To record an interview for later review in Chrome, get the other person's consent, open Audio Recorder – Voice Recorder, choose Microphone for an in-person conversation or Both for a browser-based call, and press Record. When you stop, the take stays in the popup, where you can trim it, rename it, and export it as MP3 or WAV.
Consent comes first
Before anything technical: tell the person you want to record, explain what the recording is for, and get a clear yes. I like to ask again once the recording is running, so the agreement is on the file itself. Rules on recording conversations differ between countries and regions; some require every participant's consent. Follow local law, your employer's or publication's policy, and any research ethics approval you work under. The guide on consent and etiquette goes into more detail.
In person or online
| Interview format | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Across a table | Microphone | Place the laptop or mic between you, not in front of you |
| Browser-based call | Both | Tab audio carries the guest, the mic carries you |
| Listening back to a call someone else hosted | Tab audio | Only if you have the right to record it |
For calls, wear headphones. With speakers, the guest's voice reaches your microphone a fraction of a second late and the mix sounds doubled. Echo cancellation (on by default) reduces this, but headphones solve it. The guide to recording your voice and tab audio together explains how the Both mix works.
A setup for a one-hour research interview
This is roughly what I would use for a long, seated conversation in a quiet office:
- Source: Microphone; a USB mic on a short stand if you have one.
- Mic volume: 100 % to start. Do a 15-second test with both of you talking, then play it back. If the person further from the mic is faint, raise the volume a few steps.
- Noise suppression and Echo cancellation: on.
- Quality: High (128 kbps, the default). Speech is clear and a one-hour file stays a reasonable size.
- Channels: Mono.
- Skip silence: off. Hesitations and pauses are part of what an interview tells you, and you do not want the start of an answer clipped.
- Auto-stop: 120 minutes, as a safety net if you forget to stop.
- Countdown: Off, so you can start the moment the conversation does.
File sizes for long sessions at each quality level are listed in how big an hour of audio is in each format.
During the interview
Glance at the timer and the live waveform now and then. A moving waveform means sound is arriving; a flat line during speech means something is wrong, and it is far better to notice that at minute three than at the end.
If the guest asks to say something off the record, press Pause (Alt+Shift+P) and tell them you have paused. Resume when they are ready. The status in the popup switches between Recording and Paused, so you can show them. The interview stays one take, without a gap in the file list.
If something goes wrong
If the browser or computer closes during the interview, the unfinished take is usually kept and appears with a "recovered" tag the next time you open the popup. It is still wise to keep a phone recording running as a backup for interviews you cannot repeat. More in what happens if Chrome closes during a recording.
After the interview
- Trim the small talk before the first question and after the goodbye. Drag the handles, then Save trim.
- Rename with a date and a neutral label, for example
2026-10-12 interview P07. Using a participant code rather than a full name is good practice for research. - Choose MP3 under Save as for review on any device, or WAV if the audio goes to someone who edits or archives it.
- Download, then delete the take from the popup once the file is stored where your project keeps its data.
The extension does not transcribe. If you need a written transcript, export the file and use the transcription method your organisation approves.
Privacy
Recordings are stored only in your local browser storage until you download or delete them. No audio goes to a server and no account is needed, which keeps the chain of custody simple: the file exists on your computer and wherever you put it. See the privacy policy for the full list of what the extension does and does not send.