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[sevenlayermuddle]

I've been googling, with little success, to find out what the voice quality (e.g. frequency range) for land-lines is, these days?

I'm thinking of recording (with other party's permission) some speech for use as voiceover in a video I'm putting together from camcorder footage of a recent trip, but I don't want it to be obvious that it was recorded by phone.  For example, the phone-a-friends in "who wants to be a millionare" sound very recognisable as telephone voices and so that voice quality would be no good to me.  That example could be deliberate for dramatic effect,  but I doubt it.

So, my gut-feeling is that I'd be wasting my time,  but any constructive suggestions would be appreciated.  Indeed, confirmation that I'd be wasting my time would also be appreciated, ideally before I actually waste it 

[kitz]

Im afraid about the only thing I know (but I dont think this is what you were meaning?)... is that pstn for voice is carried over the 30Hz to 4kHz range.

A quick google has brought up this topic where the subject is being discussed.

http://www.articulate.com/forums/general-discussion/4426-producing-high-quality-recording-over-phone.html

It seems like the general opinion is that there isnt much you can do about the quality - see the post by Justin that starts

The issue with the telephone is basically the microphone element of a telephone isn't all that good and then also the bandwidth that the voice is delivered by makes it even worse

, but they do come up with some alternative suggestions that may be worth while looking into.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Thanks for that input Kitz,

Your quick google's been more productive than mine as I found nothing, despite finding longer on it than I care to admit.  That was probably just natural justice as I was doing it at work, which is naughty of course so arguably, I deserved to fail.   

I couldn't help thinking that, since you can get 56k (bits) modem connection end-to-end, the ceiling for audio ought to be 7KHz.  But the evidence is that I'm wrong, and anyway as discussed in that thread, that's only half the problem - the other being crappy telephone mic's.

I reallise the computer'n'mic solution would be better - much better, in fact, as I just need a monologue, no two-way conversation.   So they could just record it and send me an audio file as email attachment.     However, the 'narrators' will be my Mum & Dad and I know they haven't got a Mic connected  and, with sympathy to their technical skills, I don't hold out high hopes of getting them up and running for any kind of sound recording even if I ordered a cheap Mic' from amazon with their address on it.

Methinks think I'll need to do without it.
 7LM

[kitz]

>> the ceiling for audio ought to be 7KHz.

Yep although adsl doesnt use frequencies below 25kHz, tones 2-5 are guard bands to help prevent crosstalk between voice & dsl .. and voice only uses up to 4kHz (1st bin) of bandwidth.  Dial-up is <56kb and also only needs that 1st frequency band.

Something like VoIP 'supposedly' offers better quality
http://www.gipscorp.com/files/english/white_papers/VoIP_PSTN.WP.doc

>> my Mum & Dad and I know they haven't got a Mic connected  and, with sympathy to their technical skills,

Oh dear.. I know that feeling so well... and explaining on the phone isnt always easy.   

I recently zipped a pile of photos and sent them to other family members, inadvertently sending them to dad without thinking twice.
In the end it was easier just to send about 60 pics through separately than try explaining how to open them.
I often give up and end up going round to sort stuff... I suppose its not too bad for me since mine are fairly local... and at least I dont have the trek that you do.

Hope you get something sorted.