ISDN vs. IP

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Permalink Reply by Mike Cooper on January 25, 2009 at 2:37pm

What a great thread! I put ISDN in towards the end of last year, mostly because my agent does lots of sessions using it and I was going off to studios all the time just for them to dial up over the ISDN to my agents' in Manchester. Using the intermediary studio was adding to the client's bill and I've been more marketable since I've had my own, as a result.

Vincent, the key thing with ISDN isn't the quality (vs MP3 or WAV) – it's that the client can hear you in quality at the other end and direct you as you go along. ISDN (rather than a phone patch) lets them hear the nuances that you can't get over an ordinary phone line, and they can also hear what your room sounds like and what your mic is doing.

If your clients are happy to let you record on your own and send them on after (I call this "record and forward") then you're doing fine, but not everyone will be happy with that arrangement.

Anything else, folks?

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Permalink Reply by DC Goode on December 20, 2008 at 8:59pm

Beau,
As usual...spot on.
In Cip's video of "Session in the back seat of a rental car" is great and all but he can do that because he's Joe AND can afford the rest of the (necessary) latest gadgets.
The rest of us need solid, reliable proven technology. Which is why I own a zephyr. The CDQ Prima? They did a fine job of making a Windows ISDN machine, compared to Telos' Mac.
BTW How much are the bridging costs?
Thanks Beau!
dc

PS TO Jeff Berlin....I would bet my next scale job that the phone company is not telling you the truth.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Berlin on February 26, 2009 at 1:04pm

"..I would bet my next scale job that the phone company is not telling you the truth."

could be. I had both the Chief Engineer at Kiss 108, and Dave Immer from Digfon working on it. Both of these guys have set up ISDN at hundreds of locations.. both finally gave up in frustration saying it couldn't be done where i live in Melrose MA.

I agree with folks that say having ISDN makes you look "more professional". I now offer ISDN without mentioning that it's bridged via Source Connect. Sort of like getting a 212 number to make it look like you're in New York, even when you're really in Greenville North Carolina :). As long as you answer the phone, who's to know? But I'm still finding that very few of clients are interested in dialing up via ISDN - this includes long time clients who were always dialing up ISDN not 4 years ago, today they prefer phone patch and FTP download. The bottom line is I'll accommodate whatever delivery method a client prefers.

One problem with bridging is that Source Connect adds a half second delay, each way, when streaming 'high' quality. When I am on ISDN this way, I almost have to say "over" to conduct a two way conversation. But the Source Connect audio quality is outstanding, much better than grainy ISDN.

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Permalink Reply by Luis Acevedo on February 27, 2009 at 1:08pm

Jeff,

Yes don't say there isn't a stupid question because I know mine is...How does a phone patch work? Can you tell me what equipment is needed and what gets connected where? I should probably start my own thread on this but thought someone or you might answer it in simple terms so I can understand it.. (:

For instance, I have RodeNT1A, an Emu1616m, and a PC wiht Intel Core 2 dou processor. Where does the phone patch go?

And you know next I will ask you how to load up an FTP file... ha ha...

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Berlin on March 2, 2009 at 12:37am

A phone patch is usually done using a phone hybrid. You plug your phone jack into the hybrid, it acts like a telephone, but transfers the incoming and outgoing audio so you can plug it into your rig. Gentner is the most well known high end hybrid manufacturer. Telos makes them too, in fact the Zephyr XStream is an excellent regular phone hybrid in addition to it's ISDN function (just call the ISDN line with a regular phone.) But if you don't want to drop 4 figures on a hybrid, visit JK Audio's website - they make solid, versatile, reliable boxes for short money. I have a JK Audio "THAT" that's 9 years old, still works like the day i got it. It's small and requires no power.

Not familiar with the Emu1616, but if you're not using a mixing board or switcher, you'll have to configure it to do a phone patch, feeding it with a dedicated output, and listening with a dedicated input - then setting it up so you can hear the phone while only recording your voice, not the phone. Some of the more expensive JK audio hybrids may have a headphone jack, so you could conduct the session and monitor your VO using that. I find using an auxiliary send on a mixing board is the easiest way to patch - also enables you to feed other audio sources over the phone.

Hope that helps ! For FTP, just download "Core FTP" for PC, or "Fetch" for the Mac (i use Transmit on my Mac). Log into your web server, and get busy :)


jb

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Permalink Reply by Luis Acevedo on March 2, 2009 at 12:29pm

Thx Jeff...you are a beatiful man!!! ha ha...appreciate the info brother...

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