HOWTO: Record Skype Conversations

[haelen]

The soxmix binary seems to be missing in Gutsy. skype-rec throws up an error.
It's not in the repository either (soxmix)

Anyone else encountered this?

Tim

[ruisselet]

Yes, in gutsy skype-rec won't start because soxmix has been removed. It can be replaced by 'sox -m'. I edited skype-rec like that (also removing the startup check for the soxmix binary), it does start up and record correctly.

There is a bug after a conversation is finished, so the temporary files remain, but at least they are saved. As far as I can see the bug is https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...x/+bug/116470/

[haelen]

Yes, in gutsy skype-rec won't start because soxmix has been removed. It can be replaced by 'sox -m'. I edited skype-rec like that (also removing the startup check for the soxmix binary), it does start up and record correctly.]

Hi,

Thanks for the above. I'm pretty useless when it comes to editing code etc. Could you possibly paste an example of what you mean / did ?

Best,
Tim

[DirtDart]

Not to dampen anyone's attempt at this, but if you are in the U.S., you may want to check the laws of the state you are in before recording any phone conversation.

http://www.rcfp.org/taping/has a pretty decent discussion of what can/can't be recorded, and includes a list of all 50 states (the list is pretty useless if you're outside the U.S.)

[ruisselet]

Hi,

Thanks for the above. I'm pretty useless when it comes to editing code etc. Could you possibly paste an example of what you mean / did ?

Best,
Tim

Here is in attachment the modified skype-rec which uses sox -m instead of soxmix, which disappeared from sox version 13. (the file is actually skype-rec.txt to make the forum upload system happy, you will probably want to rename it and make it executable).

By the way, is there an "official" maintainer and location for skype-rec? This kind of change should be incorporated...

With sox 13 there is a crash doing the conversion, it has been marked as fixed in sox 14 changelog. Therefore I installed sox and libsox-fmt-all from hardy, it seems to work well on gutsy.

I also had to change a -v 1 option into vol 1.

Enjoy!

[haelen]

Hi,

I tried this using the Skype Test call. a) I couldn't hear myself in the playback and b) skype-rec didn't produce a file.

What's worse I now cannot make conference calls of any sort. Here's the error I got when I tested:

[haelen]

The above problem cleared upon powering off and on again. This time skype-rec seems to run ok - apart from the fact that it doesn't produce an actual recording!

Best,
Tim

[amcvega]

Fellas, I found this brilliant tutorial that worked for me:

http://porpoisehead.net/hi/?q=node/23

It outlines how you can use the GNOME recorder (or even the KRecorder) within Linux Ubuntu itself, and by simply adjusting your Alsamixer settings, you can record the incoming signal to skype.

Give it a shot. You will find that once it works, all you have to tweak is the discrepancy in levels between the skype signal and your own input.

I couldn't get skype-rec to work with Gutsy, Skype 1.4 so I tried this setup and it actually works! Took me just 2 minutes to setup.

Thanks for the hot tip!

[motin]

Same here. It is really nice to have a common way to record ANY program, not only Skype, and without relying on a script that gets out of date between skype updates.

Make sure your mic sound is audible in the speakers and then record from "Capture" instead of "Microphone"is the trick.

Works on Windows as well

[tmhai]

I cannot get this to work. Skype runs, the terminal sits there saying "Starting skype..." and nothing occurs when I make calls. I get no mp3 files, no error messages, nothing.

Apart from the fact this script was written years ago, would someone be interested in updating it so it works with the latest version of Skype. I'm running Skype 2.0 Beta.

Else, would someone be interested in directing me to something that works.