Best Voice Recorder for Meetings

I lied! Sorry. This post is not (only) about the best voice recorder for meetings; though you’ll find the 3 recorders I recommend at the bottom of the post. But more importantly, to point out that certain voice recorders only work well recording certain types of meetings – not all meetings.

Thus, in this post, I begin with a discussion of 2 things you’ll need to consider before you grab a voice recorder to record your meeting. Then segue to 3 voice recorder recommendations for recording specific categories of meetings.

Location

This is an important consideration. Some locations have very good acoustics – and make recording a meeting a breeze, while others are not ideal for audio recording. What are the key things to consider when looking at a meeting room’s acoustical features?

The first is the reverberation of sound. Sound reverb is caused by large flat surfaces – floor, walls, and ceiling. The second key factor is the size of the room. Larger looms are generally more difficult to record in – and will require audio equipment that effectively captures the whole room. Finally, you need to consider the level of ambient and background noise.

If your meetings are usually conducted in one room, you could try and improve the acoustics by reducing reflective surfaces (use carpets, furniture, wall paintings etc.), and reducing ambient (set the AC to a lower setting), and background noise. However, it’s likely that you’ll need to record meetings held at different locations. And your best option is to get a meeting voice recorder that’s versatile and records good audio in most locations.

Number of Participants

For audio recording purposes, it helps to categorize all meetings into small, medium, and large meetings. Small meetings have up to 6 participants, can be held in a small cozy room, and are perfect for recording using a digital voice recorder.  Medium sized meetings have up to 15 participants and require a relatively larger room and a different set of audio recording equipment – a digital voice recorder coupled with boundary microphones.  

Best voice recorder for meetings ME33
Boundary Microphone for Recording Meetings

Large meetings have more than 15 participants, usually require a dedicated meeting room, and an installed audio-visual system (microphones, speakers, mixer, projector etc). You’ll need a professional digital recorder to be able to recorder the sound output from these systems.

Most of our clients are asked to compile meetings minutes from small and medium sized meetings. And I’ll share with you a couple of voice recorder recommendations for recording small and medium sized meetings. But I’ll also make a recommendation for a professional voice recorder that you can use (coupled with an AV system) to recorder large meetings.

1.      Sony ICD-ux560

Best voice recorder for meetings Sony ICD ux560

This is a great voice recorder for recording small meetings. It has a lot of features and it’s easy to use. Here’s my detailed review of this recorder. But let me touch on the highlights. It records very good quality audio, audible without a lot of background noise. Comes with an inbuilt battery and a USB port that make it very easy to transfer the files to your computer and recharge it.

For better recordings in large rooms and noisy locations, I recommend you pair the ux560 with a couple of boundary microphones. I’ve been using the Olympus ME33 boundary microphones (amazon link) with this recorder and this setup works great for recording small meetings in large rooms.

My only gripe with this recorder is that the speaker is not great. It’s tiny and stuck at the bottom of the recorder – you’ll not experience the awesome sound this recorder records using the in-built speaker. Transfer the files to your computer and use a pair of headphones.  

Overall, this is a great recorder that works well for small meetings and it’s modestly priced. Buy it now from Amazon.

2.      Zoom H1n

Best voice recorder for meetings Zoom H1n and Olympus ME33 boundary microphones

Coupled with the ME33 boundary microphones, the Zoom H1n is the best recorder for recording medium sized meetings. This setup works very well recording is a fairly sized boardroom or conference room with lots participants.

The main advantage that the Zoom H1n has over the Sony ICD-ux560, is the ability to power up to 6 boundary microphones. The ux560 works well with 2 boundary microphones, but it does not output enough power to power the 6 microphones that are needed to effectively over a large boardroom. And you can also use a standard 5V USB charger to power this recorder – which makes it ideal for recording long meetings.

How many boundary microphones should you get? It depends on the size of your room. For a large boardroom that sits about 20-30 people, I recommend you get 6 of them. For a smaller meeting room 3 or 4 boundary mics should suffice. Here’s a great review of the Zoom H1n, and here’s how to set up the Olympus ME33 boundary microphones to work with the H1n.

Great recorder for powering the ME33 boundary microphones that are ideal for recording medium sized meetings held in larger rooms. Buy it now from Amazon.

3.      Zoom H4N Pro

Best voice recorder for meetings Zoom H4N Pro

The Zoom H4N is a professional voice recorder that has lots of features that are lacking in my previous 2 recommendations; XLR inputs. The H4N comes with combo connectors that can accept either XLR or ¼” balanced or unbalanced phone cables. And it also a 3.5mm mic input. That means that this voice recorder will record audio from most mixers or wireless transmitters.

