How does it work?
Press the microphone button and your browser asks whether this page may use your microphone. Say yes, and recording starts. The level meter shows what's coming in, so you can check you're not too quiet or too loud before you say anything important.
Press stop and the clip appears below with a player and a save button. Everything stays inside the tab — there's no upload, no account and no file sitting on a server somewhere.
What you can use it for
- Voice memos. Catch an idea, a phone number or a shopping list before you forget it.
- Practice playback. Record a song, a speech or a language exercise and listen back to what you actually sound like.
- Microphone tests. Check a new headset or interface is picking up sound at a sensible level.
- Interview notes. Keep a rough audio record of a meeting or call. Ask the other people first.
- Pronunciation practice. Record a phrase, compare it with a reference, repeat until it matches.
Getting a cleaner recording
Most of what makes a recording sound bad has nothing to do with the microphone. A few small changes help more than new gear:
- Sit closer. Around a hand's width from the mic is usually right, slightly off to one side so your breath doesn't hit it.
- Turn off the fan, close the window, and stop the washing machine. Background noise is much harder to remove than to avoid.
- Record in a room with soft things in it. Curtains, a rug and a sofa all soak up the echo that bare walls throw back.
- Watch the level meter. If it's pinned in the red the sound is clipping, and no amount of editing brings that back.
- Do a five-second test first. It takes a moment and it catches the mistakes that would otherwise ruin a long take.
Where do the recordings go?
Nowhere, until you save them. Each clip lives in your browser's memory while the tab is open. Closing or reloading the page clears the list, so use the save button on anything you want to keep — the file lands in your normal downloads folder.
Files come out as WebM with Opus audio in most browsers, and as M4A in Safari. Both play in modern media players and both upload fine to editing tools. If you need WAV or MP3, convert the saved file with any audio editor.