VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Jeff McNeal · Guest

...and you might already have it. Pardon if this has already been covered, but I discovered something fairly amusing recently on my own... I had just been adding some gear and rewiring my studio and temporarily goofed up my excellent phone patch capabilities (which happen to be built in to my Telos Zephyr Xstream when I'm not using it for ISDN, so it serves double duty).

Anyway, if you have a wireless bluetooth enabled earpiece that can fit under the cup of your headphone, yet allows the integrated mic to poke out (I have a couple, and the Jabra works best for me), this creates an ideal "phone patch". Granted, you cannot play back audio to the producer (I'm never asked to do that), and they won't be hearing your processed VO through your audio chain, but they WILL hear your read as clear as a bell, you can hear their direction as clear as a bell, and none of their chatter will print to your track -- just like a "real" phone patch. I did a couple of sessions this way before I figured out my wiring issue and the clients were perfectly fine with this and never knew the difference to begin with.

So if you're on a tight budget, but have a bluetooth enabled earpiece, try it. You may like how effectively it works.

Deirdre · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:14 am Post subject:

It works with a wired earpiece/mic hooked into a cordless phone, too.
I use it all the time.

xo
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Dave · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:55 am Post subject:

Deirdre · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 10:38 am Post subject:

Besides, it looks cooler.
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Bruce · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 1:38 pm Post subject:

This is a bit OT, but I see these folks walking around the grocery or the mall with this sewer-roach-sized piece of electronics clinging to their ear like it's some kind of zoomy piece of bling, and it's the most ludicrous thing to watch. They're not talking to anyone...they're just being way too cool. I'm sure someone's selling non-working replicas for the terminally hip who are also terminally poor.

B
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ronphi · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 3:52 pm Post subject:

This may be a silly question but I will ask anyway since I have never used phone patch, ISDN, etc. Can't you do the voice connection in MSN Messenger or Yahoo messenger? In my case the only input to my mixer is my mic. The mixer is USB so it bypasses the sound card. Seems like it would work but I don't know.
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Deirdre · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 4:07 pm Post subject:

Yeah-- you can use a voice messenger service in place of the phone, but you have to have a built-in mic and their sound muted in the studio.

[old story-- please for give the resurrection, old pals] I did a session with an overseas client via Skype— I had my iPod earbuds plugged into the sound out from the computer and my headphones over those. The clients could hear me via the built-in mic in the powerbook, and I could hear them without it interfering with my recording.

Beats overseas phone rates.
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Deirdre · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 4:08 pm Post subject:

And people who walk around with BlueTooth earpieces are Borg-- I just know it.
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Hart · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 4:29 pm Post subject:

Last time I was in Cingular I made fun of the employee with one and called him Madonna. My wife was some kind of pissed.
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CarynClark · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 5:47 pm Post subject:

Wow, you guys are really creative with the phone patch ideas!! Awesome!

Brian, that's funny. Smile

My husband swears women just drive around with a cell phone to their ear, and no one's on the other end. He swears this is what we girls do. Smile

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Jowillie · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:59 pm Post subject:

Bruce,
I was asked to write a "Marshall McLuhan" type piece about the Blue Tooth in the ear for a friend's blog. Being the agent of mischief, I stated that to wear the ear piece constantly in public is a sign of a lower class of our society--always subservient to someone else. In other words....you are at someone else's beck-and-call. Wow! Did that start something. He has banned me from his blog publicly (sort of like Imus).

Actually, I have a partner that wears one day and night. It is very distracting to start a conversation with him and then realize he is already talking to someone else on the phone. Usually, his phone conversations mean more business for us, so we tolerate it.
I guess that makes us lower class and subservient to everyone else....and I like it that way...just so they keep calling.
WE
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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 7:19 pm Post subject:

asnively · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:42 pm Post subject:

That's brilliant Willie! Good for you! Here in L.A., it's hard to tell who the crazy people are anymore since everyone walks around talking to themselves...
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jrodriguez315 · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:18 pm Post subject: