#Tutorial – Record a #Zoom conversation with #Camtasia and produce an Audio output for your podcast !

Hi !

Some time ago I wrote a post about how to use Camtasia and Skype to record an audio conversation and later create an audio file for your podcast. Today we live in Zoom days, so it’s time to update this post to perform the same task using Zoom and Camtasia.

Disclaimer: Zoom, in their free mode, provides the feature to host and record your meetings. With a limit of 40 minutes of meeting duration and the audio quality is decent, not so good, but decent. This post, is an option if you want to have more control over this.

The main premise to record this is

• We will record the local microphone in one channel
• We will record the input audio for the meeting in another channel

I use a Bose NC 700 connected via cable to my computer for the incoming audio, and a Jabra Puck for the microphone. (see references)

Disclaimer 2: I know, there are much better microphones. I even got a Yeti one, but, the Jabra have an amazing and quick mute button. That’s why I use it.

Zoom Settings

Let’s open Zoom and update some of the settings.

In Zoom settings, I have the following settings

• Computer Audio goes out by monitor. And I have my headset connected there.
• Incoming audio, aka microphone, is set to the Jabra Puck.

And that’s it for Zoom, now it’s time to check Camtasia Settings.

Camtasia Recorder

Once we launch Camtasia Recorder, we need to change the following settings

• Audio device: The same Microphone device you defined in Zoom. The Jabra Puck.
• Check [Record system audio]. This will record the output of the audio in a different track, and this output will be the voice of the other participants in the Zoom Meeting

You can also make this quick selection directly from the Camtasia Recorder interface. Remember CHECK THE [Record System Audio] OPTION

So now you can start the recording and have some fun!

Audio Output in Camtasia

Once you finish your recording, you’ll be prompted to save this recording. And also to edit the recording using Camtasia Studio. Once you drag the recorded file to the track section you will see both recordings.

• One track for your voice
• One track for the Zoom meeting

Camtasia studio audio options are good enough to make some good audio improvements. If you right click on one of the tracks you can select the [Edit audio] option and

• Enable volume leveling
• Enable noise removal
• Mix to mono

You can also [Add audio point] in one track to manage the volume in the track. In example: You can add a background music in a new track, and volume down the music using audio points, once the track for the Zoom Meeting is added into the mix.

Finally, once you are happy with your project, you can create an audio file. To do this, you must select the option [Share // Local File] and select the location for your M4A file.

And that’s it! Now you can record your Zoom conversations using Camtasia.

References

• Camtasia, https://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html
• Zoom, http://zoom.us
• Tutorial – Record a Skype conversation with Camtasia and produce an Audio output
• Amazon, Jabra Speak 510 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker
• Amazon, Bose NC 700