OBS Studio/Recording A Teams Meeting

For data security reasons, we generally advise against using the built-in recording options in Microsoft Teams (or similar software) when wishing to record e.g. an online interview with research participants. Instead, you could record the session locally, with OBS Studio.

⚠️ ALWAYS check with your institute's data security guidelines/steward/officer if recording is allowed.
⚠️ ALWAYS get explicit consent from all people involved in the call before recording.

Configuration

Scene Setup

1. Set up a new scene with Desktop Capture (see OBS Studio#Configuration).

(You can also setup Application Capture for Teams specifically, if you don't wish to record the entire desktop)

Audio Settings

1. Goto File -> Settings
2. Goto the Audio page (sidebar).
3. Set "Desktop Audio" to "Default".
4. Set "Mic/Auxiliary Audio" to your microphone.
5. Click "Apply"; Close Settings menu.
6. Check audio levels in the Audio Mixer by playing some music on your computer and speaking into the microphone.

Desktop Audio (what you hear) is used to record everyone else in the call.
Your microphone is used to record your voice, as this is otherwise not included.

Notes

• You may need to turn off Exclusive mode in your microphone settings, as it needs to be accessed by both Teams and OBS at the same time:
  1. In Windows 10/11: Open Start Menu and type "control panel" -> Open Control Panel.
  2. Select View By: Small Icons.
  3. Click "Sound".
  4. Go to "Recording" tab.
  5. Select your microphone and click "Properties".
  6. Select Advanced tab.
  7. Uncheck "Allow applications to make exclusive control of this device".
  8. Click "Apply" and close all settings windows.
• Ideally, set your desktop volume to 100%. Otherwise, the desktop audio will be very quiet in the recording. We recommend using an external headphone volume controller to adjust your headphone volume.
  Most Audio Interfaces have independent volume control for main output and headphones.
• Optionally, you can configure your track routing to record desktop audio and your microphone on different tracks. See OBS Studio/Recording Multiple Audio Sources#Track Routing for example.

Recording

1. Set up your Teams view in a way that makes sense for the recording.
2. In OBS Studio, click "Start Recording" to start recording when you're ready.
3. Click "Stop Recording" to stop recording.

The recorded video file can be found in the folder you selected before. You can open said folder via File -> Show Recordings.

⚠️ ALWAYS let people know when the recording has started and ended.

See Also

• OBS Studio