How to Record Virtual Calls for Transcription

As a result of the pandemic, many companies have moved their employees from office workspaces to working from home indefinitely. So, instead of hopping into a company conference room for a department meeting or a manager’s office for a one-on-one check-in, team members are now going virtual with their meetings and other workplace needs.

Multilingual Connections can support this move by transcribing and/or translating your virtual announcements, meetings, employee training, interviews, and more to ensure that business continues uninterrupted and that all stakeholders have access to the information they need while remote.

To help with this transition, we’ve compiled some tips on how to record your virtual calls and prepare your files for transcription. 

1. Ensure your recording is good quality

Before hopping on a call, we recommend developing team-wide guidelines for virtual calls to avoid interruptions and background noise, which can make audio difficult to transcribe. Virtual call guidelines will not only make your video calls more effective but also help ensure that you receive a complete and accurate transcript when the time comes. Examples of items for the guidelines can include having all team members mute themselves before the start of the recording, requesting team members to hold questions until the end or ask questions in the chat as to not interrupt the speaker, and/or requiring team members to wear headphones to reduce the chances of audio feedback when speaking. Making sure you have a fast and clear internet connection is key to making sure you don’t cut in and out during the recording, as well. 

2. Record your virtual calls using Zoom

We’ve used Zoom as an example here, but the process is similar across platforms. You can scroll down further in this section for instructions for Google Meet and Skype.  

As you probably know by now, Zoom is one of the most popular online meeting platforms, and luckily, recording your meeting for transcription using Zoom is super easy. Recording before and after you share your screen is a little different, so we will walk you through both options. To start recording before you enable screen sharing, click the ‘Record’ icon from the bottom menu. Your audio and video will be recorded until you stop the recording or leave the meeting. 

To stop or pause the recording during your meeting, click the appropriate button: 

If you want to start recording after you enabled screen sharing, the option will be available at the top of your screen. Click ‘More’ in the top meeting controls menu and then select ‘Record’ from the drop-down menu. You will also be able to pause or stop your recording from the same drop-down menu.

After you leave the meeting or stop the recording, the videos will be converted to an .mp4 format and saved to your computer. And that’s it! 

Or, use another platform to record your call 

You can also record your meetings using Google Meet or Skype. Recording your virtual events is simple with these platforms, as well, and you can visit the following links for instructions on how to get started on Google Meet and Skype.

3. Send your recorded call to a trusted language solutions partner to transcribe, translate, voice, or subtitle. 

Multilingual Connections can handle virtually any recorded file type, including .mp4. So, as soon as you have your session recorded, exported, and are ready to have it transcribed or translated, you can do so by uploading the file and requesting a quote here. 

As your trusted language solutions partner, we at Multilingual Connections work with any audio and video formats and translate to and from 75+ languages, offering flexible solutions tailored to your budget and needs. 

Our services to support recorded virtual calls include various types of transcription as well as voiceover and subtitling.

• Monolingual transcription: Source recording>source language text. Refers to transcription without translation. (i.e. English audio>English text)
• Interpretive transcription: Source audio>target language text. Refers to the direct translation of the source recording. (i.e. Spanish audio>English text)
• Double column transcription Source recording>source language text + source text>target translation. Refers to a 2-step process that includes the monolingual transcription and then translation of the source language text into a target language text, for a bilingual transcript.
• Subtitling: Refers to the translation of a recorded dialogue that appears on-screen. 
• Voiceover: Refers to the translation and oral narration of a recording in place of the source recorded language. 

We can also customize your transcripts in terms of formatting, timestamps, speaker IDs, and more!

We pride ourselves on our partnership approach. If you have other questions or special requests, just let us know. Do you have any questions or a project in mind? Request a free quote!