Call recording

How to record a phone or WhatsApp interview

Both sides, on separate tracks, on an ordinary Windows PC. No plug-in, no bot joining the meeting, and nothing for the person at the other end to install or agree to.

The idea

Whatever application the call is in, the sound of the other person ends up in one place before it reaches your ears - the machine's own audio output. Windows can hand that back to a program, which is called loopback, and it is what Seston records. Your microphone is recorded at the same time onto a second track.

WhatsApp, Zoom, a phone on speaker Windows mixes it into the output Seston records that output Your microphone on the desk Track 1 the far end Track 2 you
Nothing is installed at the other end. Seston records what the machine is playing, which during a call is the person you are talking to, and your own microphone at the same time on its own track.

Because it works on the output rather than on the call, it does not care what the call is in. WhatsApp, Zoom, Teams, Meet, a phone held to a speakerphone, a station's own talkback - if the machine is playing it, it can be recorded.

Setting it up, once

Wear headphones

This is the one rule that matters, and skipping it is the usual reason a call recording sounds wrong.

Speakers Microphone the same voice, twice, a few milliseconds apart
On speakers the far end returns through your microphone, so it lands on both tracks slightly out of step and the two cancel each other in places. Headphones remove the problem completely.

It is not only comb filtering. On speakers the far end also hears themselves coming back, which makes people talk over each other. Any headphones will do.

Editing two sides

Because the tracks are separate, the ordinary things become easy. Cut your own question down without touching their answer. Run Enhance Speech on each voice separately, which matters because a phone line and a studio microphone need different corrections. Mute yourself while they talk, so your breathing is not under their answer.

A telephone line is narrow - roughly 300 Hz to 3.4 kHz - and no amount of processing puts back what was never sent. What you can do is take out the hiss, even the level, and stop the join between their voice and yours from being a cliff. Seston measures and reports both, so you can hear what it did rather than guess.

Recording a call is not the same as being allowed to

Consent rules differ by country and, in some places, by the state or province. In much of Europe all parties must be told. Say at the top of the recording that you are recording, and keep that part of the file - it is both the courtesy and the evidence.

What you need

The handbook covers the buttons; the calls section shows the panel this is set up in.