Zoom Best Practices: Optimizing Zoom Recordings

Armanino uses Zoom to record webinars, events, interviews and many other digital assets. Here are easy ways for you to optimize your recordings using our best practices. These tips enable editors and administrators the most efficient recording to work with. The end users then get delivered the best recording so they can focus on the content rather than the distractions.

Settings / Recording

 

1. Store my recording at should be set to a location on your device.

2. Record a separate audio file of each participant should be checked.

3. Display participants’ names in the recording should be unchecked.

4. Optimize for 3rd party video editor should be checked.

5. Record video during screen sharing  &  Place video next to the shared screen in the recording should both be checked.

Settings / Video

1. Original ratio  &  HD should both be checked if available, but these settings depend on the camera model listed. Try to capture maximum resolution.

2. The My Video settings to mirror, retouch, and adjust for low light should be set according to the person being filmed. Select the options they prefer, or the ones that look better with that person.

3. Always display participant names on their video should be unchecked. Although, if you set the option in the Recording settings to NOT display participants names on the recorded video, leaving this checked won't matter as the logic flow hierarchy will disregard this setting here.

Settings / Audio

1. The speaker and microphone settings shouldn’t need to be changed, though hopefully the interviewees can make sure they have a good mic level (should peak ~75-80% on the Input Level when speaking).

2. Suppress background noise should be "Auto".

3. Under Music and Professional Audio, the option for Show in-meeting option to enable “Original Sound” should be checked. During the recording, remember to check “Original Sound: On” (top left) – and the audio quality should record at its highest setting.

During Recording

1. After clicking the Record button, make sure to check “Record on this Computer”

2. During a recording, in the top right is the View setting. Ensure “Speaker” is checked and “Fullscreen” is checked. This will ensure the highest video resolution is captured.

3. Zoom video recorded resolution is defaulted to the LOWEST resolution camera settings for all of the participants. Everyone involved in the meeting should make sure to check that their device's video settings have “Original ratio” and “HD” checked, if available. Otherwise, the output may be too small to work with.

4. Make sure the interviewee is framed within the window. The camera should not be too far below or above the person’s line of sight. The interviewee should be centered within the window. They can move around while talking, but their general “home base” position should look something like this example.

Additional Tips for Recording an Interview

 

1. Zoom doesn’t switch camera views until someone starts talking. We don’t want to include the interviewer in the edited video, so the interviewer should turn off their camera.
A. Make sure the View setting is set to “Speaker” & “Fullscreen” then
B. Right click anywhere in the interviewee’s window and check “Pin”
These settings should disable the display window from changing, even if the interviewer begins speaking.

2. If you need to interview more than one person at a time, the interviewee should pause after a question is asked, snap or clap to get the camera to cut, then begin a response. It makes for a much smoother edit.