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My audio isn't being recorded

Otter Help
  • Updated

We understand the frustration when encountering an issue with recording audio, but fear not—solutions are within reach. This guide is designed to assist you in resolving the challenge of uncooperative audio recording, ensuring you get back on track to capture your sound seamlessly.

Troubleshoot: For a more in-depth troubleshooting guide on audio issues, check out our Troubleshooting Audio Problems article. 

Headphones

Recording manually in Otter requires the use of your microphone and speaker. As audio is played through your device’s speaker, the microphone will pick it up, and be recorded in Otter within the browser. Wearing headphones (e.g. Airpods, wired headphones, headsets, external microphone/speakers) can affect audio recording, as the microphone may not be picking up the audio coming out of the device speaker. 

Example: Playing a video on YouTube while wearing headphones and transcribing in Otter.

  • The YouTube video audio is only coming through your headphones into your ear.
  • Your headphones or device’s microphone is not able to pick up the audio from the YouTube video, as the audio is only playing through your headphones.  

If you have a video or audio file you want Otter to transcribe, we recommend importing the file directly into Otter.

For videos or audio streams that cannot be downloaded, record without headphones. 

Tip: For YouTube, Vimeo, or other video platforms, you can download the audio or video, and import the file directly into Otter.

Safari recording issues

Apple prevents recording any audio playback (e.g. audio coming out of the device speaker) in the Safari browser. Meeting participant voices coming out of the speaker will not be picked up by the microphone, as Apple prevents it from being recorded. This is a limitation set by Apple, not by us. 

Our recommendation is to record in Chrome or Firefox if you are recording manually in Otter. 

Note: There is currently a known issue with Chrome and its feature flag, Chrome-wide echo cancellation. Learn more about disabling the feature flag for Chrome-wide echo cancellation here. 

Noise cancellation software or features

Any noise cancellation software or features on your computer, mobile device, or headset may prevent Otter from picking up audio playing from your speakers. Noise-canceling software or features will filter out a person's voice because it identifies it as background noise. To record audio from your speakers, temporarily disable any noise cancellation apps or features.

Audio suppression settings

There are various names for these settings depending on your device, operating system, or application: noise suppression, echo cancellation, reduced background noise, etc.  Noise suppression settings can cause playback audio and input audio to not be recorded properly. The following are known to have audio suppression settings:

  • Dell computers
  • HP computers
  • Krisp.ai application
  • Microsoft Teams application

Note: Settings for audio suppression can vary per device, operating system, or application. Please reach out to the manufacturer for more information on how to navigate and manage those settings.

Need additional help?

If you're still experiencing problems, contact our Otter Support Team for additional assistance. 

Note: In your request for support, ensure you note which troubleshooting steps from this article you've already tried and their results so we can expedite the process. 






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