Skype Recorder

I have just started taking additional lessons and am looking for a good Skype Windows program.

Can anyone recommend a free and a pay program that they have used that just plain works? I have tried a few and have not had a lot of luck.

Thanks in advance.

rappsy said:

I have just started taking additional lessons and am looking for a good Skype Windows program.

Can anyone recommend a free and a pay program that they have used that just plain works? I have tried a few and have not had a lot of luck.

Thanks in advance.

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Do you mean that you want to RECORD your Skype calls? If so, I am interested in the solution for this too, but for Linux or Mac...

I've been toying with the idea of taking Skype lessons from a few different folks, and would love to be able to record/save the lessons for later review.

Booli said:

Do you mean that you want to RECORD your Skype calls? If so, I am interested in the solution for this too, but for Linux or Mac...

I've been toying with the idea of taking Skype lessons from a few different folks, and would love to be able to record/save the lessons for later review.

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Yes, I want to record and save them for that exact reason. Have you ever taken a Skype lesson? They have worked for me. Just started with another teacher.

rappsy said:

Yes, I want to record and save them for that exact reason. Have you ever taken a Skype lesson? They have worked for me. Just started with another teacher.

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No I have not taken any Skype (or Facetime or Google hangouts) remote lessons, but I am quite familiar with the basics of these, and have used them for video chats every once in a while.

One reason I like the idea is because you can take lessons from a teacher who would be otherwise geographically impossible to work with. Like Aldrine, or Sarah Maisel, Jake, James Hill, or Glen Rose, etc.

I know these kinds of folks are all crazy busy, recording, touring and giving workshops nearly all the time, so it also affords them the option to give a lesson from any location, so it's convenient for them too.

The ability to record such a lesson is important to me not only for later review/study but also as a keepsake to cherish that one of these great players was able to find time for a 'mere mortal' such as myself, and for me to have the ability to relive that memory via video.

Please tell me more about your experience with Skype music lessons...

I use Call Recorder to tape my Skype lessons. I've had it for 5 years. Back then I think it was $20. Once it's up and running I don't really need to do anything. I only Skype with my teacher but whenever he calls it starts working.

sukie said:

I use Call Recorder to tape my Skype lessons. I've had it for 5 years. Back then I think it was $20. Once it's up and running I don't really need to do anything. I only Skype with my teacher but whenever he calls it starts working.

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Thanks for the recommendation. You are the second person who has mentioned it, but it is only for MAC. Any Windows ideas?

sukie said:

I use Call Recorder to tape my Skype lessons. I've had it for 5 years. Back then I think it was $20. Once it's up and running I don't really need to do anything. I only Skype with my teacher but whenever he calls it starts working.

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Oh! I have a Mac if that makes a difference.



Skype lessons are amazing. I can't believe how much he hears. He can tell what angle my thumb is, he can hear anything. It's amazing, I tell ya. And im not using any fancy equipment. Only a couple times have I wished his hands could come through the screen and show me. I like being able to go back and listen to stuff I missed.

Booli said:

No I have not taken any Skype (or Facetime or Google hangouts) remote lessons, but I am quite familiar with the basics of these, and have used them for video chats every once in a while.

One reason I like the idea is because you can take lessons from a teacher who would be otherwise geographically impossible to work with. Like Aldrine, or Sarah Maisel, Jake, James Hill, or Glen Rose, etc.

I know these kinds of folks are all crazy busy, recording, touring and giving workshops nearly all the time, so it also affords them the option to give a lesson from any location, so it's convenient for them too.

The ability to record such a lesson is important to me not only for later review/study but also as a keepsake to cherish that one of these great players was able to find time for a 'mere mortal' such as myself, and for me to have the ability to relive that memory via video.

Please tell me more about your experience with Skype music lessons...

Click to expand...

Absolutely Booli. I have had a few lessons from different teachers and the results have been good. My only problem has been the connection. The computer I use is hooked up through WIFI and the signal is good for typing and email but not for Skype. That problem will be remedied soon.

