How to Send and Receive Audio Tapes (Mono) With Your Computer
by W. "Charley" Sober, for Scopists.com (R.03-05-98)
All Rights Reserved - linking and printing allowed; no alteration or mirroring.

NOTE THAT THIS INFO MAY BE OF INTEREST TO ATTORNEYS, INVESTIGATORS AND MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS, AS WELL AS TRANSCRIPTIONISTS OF ALL TYPES.

More and more, scopists and court reporters are networking interstate in order to accommodate turnaround times or backlog reductions.  For example, when long trials are ordered after the fact, official reporters get buried in pages that need to be produced.

Alternatively, when freelance reporters book jobs in series, they sometimes have to go roving to take depos out of town or out of state.  Oftentimes these jobs are ordered expedited, but that sometimes can't be facilitated for the out-of-town work, or reporters may take risks by overnighting everything back to the office.  Most reporters will duplicate all the documents and files they send back, but most won't bother to duplicate the audio media, thereby putting it at risk of loss.

Nowadays, you can telecommunicate your notefiles and/or transcript files, etc. from the reporter's computer to the production/scoping site; you can fax exhibits, even directly into the receiver's computer; but you can't send the audio conveniently.  Actually, if you've got a "standard" PC computer system, you've probably got the capability at your fingertips to handle the audio media right now! Or if you're not totally current, some simple and inexpensive upgrades are available to give you this capability.

I'll try to keep as nontechnical as I can while giving you some important considerations, because there are several transfer methods to choose from.

FILE TRANSFER:

The most obvious way to handle audio is to "record" it into your computer, compress the file, then telecommunicate it.  I don't recommend this method, for several reasons:

This process is time consuming, requiring two full-length plays of the audio (once to get it into digital form, once to play it back onto audio media), file compression and transmission (new VOX compression and high-speed modems help, but barely beat realtime, at this writing) and re-expansion. This is bad enough, but the worst part about this is the incredibly disk-intensive nature of the handling.  You need huge amounts of space to store these files, and your system does so much reading and writing that it really can put you in jeopardy of crashing your harddrive or suffering a system lockup.  If you're forced to use this method regularly, I highly recommend INSTALLING A SEPARATE HARDDISK OR OTHER MASS STORAGE DEVICE JUST FOR YOUR AUDIO TRANSFERS!

To send audio in the above fashion, you need a minimum of a 486 with 8MB RAM, a sound card with input (mic) and output (speaker) jacks, a recorder (any size or speed), a file compression routine (PKZIP, etc.), some connectors and telecommunications software.  Connect your tape player's earphone or extension speaker jack to the microphone or sound in jack on the sound card. This is done with a dubbing cable, which has two male ends on the cable. Use the sound card's audio recorder software, start your tape and save the file. Use your compression routine to create your compressed sound file, then transmit via telecommunications to the receiver, just like you would any other data file (dictionaries, etc.).

SOUND TRANSFER:

The better way of going about doing audio media is to use straight sound transfer. Basically, what you need is a good 486 or Pentium, sound card, a voice/fax/data modem, and RAM and HD suitable for using your modem. I highly recommend using extended (half or quarter speed) recording, to get the most audio per tape.

When using a voice modem, besides the dubbing cable, you'll probably want jack splitters as well.  This is a simple connector that allows two devices to share one jack, and can be obtained at any Radio Shack for a couple of dollars each. Also, remember to use mono adapters, if you're using stereophonic equipment! 

Where your microphone plugs into the voice modem, install a splitter and use a dubbing cable to connect your tape recorder's speaker or headset jack to the microphone input for the voice modem.  Next, install another splitter in your speaker jack on the voice modem (or your sound card, if your voice modem uses the sound card's speakers) and connect a second dubbing cable from the voice modem to your recorder's input or mic jack.  Obviously you cannot use all transcribers for this process, because they don't all record.  However, you can use standard speed, inexpensive recorders to do the audio transfers -- they don't have to be slow-speed units, even if you're sending slow-speed tapes. The only important consideration is that both the sending and receiving units must be running at the same speed.

