What is Recording

From RecordingWiki

[edit] General Overview of Recording

Organizations are accountable for what transpires from both its internal- and external communications, and as a result, voice logging originated. The original voice logger was an analogue system developed in 1950, from the relatively simple requirement of being able to record (and retrieve) telephonic interactions. (The word "logging" stems from the “log” of audio files that is generated as each recording is made.)

Over time the application of voice logging has expanded from merely being used in review of what was said, by whom, to being implemented as a tool that controls telephony costs, assists with lost information retrieval and even employee performance evaluation. It is a tool that has the inherent potential to bluntly settle disputes at the level of origination (eliminating costly investigation & follow up), or to materially assist in litigious proceedings.

Ideally, a call-file should be date- and time stamped, with enough data points attached to allow multiple search-criteria: caller, number called, duration, user, filesize. A system should enable the user to either automatically, or selectively capture telephone activity (and both sides of the conversation), to archive, note, retrieve, review, and be able to forward information. Unfortunately, MP3 protocol limits what can in fact be “attached” to a file. It would be great if we could add the “policy number” or “claim number” to the file, but that is not feasible, as yet. However, we have a surprisingly simple manner of circumventing the inherent limitation of Mp3 files.

Mp3 is a compression algorithm designed to reduce the amount of data required to represent the audio recording, yet still to sound like a faithful reproduction (although not in high fidelity audio). The compression works by reducing the accuracy of certain parts of a sound that are beyond the human ear's auditory ability, by using acoustic models to discard / reduce these components, to only record the remaining information.

There is a trade-off between the amount of space used and the sound quality of the result. Typically, Mp3 files are created using a bit rate setting of 128 kbit/s (about 1/10th the size of the original source), but it can be constructed at higher or lower bit rates, with higher or lower resulting quality.

However, “Hertz” (Hz) is a measure of frequency, that refers to the ‘number of cycles occurring per second’. It is the basic unit of frequency and used to describe radio and audio frequencies. Whereas Mp3 determines the underlying data file’s recording, Hz influences the quality of the source of the call-file.

A telephone conversation is in any event subject to the bottleneck of the telephony network itself. Telephones transmit a very small / light frequency (around 8 800Hz), which simply means that a recording of a call can never be comparable to hi fidelity audio.

Did you know? In the 1960s, packets of the “Cap'n Crunch” breakfast cereal included a free, small whistle that could (by coincidence) generated a 2600 Hz tone. By dialling a telephone number, covering one of the whistle's two holes and then blowing the whistle, the sound would fool the telephone line that it was not being used while, in fact, the whistler was now able to make a call to any destination in the world, for free!

[edit] Types of Recording Systems

• Analogue (tape) systems: Older models are based on reel-to-reel tape to store conversations; they hook an individual cassette tape recorder up to the individual telephone line. These days’ tape systems are usually more expensive to maintain and less accessible to ‘search’ than digital systems.
• Digital systems (that cater for trunk-side and/or extension-side recording). These are the most commonly used today, and typicallyconsist of a either a proprietary “box” of hardware that hooks into the phone system or telephone lines, or by software systems (“softphones”) that use a PC’s sound card to record telephone calls. Some are simple single-user systems that only require installation of the software on thePC, whilst using a simple adapter to connect the PC to the telephone. (Usually this type of application can only record the line on which it is installed, and is relatively limited in respect of features.) Calls are typically stored in a compact, MP3 format.
• Business-class recording systems enable businesses of all sizes to deploy centralized call recording (digital) and -monitoring. Some systems allow users to remotely review telephone recordings with desktop screen capture and quality reporting. These systems typically access the telephony system via the chromo - or switchboard, with modular architecture allowing scalability of installation.
  

More information about the types of Recording Systems is available in the Technology Section of this Wiki.   Whatever your setup, a solution can be implemented. Systems can be tailored to any possible PABX or call-centre environment, securing tamper-proof management of recorded data.

[edit] Categories of Recording

There are three primary types of "Recording" in use today.  They are

• Call Recording.  Recording a telephone conversation.
• Data Recording.  Recording a pack flow on a data communication network, such as the Internet. 
• Screen Recording.  Recording the information displayed on a screen, such as in the case of remote workers to remote assistance applications.  

In addition, there are other types of recording as well.