You can get close enough to see the fretting and it has helped by being able to be corrected as I was learning it, instead of creating the bad habit. I always felt that they were right there with me and I have also felt that the 3 people I have done this with have given me their undivided attention. I recommend it heartily.

I started with someone new yesterday and I feel that these lessons are going to reign in my focus. My problem is that I am all over the place. I have had more than one superb player say that I have the basics down and am on the right track, but I lack the focus. Now that I am on a schedule, this should help me immensely.

...and yes, it is a special feeling that some of the Uke Stars of our little community do give these lessons and you are right there with them.

I have no Windows recommendations since I had moved off Windows to Mac back in 2005, and since Dec 2014 I am now on Linux (for everything except music recording & production), but I do have a few ideas that might work for you based upon the results I just found for Linux.

For Linux, lots of the answers to similar questions on other forums seem to be focused upon using one of the screen recording or 'screencast' apps for Linux, such as Kazam or Vokoscreen, both of which let you define either the entire screen, a specific window (or program), or a specific area to record along with options for the sound from your mic and speaker, into a variety of different formats, with the default being an h.264 MP4 video.

SO, my thinking is that if there is not a free Windows app that lets you have direct integration with Skype itself, maybe a 'screen recording/capture' app would work for you in Windows. I am not sure if they are still around, but I remember that SnagIt and Camtasia were popular back in the day.

Sorry I could not offer more help for Windows. The Skype forums have many discussions on this topic right now, but I do not see one app that is loved more than others, or that crashes less than others based upon my initial scanning of their forum threads.

For myself, I plan to test Kazam and Vokoscreen (for capturing a Skype video call), which I've already got installed, and if you are on a Debian-based Linux distro (like Ubuntu), they are both in the default software repositories, and can easily be added to your system with a simple 'sudo apt-get install kazam && vokoscreen' from a terminal prompt (of if you want a GUI to do it, you can use Synaptic).

Slightly off topic -- For anyone who might be interested, when I built this Linux computer back in Dec 2014, I did a lot of research for HD Linux webcams and ended up getting the Logitech C920C model, which is a full 1080p camera with stereo noise canceling mics, and does h.264 compression in hardware on the camera before the video stream hits your USB port, which lowers the required bandwidth of the video that has to be fed into your USB port (due to the stream already being compressed). It is also one of the FEW cameras that work on Mac and Linux as well as Windows (i.e., class-compliant USB and NOT needing any funky drivers)

Both the video and audio quality are impressive and for testing I used the app GUCView, and CheeseCam to make a few test videos, and VLC (VideoLan Client) can ALSO capture video from this camera.

I've also tested the video recording function of this Logitech camera on my late-2012 i7 Quad-core Mac Mini (which I ONLY use for music production) in both Quicktime and iMovie and it works really great on Mac OSX 10.9 Maverix as well, without any drivers.

Hopefully, at least this info might help someone looking for a webcam to use across different operating systems.

sukie said:

Skype lessons are amazing. I can't believe how much he hears. He can tell what angle my thumb is, he can hear anything. It's amazing, I tell ya. And im not using any fancy equipment. Only a couple times have I wished his hands could come through the screen and show me. I like being able to go back and listen to stuff I missed.

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That's great Sukie!

rappsy said:

Absolutely Booli. I have had a few lessons from different teachers and the results have been good. My only problem has been the connection. The computer I use is hooked up through WIFI and the signal is good for typing and email but not for Skype. That problem will be remedied soon.

You can get close enough to see the fretting and it has helped by being able to be corrected as I was learning it, instead of creating the bad habit. I always felt that they were right there with me and I have also felt that the 3 people I have done this with have given me their undivided attention. I recommend it heartily.

I started with someone new yesterday and I feel that these lessons are going to reign in my focus. My problem is that I am all over the place. I have had more than one superb player say that I have the basics down and am on the right track, but I lack the focus. Now that I am on a schedule, this should help me immensely.

...and yes, it is a special feeling that some of the Uke Stars of our little community do give these lessons and you are right there with them.

