offer video and audio recording. One of the major differences, however, is the Pamela Basic version is free and the other three versions offer free trial versions for 30-days after that period you ll have to purchase to maintain the service. You need to also keep in mind that the free versions (including versions with free trial periods) limit the length of the recordings. Video recordings are limited to 5 minutes and audio recordings are limited to 15 minutes on all free versions of Pamela. 4

5 Time to Get Started To get started, you ll first need to download from the following URL s your versions of Skype ( and Pamela ( Remember if you want to create audio recordings that are more than 15 minutes or video recordings that are more than 5 minutes you will need any one of the versions of Pamela that require payment of a fee. Next you ll need to make sure that you have a good USB microphone. You can use an analogue microphone but the quality won t be as good as what you can get from a USB mic. It s a good idea to get a mic and headset combo, if possible. Another technical item you ll want to check is the speed of your connection. Services like can check the speed of your connection. Each person on your call should have a connection speed that is ideally 100kbps for calls and 300kbps for video calls. Next you ll want to make sure that you exit your browser. It s probably a good idea to shut down Adobe and HP updaters as they can interfere with the optimum functioning of Skype. The Pamela Call Recorder The Pamela Call Recorder is much like the basic Pamela service. The big difference is it offers Emotion Sounds during call. We ll explore that later. Since many of you might find the Pamela Call Recorder to be useful, here are the key features: Skype audio and video recording (limited time recordings in the free version 15 minutes for audio and 5 minutes for video) Emotion Sounds (see explanation below) Selects language automatically based on the language setting in your Skype controls 30+ languages included Built in graphical user interface language editor Timer when recording a call Equalizer when recording a call Spoken and chat based call recording warning message Emotion Sounds: this is an interesting feature as it allows you to play any preset or custom sound during a call. You can use this to create an introduction, or play various special sounds that come preloaded. You can even get really funny and play sleeping sounds to show how enthused you are about a particular topic! 5

6 Having a timer is pretty useful especially if you want to ensure you stay on topic and don t run over the allotted time you want for your podcast. Of course you can edit later, but the less you have to edit, the sooner you can have your podcast uploaded and you can move onto other things. To begin, you ll want to pull up Skype so that you can call the person you plan to interview (if you are interviewing someone) or be prepared to receive their call. Remember to ask beforehand if they are registered Skype users since Skype to Skype calls are free. If the person you are interviewing is not a Skype user and plans to participate over the phone then you ll need to purchase Skype credit so that you can call a traditional phone line that is not using Voice of IP. If you plan to be calling many traditional phone lines using your Skype account you might want to look into one of Skype s monthly plans. Some are as low as $2.99 per month. As soon as you make or receive a call the Pamela Call Recorder (PCR) will show a dialog box and ask you if you want to record the call. 6

7 Should you choose to ignore the dialogue box it will eventually disappear (after about 10 seconds) and your call will not be recorded. The PCR will record Skype calls, landline and mobile calls and conference calls. Keep in mind that the default recording format for your audio file is WMA which stands for Windows Media Audio. It was produced by Microsoft to work with Windows media player. WMA provides a compression format that creates smaller audio files and smaller audio files are easier to process. This is important to you the podcast producer because you want your audiences to be able to easier download and listen to your podcast. If your file is large and cumbersome that won t be possible. Now WMA files are actually an older audio format. The newer format files are MP3 files. MP3 is a format that offers CD quality but is usually larger in size than the WMA. But why some people prefer to offer MP3 files is that it is extremely difficult for Mac users to play WMA files. They can however easily download and play MP3 files. Windows computers, Windows-formatted ipods and most MP3 players can play the following file formats: MP3, ipod-compatible WMAs Mac computers, Mac-formatted ipods, Nooks, ipads, and Sony e-readers can play MP3 file formats. What essentially happens during the recording process is the two audio streams that are on Skype (one from your microphone and the other audio coming in from the person you are interviewing over the phone or Skype) are recorded as either an MP3 file or a WMA file. 7

8 Interacting with the PCR How you interact with the PCR is through the very easy to grasp graphical user interface (GUI) you see in the image above. The GUI consists of a toolbar and a slide in/out call list window which shows your recorded calls. The Pamela Basic version also has a slide in/out call list window for viewing lists of recorded calls, custom recordings or voice mails see image below. 8