Once you've installed your recorder in the above fashion, you can leave it hooked up to your PC, ready to send or receive audio at a moment's notice!

To send and receive audio with your voice modem, simply initiate the voice call, both people using their voice modems.  The sender tells the receiver what to label the tape, and when to start recording.  The receiver starts the recording, then everything is automatic.  It may sound like gibberish going over, if you use slow-speed tapes, but when played back on the extended-play transcriber, it'll be in the correct speed, possibly with a little adjustment.

Special considerations for the above:

• Voice modems are different quality.  Make sure you're using a good quality voice modem. Also, more RAM, higher CPU speeds and better sound cards will directly affect your sound quality!
• Depending on your tape deck, etc., you may need to fine-tune your techniques!
• If you're using slower equipment, you may need to use standard speed recording and transfer, in a worst case scenario.
• If you can, disable half-duplex and/or have the receiver disable their voice mike when receiving the audio media. 

SOUND TRANSFER VIA INTERNET:

Because long-distance charges can be incurred, you may want to use the Internet to send your sound files. If so, remember that your sound quality could be affected by server traffic! Also, remember that some services may trigger time prompts that theoretically could pause your transfer (although they shouldn't). Otherwise, the transfer routine is the same as the above, but instead of using your voice modem's phone software, use Internet Phone, or another similar system.  The phone software doesn't matter that much; the trick is in your hardware setup. For the cost of the service subscription, you'll be able to send files long-distance without toll incurring charges. 

If you're expecting to do transfers regularly, go to Radio Shack or a similar store and buy some jack doublers, as mentioned previously.  They're about $4.00 each, and they plug into a single jack, giving you two female plugs where you previously had one.  They're grat for training scopists too, because you can walk up to observe them and jack into their audio with your own headphones.

You will also need two dubbing cables, with male plugs on both ends, and two mono adapters.

Anyway, insert one doubler in each of your sound card's mic or input jack and speaker or output jack. In one side of the speaker jack, insert your speaker plug.  In the other side, insert a dubbing cable (with mono adapter). Run this dubbing cable into your cheapo recorder's input or microphone jack. On the mic or input side, plug in your voice microphone to one side, and the other dubbing cable (with mono adapter) to the other side. Plug this dubbing cable into the ext., speaker, or output jack on your recorder.  It's very simple! The only thing I suggest is to use a voice mike that has an on/off switch.  That way, no stray sounds will be recorded on the tape, and if you're in lower speeds, stray sounds from the receiver side can cause cutoffs like a speakerphone does.

POWER TRICK:

Audio for Daily Copy: I haven't tried this myself, but some voice/fax/data modems can send data and voice simultaneously. Although not real practical unless you're using a Windows-based CAT system, you can still use this feature in daily copy jobs if your reporter is not using their laptop for realtime translation and if there's a phone line available. You should be able to jack from your reporter's tape backup deck's ext., speaker, headphone or output jack directly into the laptop's mic, or input jack.  Initiate the phone call before the depo or proceeding; run the audio feed back to the office in realtime, where they're just collecting the tapes.  At breaks or whenever convenient, notefiles can be sent over the same phone line, and exhibits faxed back to the office.  Should be excellent for court work too.

WITHOUT A COMPUTER:

Finally, there's a company called TT Systems Corp., (7 Odell Plaza, Yonkers, N.Y., 10701; Ph.# 914.968.2100, Fax# 914.968.2155) which specializes in Tele-Recorders -- everything from simple adapters for hooking up a tape recorder to a telephone line to record/playback audio packages which include recorders and are perfect (almost) for sending and receiving audio tapes! Their adapters start at $79 and will allow you to hook up your own tape recording equipment directly to your telephone line without the use of any computer equipment at all!  Even more important for roving reporters is the fact that the Tele-Recorder adapter is very compact (about the size of a deck of cards) and works with all standard telephone setups and tape recorders!