Click to expand...

In a few weeks I will have time to really look at all this again, and sign up with a teacher for weekly video lessons. One thing that stopped me before was that the only decent webcam I had previously was the one built-in to my iPad, and other than setting up a second camera (DV video tape, ugh) over my shoulder, pointed at the screen of the iPad, there would be no way to easily record those sessions...

[edited to add]:

It sounds like you two are having a good experience with remote lessons, which is kind of what I figured it would be anyway from a good teacher. A good friend of mine's wife (certified teacher with a Masters in Ed.) does tutoring of schoolkids in the evenings using Skype for some extra money and finds it a very useful tool.

Skype actual generates LOTS of network traffic, even when you are not actively using it, since in Windows it gets installed as a 'service' and is ALWAYS running in the background, whether you are on a call or not. This function is happening because your computer is being used to relay the traffic of other Skype users all the time in the background. Before thoughts of 'how dare they...etc' come to mind, it was in the Terms Of Service with that little 'I Agree' checkbox that nobody ever reads because it's like 5,000 words of legalese nonsense to any layman.

Just remember that if the 'service' is free, then YOU are the product being 'sold' to parties unknown (with or without your explicit consent). This holds true for both Gmail and Facebook as well. But I digress....

Lenny, it is good that you have found a path to help guide your towards focusing your efforts. For a while now I feel like I have plateaued with the ukulele. I need to get a teacher that can tie in what I hear and what my fingers do, with a good amount of music theory to help me understand the way certain kinds of songs are put together, as well as help me become a better songwriter, and all of this with a healthy dose of either standard notation or tablature for a written reference. It would be helpful I think if the teacher was also familiar with guitar and/or piano, since I've played both, on and off, with varying levels of proficiency over the past 35 yrs, and would really like the take my uke playing to the next level. I know it's a tall order, but I guess it's better than not knowing what you want, or not having a clear objective.

Unfortunately, right now time is my enemy, and free time is hard to come by. I try to not 'fret' over it for as they say, 'when the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear.'

Booli said:

SO, my thinking is that if there is not a free Windows app that lets you have direct integration with Skype itself, maybe a 'screen recording/capture' app would work for you in Windows. I am not sure if they are still around, but I remember that SnagIt and Camtasia were popular back in the day.

Click to expand...

Camtasia is awesome, and I use it often in my job. But it isn't cheap--$299 per license. You can download a full-featured trial version that works for 30 days.

As an alternative, you can use Camstudio. It's not nearly as good as Camtasia, but it's free.

I use Call Recorder from ECamm with my Mac. Works great. Sorry no experience with Windows.

Pono and Mac. KoAloha and Windows. Can we be any different? Probably the reason why we get along so. well.

sam13 said:

I use Call Recorder from ECamm with my Mac. Works great. Sorry no experience with Windows.

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Booli said:

Lenny, it is good that you have found a path to help guide your towards focusing your efforts. For a while now I feel like I have plateaued with the ukulele. I need to get a teacher that can tie in what I hear and what my fingers do, with a good amount of music theory to help me understand the way certain kinds of songs are put together, as well as help me become a better songwriter, and all of this with a healthy dose of either standard notation or tablature for a written reference. It would be helpful I think if the teacher was also familiar with guitar and/or piano, since I've played both, on and off, with varying levels of proficiency over the past 35 yrs, and would really like the take my uke playing to the next level. I know it's a tall order, but I guess it's better than not knowing what you want, or not having a clear objective.

Unfortunately, right now time is my enemy, and free time is hard to come by. I try to not 'fret' over it for as they say, 'when the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear.'

Click to expand...

Hi Booli: It does the take commitment, but that's what I need the most. There are plenty of resources out there, but with no one to report to, (so to speak), there is no real urgency. This way, I have set a weekly goal for myself and my teacher. If I don't meet the goal, I am letting myself down, and I run the risk of having the teacher think that they are wasting their time. I would rather get better and prove to me and to them that I was worth their time.