How to record clean Skype interviews (for free)

Don’t let the UI get in the way of your interview captures

While working on an upcoming video project about how music venues are being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, I knew I had to figure out how to record clean interviews. This isn’t something that is usually taught so I went out determined to find a way.

Fortunately, a trial for a paid program that promised this functionality didn’t work for me and so, after some head scratching, I came across the NDI service Microsoft recently added to Skype.

It’s a bit unintuitive at first and I found the literature that’s out there to not eschew some trial and error, so here’s what you need to do.

The NDI service works with Skype for desktop (not the Windows Store app) and should work for PC or Mac.

You just have to activate NDI in Skype’s Calls setting page under “Advanced.”

In the screenshot you can see the NDI setting in the Advanced Calling settings page on Skype for desktop on Windows. On the right is the NDI Monitor application. Notice the little record button on the bottom left.

Then a link will appear to the website where you can go to tools and download NDI 4 Tools for your platform.

Or you can just download NDI 4 Tools here.

Studio Monitor is all you really need to record clean video and audio coming from your interviewees.

In my experience on Windows, the executable installs multiple components. There’s a good chance it is similar on Mac. Just open the install package and drag the applications to your apps.

You can also try some other programs to record the video if you are feeling adventurous which Microsoft listed here.

If you are going with NDI Tools, what you need is the NDI studio monitor (the dark blue icon).

Once open you need to select the input (after your call has begun though, or nothing will be there) at the top of the drop-down behind the hamburger menu or by right-clicking within the window. If you have a Skype call in progress the stream should then appear. You should make sure your settings have the program save recordings to the location of your preference.

To record, hit the little red button on the button left of the window and you will see the recording time counting up. Videos record as .mov files and Adobe Premiere Pro can open them just fine.

Don’t get a heart attack if the files don’t play on Windows. There’s no way to play the files properly except through quality video editing software like Premiere Pro which has the right .mov codecs apparently.

Another thing is that while your interview is being recorded with the NDI application it will sound like there is an echo. I assume this is because it plays back the audio as part of the monitoring process, but the recording does not actually have an echo. There might be a way to mute the monitor while still recording fine but I haven’t had the chance to test that thoroughly. As a rule of thumb, if it’s got an echo before you hit record, that’s a problem you’ll want to get sorted out first.

Finally, NDI sometimes will stop recording and start again, probably due to connection problems. From what I understand, it stops the video and starts a new one once the connection is good enough to start recording again. One time it did not restart was when my interviewee took their headphones out. So be sure to check that it’s recording after a video or audio device changes.

If there’s anything you think I should have included, please share and I’ll update the post.

Hope this helps other content creators out there, good luck!

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