Recording

Microphone

Realtime microphone screenshot

Screenshot

What This Page Solves

Recording is the safer choice when you want to preserve source media first and decide on transcription quality afterward.

Use it when:

• you need a durable archive of the original session
• the session is too important to rely on live text alone
• you want to transcribe after the recording with more stable settings

When To Use It

Prefer Recording when

• archive quality matters
• you expect to review or reprocess the session later
• you want to separate capture from transcription decisions

Do not start here when

• you need live text while speaking: use Realtime Microphone Transcription
• you need live text from app audio: use Realtime App Transcription

Recommended Workflow

1. Run a short test clip for permissions, input level, and playback.
2. Record the real session without frequent device changes.
3. Save the source file before tuning any transcription settings.
4. Transcribe afterward with Whisper or a realtime model depending on quality and hardware goals.
5. Continue in Note for cleanup and export.

This workflow is slower than a live workflow, but it is often better when the source itself matters.

Key Decisions

1. Why record first

Recording first reduces the risk of losing the source when:

• live latency is unpredictable
• the session is long
• you may need to retranscribe with different settings later

2. What to decide after recording

Once the file exists, you can make calmer quality decisions:

• Whisper for higher-accuracy review
• realtime models for faster draft generation on lighter hardware
• GPU only if it proves stable on your machine

3. When recording beats realtime

Recording is usually the better answer when the cost of a bad live session is higher than the cost of waiting for final text.

Common Mistakes And Troubleshooting

• Changing devices repeatedly during recording Lock routing before the session.
• Deleting source media immediately Keep the original until review is complete.
• Checking only free space, not storage reliability Long sessions work better on stable local storage than on flaky external drives.

If something goes wrong, check:

1. permission state
2. device routing and levels
3. disk space and write path
4. playback integrity of the recorded file

Read Next

• Post-record transcription workflow: File Transcription
• Live microphone workflow instead: Realtime Microphone Transcription
• Live app-audio workflow instead: Realtime App Transcription