Vo "phone patch"...How?

[pigpen]

This is Pigpen here. I am fairly new to the VO game, but have been getting a few decent names of late. However, I have lost 2 gigs now due to the inability to have a "phone patch". I have read that the JK Audio Autohybrid might be the ticket. I run PT HD and a Shadow Hills Equinox....is that all I would need to make a "conference call" (lack of better term) possible?
I appreciate any and all help as I want to eliminate this issue immediately.
Thanks

[soundguydave]

Is it an analog phone patch they wanted? in that case the JK audio that-2 is all I use for that. But sometimes when a producer says phone patch, they mean an ISDN patch, so you would need a telos zephyr and ISDN lines. Or source connect if the talent is compatible with that.

[pigpen]

Not the ISDN....
They just want to be able to hear the talent and give him direction while he is doing it.
I am being told the Telos ONE is great option and is actually what the studio at the end of the chain is using as well.
Opinions?

[soundguydave]

I'm not familiar with telos one, but if all you need is a phone into protools, JK audio that-2 is the way to go.

[soundguydave]

It also depends on what type of phone system you have. I need a JK because we have a digital phone system and the JK takes the audio between the handset and the base. and its inexpensive for the 3 times a year I need it.

[minister]

Originally Posted by Bryan Talbot

I use a Comrex DH20. Simple, solid, foolproof, and tweakable.

It's like having your telephone in your rack; aux send to the caller, bring the caller into a console channel.

great box. i have one. it is the way to go because you kill the feedback.

however, it is $1000 ......

[originalscottyg]

Originally Posted by minister

great box. i have one. it is the way to go because you kill the feedback.

however, it is $1000 ......

if you can afford it, go with the digital box that automatically nulls the phone line and kills the feedback
I have been using a Radio Systems TI-101, which is an analog box with trimpots to manually null the phone line and the feedback can be a real PITA!
I usually have to use some creative gating/ducking to avoid feedback.
I wish I had one of those :-)

[soundboy]

However, if you set up your mix minus correctly, you wont have problems with feedback. If you are working with PT, you'll need a sidecar mixer to set it up.

[originalscottyg]

Originally Posted by soundboy

However, if you set up your mix minus correctly, you wont have problems with feedback. If you are working with PT, you'll need a sidecar mixer to set it up.

please elaborate...
i'd love to hear suggestions on a better way to set this up

[minister]

Originally Posted by soundboy

However, if you set up your mix minus correctly, you wont have problems with feedback. If you are working with PT, you'll need a sidecar mixer to set it up.

i tired this and hated it. and, i had to do it EVERYTIME...... at least with the silly Symetrix i got for free.

the Digital hybrid is the way to go.

[soundboy]

This is how I do it. Phone patch out to ch 4 in on my mixer, Aux 1 out to phone patch in. ISDN 1 out to ch 5 on mixer, Aux 2 out to ISDN in 1. ISDN 2 out to ch 6 on mixer, Aux 3 out to ISDN 2 in. Studio mics 1 and 2 to mixer in 1 and 2. Sub out 1and 2 out to PT ch 1 and 2 in. Sub out 3 and 4 to DAT back up. Main out to monitor mix in recording booth and mix room. Everybody gets a mix minus their own source except the studio talent that needs to hear themselves. So I bring up the phone on ch 4. the phone goes to the mains, so the booth and the mix room hears them. I put up aux 2 and 3 so people on the ISDN lines 1 and 2 will hear the phone. Aux 1 stays down so I don't send the phone signal back to the phone. Ch 5 up to subs and mix just like the phone on 4. Ch 5 aux 1 and 3 sends to phone and ISDN 2. Aux 2 stays down so I don't send the ISDN 1 back to itself. Getting the picture? Mics 1 and 2 up and aux 1,2,and 3 up on those channels so the phone and the 2 ISDN connections can hear them.
A friend of mine who worked in radio for years tought me this. Apparently talk radio is all done with mix minus. It may seem complicated, but once you get it, it's pretty easy. Depending on your sidecar mixer and the amount of subs it has, you can send every source to a individual channel in PT, so you don't have to do a pre mix on the sidecar.
Hope that helps

[pigpen]

Man what great answers! This is why I love this place!
Right now really leaning toward the simplicity of the Telos One.
I will post back once I make up my mind.
Thanks again guys

[soundguydave]

I just do all my busing/mixing in protools. So the JK audio has a dedicated in and out on my 192. I've never had a problem with feedback. Then again I use it maybe 4-5 times a year tops, so maybe I just havent encountered it yet. Although I did use it a while back to record some soccer players for web stuff, client didn't want to pay for a real studio with a patch, so I recorded them via phone. Sounded alright after some major work.

