Here's an interesting use of Skype for broadcasting. "Rick's House Radio Show" is a weekly two-hour show about home improvement, among other topics. The host, Rick Allen, is in Florida, originating the show from his home. The co-host in the second hour is in Nashville. The studio (that I operate) is in North Carolina. Everyone connects to the studio through Skype. The host, co-host, and I all use Audio-Technica ATR2005USB microphones. Mine is connected by XLR though a Presonus 16.4.2 mixer. Theirs are connected to their computers through USB ports.
Since Skype is half-duplex, the audio link from the host to the studio is configured to be one-way. Instead of sending return audio from the studio to the host over Skype, as is most often done, it is sent over a SIP channel (using Blink and sip2sip.info.) The host's microphone sends through Skype, but the host listens to mix-minus return audio over Blink. Therefore, there is no Skype ducking. The host can talk over the bumper music without a problem. Note that there is no music in the clip below because of copyright issues. The show was fed live to a radio station in Tennessee, again, on Skype. The recording below is directly off the mixer with a Sony PCM-M10 digital recorder.
The telephone callers are dialing into a Skype Number. The host, the co-host, and the telephone callers are each on their own instances of Skype. The audio feed to the co-host and telephone caller instances of Skype are mix-minus feeds. The program audio was fed to the station with a fourth Skype account on a third computer. Since there was no return audio from the station, there was no ducking in the audio going out over the air.
Rick's House - March 2, 2013 (link to show on SoundCloud)
When I think back to how expensive it used to be to get an equalized phone line across town, it blows me away that this awesome technology is not only available, but it's also free (except for the Skype Number.) Skype is certainly not perfect, and I'm not sure I would rely on it for a mission-critical broadcast, but it works amazingly well for this application. I'd love to hear your experiences using Skype for broadcasts.
Since Skype is half-duplex, the audio link from the host to the studio is configured to be one-way. Instead of sending return audio from the studio to the host over Skype, as is most often done, it is sent over a SIP channel (using Blink and sip2sip.info.) The host's microphone sends through Skype, but the host listens to mix-minus return audio over Blink. Therefore, there is no Skype ducking. The host can talk over the bumper music without a problem. Note that there is no music in the clip below because of copyright issues. The show was fed live to a radio station in Tennessee, again, on Skype. The recording below is directly off the mixer with a Sony PCM-M10 digital recorder.
The telephone callers are dialing into a Skype Number. The host, the co-host, and the telephone callers are each on their own instances of Skype. The audio feed to the co-host and telephone caller instances of Skype are mix-minus feeds. The program audio was fed to the station with a fourth Skype account on a third computer. Since there was no return audio from the station, there was no ducking in the audio going out over the air.
Rick's House - March 2, 2013 (link to show on SoundCloud)
When I think back to how expensive it used to be to get an equalized phone line across town, it blows me away that this awesome technology is not only available, but it's also free (except for the Skype Number.) Skype is certainly not perfect, and I'm not sure I would rely on it for a mission-critical broadcast, but it works amazingly well for this application. I'd love to hear your experiences using Skype for broadcasts.