9 Pamela Call Recorder Toolbar: The main navigation part of your PCR toolbar includes icons that do the following (from left to right): Call record start button. Call record stop button. Emotion sounds button. This button will open a list of available sounds. Call list window. This slides in or out the list window you see below the toolbar. Options You can set call recording options, configure Emotion Sounds and set or edit language. The Pamela icon this links to a frequently asked questions section, website, MP3 enabling and other corporate-type information. 9

10 Recording As stated and illustrated earlier, when you start the call with Skype the Pamela Call Recorder toolbar will present a dialogue box that essentially asks if you want to record the call. Once you start recording the call you will see a timer and equalizer as indicated in the image below. Call List Window Sometimes it s helpful to know when and which calls you ve recorded. The Call List Window provides this information including the Skype name of those individuals participating on your Skype call. At the bottom of the Call List Window you will see three icons. It s pretty straight forward what they from left to right you ll see PLAY, STOP and DELETE. These functions are only active when you select one or multiple recordings. Additionally in this area is a context menu that opens only when you right click a recording. Here s what s in the menu: Play Open message folder Mark recording as played Delete Mark all recordings as played Delete all recordings Play all new recordings It s fairly obvious by the name of the function what the purpose of each of these function selections is but it s important to know that the menu provides you with direct access to the recording folder where you can copy your files or forward them. 10

11 Tray Icon How to Use Simple Tools to Record Your Podcast When you re recording a call the menu associated with the tray icon for Pamela displays symbols that alert you to the fact that a recording is happenings. See images below: You ll see that the image on the left has highlighted with dark red symbols the Stop and Pause Recording symbols. This is to alert you to the fact that a live recording is under way. Now look at the image on the right you ll see that the Stop and Pause Recording functions are not even visible. There is no indicating of a live recording. The Pamela tray icon (usually accessible from your operating system s task bar) is a convenient location to stop and start recordings. You can also access Emotion sounds from this area. Note: you will see a warming message if you have Pamela Basic, Professional or Business installed and install the Pamela Call Recorder. The folks at Pamela explain that the reason for the warming is that the Skype audio system does not support call recording by more than one application at a time. The warning is to give you a heads up that this will cause problems. The way around this is to avoid installing Pamela Call Recorder if you have the full version of Pamela installed as the full version has all the features offered by the Pamela Call Recorder. 11

12 Call Recording Options When you click on the Call Recording tab in Pamela you will see a window that provides you with information on: Time limits for your recording if you have a free account it s 15 minutes for audio recordings and 5 minutes for video recordings The ways in which Pamela handles inbound and outbound calls. See image below: 12

13 Uploading Your Podcast Using Pamela s Pamcasting Tool If you purchase the Pamela Professional edition you will get access to Pamela s Pamcasting tool which is the Pamela product s podcasting service. Essentially Pamcasting will publish your podcast. Here are the directions: 1. Go to Tools in the Pamela Pro product 2. Click on the Pamcasting option 3. Click on Activate Pamcasting 4. Click on Activate Automatic Pamcasting 5. Set the file size (for example, 10 Mb) 6. Give your Pamcast a title 7. Fill in your full name in Pamcaster name 8. Fill in the URL for the location where your MP3 s and cast file will eventually reside. Put this information in the Podcast base download URL field 9. Set the FTP settings in Remote FTP storage tab (if you want to activate automatic FTP upload click the checkbox) 10. Fill in the Remote URL file folder field where your cast file will be located. This information normally begins with a forward slash and the folder name. 11. Repeat this process for the Remote audio file folder field. When you re starting out it s easier to put everything in the same folder. 12. In the FTP Server field put the name of your FTP server or the IP address 13. Set the Port to 21 (default) 14. Fill the username field with the username for your FTP server 15. Fill the password field with the password for your FTP server 16. Leave the Use passive FTP mode field untouched. Once all these settings are complete you are ready to create a Pamcast from a call, call recording or custom recording. If someone calls you and you have enabled FTP upload, the files will be directly published to your FTP server and other audience can subscribe to your podcast. What s really useful is the fact that all entered FTP server data will remain saved by Pamela. If you wish to keep recording files locally while Pamcasting, you only have to deactivate the Enable Pamcasting remote storage and use FTP upload function. 13

14 Since podcasts are accessible by the public and the files are therefore visible, you may wish to hide Skype names/numbers that are in the audio file name. If so, note that there is an option in the general settings area to replace automated file names with a custom string of your choosing. This option can be found in the General Tab. Screen shot of Pamcasting Options: These instructions and suggestions should be helpful in getting you on your way to recording and publishing a podcast using Skype and Pamela. 14