[pisser]

we have been using Skype and Ichat lately with great success for our "phone patches" with distant clients. As long as everyones internet connections are stable, it works really well

[originalscottyg]

Originally Posted by soundboy

This is how I do it. Phone patch out to ch 4 in on my mixer, Aux 1 out to phone patch in. ISDN 1 out to ch 5 on mixer, Aux 2 out to ISDN in 1. ISDN 2 out to ch 6 on mixer, Aux 3 out to ISDN 2 in. Studio mics 1 and 2 to mixer in 1 and 2. Sub out 1and 2 out to PT ch 1 and 2 in. Sub out 3 and 4 to DAT back up. Main out to monitor mix in recording booth and mix room. Everybody gets a mix minus their own source except the studio talent that needs to hear themselves. So I bring up the phone on ch 4. the phone goes to the mains, so the booth and the mix room hears them. I put up aux 2 and 3 so people on the ISDN lines 1 and 2 will hear the phone. Aux 1 stays down so I don't send the phone signal back to the phone. Ch 5 up to subs and mix just like the phone on 4. Ch 5 aux 1 and 3 sends to phone and ISDN 2. Aux 2 stays down so I don't send the ISDN 1 back to itself. Getting the picture? Mics 1 and 2 up and aux 1,2,and 3 up on those channels so the phone and the 2 ISDN connections can hear them.
A friend of mine who worked in radio for years tought me this. Apparently talk radio is all done with mix minus. It may seem complicated, but once you get it, it's pretty easy. Depending on your sidecar mixer and the amount of subs it has, you can send every source to a individual channel in PT, so you don't have to do a pre mix on the sidecar.
Hope that helps

wow, it sounds like you are doing ISDN and phone patch at the same time!
I have never had to do this. It's always been one or the other.
I always use mix minus for both phone patch and ISDN.
The only time I get feedback is using the phone patch box.
The crosstalk between the send and receive seems to be the culprit.
The box I use has 3 small screw-type trimpots for nulling the phone line on the front panel.
These have to be re-adjusted each time a different phone line is used (we have 10 lines).
Total PITA.
Thanks for the info, Charles :-)

[pigpen]

Forgive my stupidity here...first time in this world.

I have the Telos One hooked up as to what appears to be correctly. I see it getting level and can hear the Aux send back in.

How in the hell do I get it to answer the damned phone. When I flip it to Telephone Line ON...nada happens on the callers end. If I answer the phone and then switch it, it kills the call.
I am sure it is a simple...."oh you are so dumb young jedi" answer, but I am about to pull my hair out here! Call me as you wish...just call me sane please

[soundboy]

If you flip it to phone on, with no one on the line, you should hear dial tone if the hybrid is hooked up to your phone line correctly. Start there. Once you have that, call that line from your cell phone and see if you can pick up the call.

[pigpen]

I am not hearing anything. Dead. Unless I am just missing something, I think the unit is bum.
Phone in/phone out. Tried it both ways just to be sure. Its output is straight into a dedicated 192i/o in.

Shit

[pigpen]

OK so oddly enough, I was pulling out the patchcord and heard the phone...noisy and buzzy as hell with very low volume. Put it thru a preamp, I could obviously hear it better, along with the noise....ideas?

[AdAudioInc]

Telos 1 is great - it sounds great (for a phone line), is reliable and easy - 1 button push.

[soundboy]

I run my Telos Delta into a mixing board, but I get a pretty strong signal w/o needing to gain up at the pre. If moving the patch gets you signal, it sounds like a short in the unit.

[pigpen]

Got it up and running and it worked flawlessly today for the session. turned to be a bad cable...figures