Discord is a great platform for diverse communities where people can get together and communicate via text and voice chat, all for free. Discord has also proven to be a great way to record streams and podcasts when people are away from each other. Discord doesn’t have a built-in ability to record audio within the platform, but you can achieve this with third-party solutions.
Before we begin, it’s worth noting that in many parts of the world it is illegal to record other people without their permission. Before using any of the methods listed here, make sure that you have the permission of all parties involved in the conversation. Technically, you should make sure that your microphone in Discord is set up and working properly.
So, here is how to record audio in Discord in a few simple steps.
How to record audio in Discord using bot Craig
If you have the ability to add chatbots to the Discord server, you can use the popular “Craig” chatbot to record audio. This bot, once installed on the server, can be invited into voice chat rooms to record conversations with a few text commands. The Craig chatbot will not start recording audio without an obvious notification that audio is being recorded. The beauty of this bot is that not only does it record your conversation with others, but it also records each user in separate audio tracks, making it much easier to edit.
If you want to start using the Craig bot, you have to follow these steps:
- First of all, invite the Craig bot to your server. Go to the Craig bot official website and click on the “Invite Craig to your Discord server” link to get started.
- After that, you will be taken to the Discord server authorization page.
- Give Craig permission to join your server by selecting the right server from the “Add Bot to” list.
- Finally, click “Authorize” to allow the bot to join your server.
Once the process was successful, you should see a message on your server that the bot named “Craig” has joined. At this point, the setup is complete. Now you can immediately start using Craig to record audio.
How to use the Craig bot in Discord
If you want to start recording audio, you have to type “:craig:, join” in the audio channel chat. If you want to pause the recording process, you can type “:craig:, leave”. This will stop the recording in this audio chat, but in other chats where it can be used in parallel, the recording will not stop.
If you want to stop all sound recording processes of the Craig bot on your server, type “:craig:, leave”. Every time a recording starts, you will receive a private message from the Craig bot containing links to download or delete your recordings. Craig can record up to six hours of audio at a time.
How to record audio in Discord using OBS
If you don’t have the ability to add a chatbot to your Discord server, you can still record Discord audio on your computer using Open Broadcaster Software (OBS). OBS is often used by streamers on Twitch and YouTube to stream games and other content and is available for free on Windows, Linux, and Mac. OBS does this by capturing a variety of audio and video channels, including audio and desktop display, as well as a microphone. You can use OBS to record audio from the Discord channel.
So, if you want to record audio in Discord using OBS, you have to follow these steps:
- Open the OBS and click on the “+” icon at the bottom of the screen, in “Sources”.
- The new menu will appear. Click on the “Audio Output Capture” option.
- After that, name the source of the desktop sound and click “OK” at the bottom to save your selection.
- In “Properties” select whether you are using headphones or speakers. You will find the options in the drop-down menu, so after selecting an output device, select “OK” to save.
Keep in mind that it is recommended that you test the instrument before you start recording to make sure everything will work. Under “Audio Mixer”, you will see the audio sliders. They should move if the OBS is picking up sound. You can, for example, turn on the music on your computer to do the test.
Now you are ready to record sound:
- Go to the “Controls” menu in the bottom right corner and select “Start Recording”.
- Find “Settings” to choose another file format to save your recordings.
- After you are done, go to “File” at the top of the screen, click on “Show Records” to access all the files you have recorded.
Usually, these are empty video files with only sound, and you will be able to identify them by the time and date contained in the file name.
