The ability to record VoIP calls is essential for many podcasters. A number of solutions have been devised to handle this process. But those solutions often include makeshift implementations of hardware and software that may be complex or unreliable. A handful of services have spring up over the last few years to try and tame the VoIP-recording beast. One of the leaders in this area, Zencastr, recently launched version 1.0 of its service. Here are a few of its features:

• Live Editing Soundboard: “This allows you to Inject your intro, outro, advertisement, or other sound bite into your show in real-time as you record. You can trigger the sounds by clicking the button or by using the 1 – 9 keys on your keyboard. You can customize these sounds to be whatever you want. You can even add .mp4 video files and playback the audio from them.” Audio played thru the soundboard will be heard by all sides of the VoIP call.
• Live Monitoring: “You can now enable microphone monitoring to hear yourself in the mix in real-time so you can adjust levels accordingly and guarantee the best possible result. This is helpful in making sure your levels sound good against the levels on your soundboard samples.”
• User Cards: “…you can now see what microphone a guest has selected. Now you can be confident that they haven’t accidentally selected the wrong microphone. Additionally, you will see a warning if the guest is low on disk space. You can hover over this to see exactly how much space they have left.”

The service has a multi-tiered pricing plan, ranging from a free “hobbyist” plan to a “professional” $20/month plan. An enterprise-level Zencastr tier is coming soon.

Zencastr states that what’s been achieved so far is just the beginning of what it has to offer. If you’d like to learn more about Zencastr, check out the company’s website.