You'll learn how to: Pick the right recording mode for your meeting and understand what each mode captures.
Time: 2 minutes.
Prereqs: Nynch Listener installed.
The two recording modes
Listener has two modes to handle different meeting scenarios. Choose the one that fits your situation.
Remote call mode
When to use: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, WebEx, phone calls, or any meeting where participants are on a video or audio call.
What it captures:
- System audio (the other person's voice coming from your speakers or headphones).
- Your microphone (optional).
Result: A transcript of the full conversation. Both sides of the call are captured. Listener handles speaker diarization so you can see who said what.
Why not use in-person for remote calls: If you only record your microphone, you miss what the other person said. The transcript will be one-sided and useless.
In-person mode
When to use: 1-on-1 meetings in the same room, job interviews, sales calls where you're in person, or presentations you're giving to an audience.
What it captures:
- Only your microphone.
Result: A transcript of the person's words as captured through your mic (the closest speaker to the device). Listener transcribes what your microphone picks up.
Why in-person? When you're in the same room, capturing system audio would pick up keyboard noise, notifications, or other ambient sounds. Microphone-only recording is cleaner and faster to process.
How to choose your mode
| Scenario | Mode | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom, Teams, Google Meet call | Remote call | Captures both sides of the conversation |
| Phone call (yours or theirs) | Remote call | Captures both sides of the conversation |
| In-person meeting (same room) | In-person | Microphone only, cleaner audio |
| Sales call (in the same location) | In-person | Microphone only, avoids room noise |
| Customer interview (in person) | In-person | Captures the customer's words via your mic |
| Presentation or talk (you speaking to an audience) | In-person | Captures your voice via the mic |
Setting your mode
When you open Listener and before you click Start:
- Look for the Recording Mode selector. It usually appears at the top of the screen or in the main controls.
- Select Remote call or In-person.
- Click Start.
You can change the mode before each recording. It's not a one-time setting.
What happens after you choose a mode
- Remote call: When you click Start, the OS shows a screen/tab picker. You must tick "Share audio" to capture the call. See Record your first meeting.
- In-person: When you click Start, the OS may ask to use your microphone. Click Allow.
The "Share audio" requirement for remote calls
Important: For remote calls, you MUST tick "Share audio" in the OS permission prompt.
- Without "Share audio" ticked, Listener captures only your microphone, not the call audio. The transcript will be missing the other person's voice.
- Ticking "Share audio" does NOT broadcast your audio to the call or let anyone hear what you're recording. It only lets Listener access the audio stream internally.
See Grant microphone and screen permissions for the exact steps.
If something goes wrong
- Symptom: "I chose Remote call but the transcript only has my voice, not the other person's." → Fix: You probably didn't tick "Share audio" in the OS permission prompt. When you start the recording next time, look carefully for the "Share audio" checkbox and make sure it's ticked before clicking Share. See Grant microphone and screen permissions.
- Symptom: "I chose In-person but the recording is silent or very faint." → Fix: Your microphone may not be working or too far from your mouth. Check that your mic permissions are granted in OS settings. See Grant microphone and screen permissions. Also test that the mic works in a voice call or voice memo app.
- Symptom: "Can I switch modes mid-recording?" → Fix: No. The mode is set when you click Start. If you need to change it, click Stop & Send, wait for the upload to complete, then start a new recording with the correct mode.
- Symptom: "For an in-person meeting in a quiet room, should I use in-person or remote mode?" → Fix: Use In-person mode. It's designed for in-room conversations and gives you a cleaner transcript by recording only the microphone.
After choosing your mode
Next: Record your first meeting.
Related: Record your first meeting | Grant microphone and screen permissions | Troubleshoot Listener not capturing audio.