[LAU] Minimalist telephone interview setup

[Alf Haakon Pietruszka Lund]

Dear list!

I just spent a lot of time finding a good setup for telephone 
interviews. In case someone else is interested for making podcasts or 
live shows of some sorts, I thought I'd share the setup:

# Hardware
Laptop, smartphone, USB interface, iRig 2, microphone, headphones.
XLR cable for the mic, 2 Jack - Jack 1/4" TS cables, USB cable.

I'm switching between an Edirol UA-25ex and a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4.

Proper connection of the phone to the setup was a headache and I spent 
quite some time testing a range of adapters. Most of them require an 
electret mic to function, which does not go well with my setup. Thanks 
to https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wl6YuVu_v_g for pointing me to the iRig.

# Connections
Mic > USB 1
USB out 1 > iRig instrument input
iRig amp out > USB 2
iRig < > telephone
iRig set to FX

To cancel echo from my own voice the Input / Monitor selector on the USB 
needs to be set almost fully counter-clockwise (almost input only).

# Software
Kubuntu Studio 20.04, Ardour 6.6, Studio Controls 2.1.64, Carla 2.3.0, 
Ubuntu studio backports PPA.

# Software connections
1. Set Ardour to handle monitoring
2. Set Ardour Master to send L/R to System playback 2
3. Set up a mono foldback bus in Ardour for mix minus (everything except 
the caller). Foldback sends to System Playback 1
4. Use Carla > Patchbay to disconnect System playback from pulse_out

Using a cheap Shure PG58 mic this setup is close to noiseless, even in 
my bedroom home office :-)

Regards,
Alf