In these days of VOIP, Skype and increasingly super fast broadband (at least in some parts of the country) there is something that often mystifies new comers to the world of voiceover – why does everyone who’s serious about it seem to have an ISDN connection? Why do we still have a tool of the trade that is basically two copper phone lines bundled together and that gives you a connection speed reminiscent of the early days of internet dial up…and a sound that’s not technically as good as mp3?

I guess it a legacy thing – it seems like you only look serious as a voiceover if you’ve got it – plus all these production studios and radio stations have these rack mounted bits of kit that cost a small fortune to install and so they’re going to continue using them – and actually the quality is fine for speech.

But here’s the thing – ISDN has been around since the 80’s – so why haven’t the glitches been ironed out? We always do a “line test” before an ISDN session because almost every time you try to connect there’s some quirk in the system whereby the the 2 pieces of kit refuse to talk to one another. Or one of them connects just fine – but the one at the other end doesn’t.

I’ve got a software ISDN codec which is supposed to easily link to any ISDN box out there. It’s scarily simple to use – it just sits on my studio PC and when its connected two little lights come on. When there’s a problem with the line the engineer at the other end (with an expensive rack mounted box) has many variables and settings to play/experiment with and I just set mine to automatically set itself to the settings of whatever is at the other end of the line. It means I feel a bit like I’m missing out – nothing to play with! The whole process of setting up the ISDN session feels like trying to appease the ISDN gods – sometimes they go along with it – sometimes they don’t and you never know what you did or didn’t do that made the difference.

ISDN’s days are at last probably numbered – increasingly its being used as a means to direct the session from the remote the studio while we record at our end and then send the session audio files over the internet afterwards.

Still it makes life interesting – you can be chatting to a producer in London one minute then hooking up with a studio in Ireland or Dubai the next. At the very least you get an idea of the weather in far flung places while sitting in a white sound proof metal box in a basement the UK.

You can find out more about ISDN on the FAQ page on the dvoicebox website.