Vinyl works across in-person, online, and hybrid meetings, but to get the best results, it’s important to choose the right setup for your meeting type.
This guide walks you through what setup to use based on how and where you're meeting.
Meeting type | Setup needed | Key notes |
In-person (≤10 ppl, 1–2m) | Mobile app | Introduce speakers at start. No special mic needed. |
Hybrid (in-person + remote) | Online setup | Rename speakers in the transcript after the meeting for in-room speakers. |
Online (everyone remote) | Online setup | Normal setup. Transcription handles most use cases. |
Large in-person (>10 ppl, >3m) | Virtual meeting with muted participants | Avoid echo. Introduce speakers at start. |
In-person meetings
Best for: 1–10 people within 1–2 metres of the phone
Setup: Vinyl mobile app
Key points:
Start recording from your mobile app
Switch on Do Not Disturb and keep your screen unlocked while you record
No need for fancy mics, just use your phone's mic
Normal speaking voice is fine
Background noise is filtered automatically and doesn't impact the recording
You can pause and resume as needed
Best practice: Introduce each speaker at the start to help you assign speakers afterward
🎙️ Set up voiceprints and add colleagues as attendees for automatic speaker labels. What is voiceprint and why should you set it up?
Online meetings
Best for: All online attendees
Setup: Vinyl web platform
Key points:
Vinyl joins the meeting in the waiting room, so you’ll need to let it in manually. It won’t join automatically without authorisation.
You can invite Vinyl to ad hoc meetings via the web app.
Speaker names come from the meeting platform (Zoom, Teams or Meet).
Hybrid meetings
Best for: Some attendees in-room, others online
Setup: Vinyl web platform
Key points:
Let Vinyl join through your calendar (Google/Outlook)
After the meeting, rename speakers in the transcript for in-person voices
Best practice: Use the mobile app only when there are 1–2 online speakers. Audio cannot be coming from the same speaker that is being recorded (e.g. phone). Audio must be heard by your phone.
Large in-person meetings (more than 10 attendees, more than 3m apart)
Best for: More than 10 people spread out in a room
Setup options:
Key points:
Recommended: Set up a virtual meeting (e.g. Zoom, Google Meet and MS Teams), have a few team members turn off their audio
Alternative (less ideal): Use multiple mobile phones to record, but this creates separate meetings in Vinyl
Avoid playing output audio in the room if you’re recording with a mobile device
If you're using the mobile app for in-person capture, the app will check for a Vinyl bot on the meeting (see below)
Best practice: Introduce all speakers clearly at the beginning
General rules and caveats
Use only one method per meeting, online or in-person
Using both leads to duplicate recordings, confusion, and messy data
The mobile app helps with this. When you start an in-person recording for a calendar meeting, it checks for a Vinyl bot and lets you know:
Bot Scheduled, Meeting Bot Already Active or Bot Already Recording: a bot is set to join, or is already in, the meeting. The app offers to remove it so only your phone records.
Recording Already Exists: the meeting has already been recorded. Create Copy records a separate, duplicate meeting.