What kind of microphone do I need for recording audio for an automated telephone system?

December 29, 2011 9:32 AM

I would like to use Audacity to record voice audio files for an automated telephone system. What kind of microphone setup (USB or standard headphone / mic jacks) that will work with my laptop do I need?

I would like the equipment to be as inexpensive as possible, but it needs to sound decently good. Will only be used for recording voice. Is a standard headset good enough, or do I need a professional mic? Would it be less expensive than buying the microphone to just hire voice talent online?

posted by banished to technology (5 answers total)

for phone quality, any old standard headset will be fine. Test out some different recording settings and see which sounds the best.
posted by cosmicbandito at 9:45 AM on December 29, 2011

Get an inexpensive USB headset.
posted by empath at 9:54 AM on December 29, 2011

+1 for the above: The quality of transmission over the phone will be lower than any standard USB headset. Having a little boom mic that is positioned right in front of your mouth is the single biggest factor at this range.
posted by sprocket87 at 11:36 AM on December 29, 2011

Save any .wav file at 8kHz. That's what it will sound like.

Previously
posted by rhizome at 12:18 PM on December 29, 2011

I use the Noise Removal function of Audacity to clean up whatever I record into my fairly generic computer microphone. Works fine for me.
posted by Seboshin at 12:46 PM on December 29, 2011