The other side is on my track: fixing echo in call recordings

Wear headphones and it stops: with the sound in your ears instead of the room, the microphone has nothing of theirs to pick up.

This guide explains why it happens in recordings even when nobody on the call hears an echo, what you can do without headphones, and how to correct a transcript that already has it.

Why it happens

A recorder that keeps you and the other side apart does it with two inputs: your microphone, which is you, and the sound your Mac plays, which is everyone else. That split is what lets a transcript say who spoke without learning anyone's voice. Why a meeting recorder should keep you and them on separate tracks covers how it works.

The split assumes the microphone hears only you. On speakers it does not. The microphone hears you, plus a slightly delayed and quieter copy of everything the other side says. Their sentence is now on both tracks: on theirs, cleanly, and on yours, from the room. A transcript made from the two tracks can show the same sentence twice, once for them and once for you, or put fragments of their speech under your name.

It is worse with:

• a MacBook on its built-in speakers at high volume;
• a hard, echoing room;
• a microphone that is closer to the speakers than to you, such as a webcam on top of a monitor with speakers underneath.

Why the call sounds fine

Zoom, Teams, Meet and the rest cancel echo for what they send. When they hold the microphone, they process its signal to subtract what they just played, so the other people do not hear themselves back. That processing belongs to the call app and happens in its own copy of the audio.

A separate recorder may receive the microphone signal before or without that processing, so it hears the room as it is. That is why the call can sound clean to everyone on it and the recording can still have the other side on your track.

Fix it

Wear headphones

This is the fix that works completely. Wired earphones, over-ear headphones, AirPods: any of them keeps the other side's voice out of the room.

With Bluetooth headsets there is a second question: which microphone you use. When a Bluetooth headset's microphone is active, many switch into a mode with lower sound quality for both directions. One approach is to listen on the headset and speak into the Mac's built-in microphone. Recording a call while wearing AirPods or a Bluetooth headset goes through the options.

If you cannot wear headphones

These reduce echo, but do not remove it:

• Turn the speaker volume down to the lowest level you can hear clearly.
• Sit closer to the microphone than the speakers are. A headset microphone or a desk microphone close to you helps more than any setting.
• Use the microphone on the device that is furthest from the speakers.
• Soften the room: a room with curtains, carpet or furniture reflects less.

If the microphone input on your Mac is not the one you think, the problem may be different. Choosing the right microphone on a Mac shows how to check.

Correct the transcript afterwards

Echo in the recording cannot be removed after the fact: it is mixed into the microphone track along with your voice. The transcript can be corrected.

• Misattributed lines. Where a line that is theirs appears only on your side, move it to theirs, if your tool lets you.
• Duplicates. Where the same sentence appears on both sides, read the copy on their side as the real one, and bear it in mind when you quote or summarise.

Do this before generating a summary or action items from the transcript. An AI note built from a transcript with the other side's words under your name can attribute their commitments to you.

How Notey handles it

Notey records your microphone and the sound your Mac plays as two separate tracks, so it is subject to exactly this. Three things in the app are aimed at it.

• A note while you record. When you are on the Mac's built-in speakers, Notey shows one line during the recording: "On speakers, the other people can end up on your side too. Headphones fix it." It is advice, not an error.
• Echo cancellation when a call app provides it. When the call app already holds the microphone in its own voice-processing mode, Notey's side of the recording benefits from it, and the note changes to "What your speakers play is being kept off your side of the recording." Notey does not switch that mode on by itself, because doing so turns other apps' microphone down and could make you hard to hear on the call.
• Move a line. In a finished transcript, any line or paragraph can be moved to the other side with Move to, and moved back if you change your mind. Moving a line changes who the transcript credits; it does not change the audio.

Headphones remain the fix. The rest is for the meetings where you did not have them.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the other person's voice appear on my side of the transcript?

Their voice comes out of your Mac's speakers and your microphone hears it. The recorder files everything the microphone hears under you, so some of their words are attributed to you, often as a duplicate of the line already on their side.

Do the other people on the call hear the echo?

Usually not. Call apps cancel echo for what they send to the other side. That cancellation happens inside the call app, and a separate recorder listening to the microphone may still hear the raw sound from the speakers.

Do AirPods fix echo in a recording?

Yes, for echo. Anything that keeps the other side's voice out of the room fixes it, and any headphones do that. Bluetooth headsets bring their own trade-off when their microphone is in use; see recording a call while wearing AirPods.

Can I fix the transcript after the meeting?

In Notey you can move a line to the other side, which changes who the transcript credits. The recording itself cannot be un-mixed, because the echo is in the microphone track.