Which makes the Zoom H4N ideal for recording large meetings. And that’s because these meetings are held in large rooms that have an installed audio system. The best way to record audio in these rooms is to connect to that system via an XLR or ¼” cable. And you won’t believe the price of this recorder: the Zoom H4N is a high end professional voice recorder at a fraction of the price. Buy it now on Amazon.

That’s it for this post on best voice recorder for meetings. I hope you’ve found it useful. If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions please post them in the comment section below. And keep in mind for all of your meeting transcription needs.

Ps: if your large conference room does not have a dedicated audio system, just let me know in the comment section below and I can provide a few recommendations for microphones, mixer, and speakers.

Isaac

Isaac here. At Weloty, we provide bespoke academic transcription services to qualitative researchers. If you wish to hire us, get in touch. Please note that if you choose to buy the products we recommend as a result of our research and testing, we’ll get paid some money through an affiliate commission from the retailer when you make a purchase. You can find out more here.

11 responses to “Best Voice Recorder for Meetings”

  1. Jeannine Avatar
    Jeannine

    Hello, my meetings usually consist of 15-20 people, however, there are no dedicated audio systems in the rooms. What would be the best recorder. I currently use Konftel 55Wx, however only has two microphones. I would need at least 4.

    1. Isaac Avatar

      Jeannine, I’d recommend the Zoom H1n recorder paired with ME33 microphones (you can pair upto 6 ME33 microphones with this recorder). However, unlike the Konftel 55Wx, this setup will not enable you to make conference calls…

  2. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    Thanks much for this article…! Exactly the info I was looking for.

    Quick question, I am going to buy a Zoom H1n with 2 of those Olympus mics, the question is now, with the boundary mic’s plugged in, will that disable the built in mic on the H1n? Or will they all be used?
    Thanks!

    1. Isaac Avatar

      Yes, plugging in the ME33 boundary mics disables the in-built mics. With the Zoom H4n Pro, you can record using external and internal microphones. If you need that function, get the H4n.
      All the best.
      Isaac

  3. Evie Nagel Avatar
    Evie Nagel

    Hi there,
    I am hoping you could help me find a voice recorder for our semi-annual board meeting. We typically have 25-30 people and we do not have any type of audio system in the room. I need to take minutes but it easier to record the meeting. Thank you in advance, Evie

    1. Isaac Avatar

      Hi Evie,
      A single voice recorder will not capture all the board members. So you will need a voice recorder attached to microphones. The Zoom H1n and 4 (or 6, depends on size of the boardroom) ME33 boundary microphones are your best choice.
      All the best.
      Isaac

  4. Nathan Avatar
    Nathan

    I am wanting several boundary mics (possibly up to 4 but do not want to have to do any mixing after fact. It appears that using Zoom H4n records all on separate tracks that would have to be mixed. Can 4 Olympus mics be connected to the H1n in a way that puts it all on one track to just copy off and be done?

    1. Isaac Avatar

      Nathan, with the H1n, you only get a stereo track, regardless of how many microphones are attached. The advantage of the H4n over the H1n is that you can record using external (including XLR) and internal microphones. With the H1n, the internal mics are switched off once you connect external microphones. And with the H4n, you’ll have 4 different recording modes that will allow you to mix the tracks to a single stereo. For instance, using the Stereo (default) recording mode on the H4n, you can record sound from the ME33s into a single stereo track. Just like the H1n.
      My point is, you can achieve what you want with the Zoom H1n or the H4n. For recording meetings using the ME33 boundary mics, using the Zoom H4n is an overkill (unless you also want to record using the internal microphones, or want to “future proof” your equipment). Otherwise, get the H1n.

      1. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        Sorry I meant the H6n which another department actually has. When looking at it it didn’t seem to have 1/8 mic input, only the combo XLR / 1/4″. Is there a setting on it that will allow me to record all channels to one track pretty easily? the combo ports seem like they will exclude the use of the ME33s as they are 1/8 inch. I really like the option of the remote that is available for the H2n through the H6n since I won’t be in the room making it easier on the chair or secretary is a good thing. I would have already decided to go with the H1n as your post was leaning except I didn’t see a remote available for it…. Do you have a suggestion for boundary mics if the ME33s won’t work with the H6n?

        1. Isaac Avatar

          I don’t own the Zoom H6. But, it’s very similar to the H4n, and I’ll try and extrapolate from my experience using the Zoom H4n and offer a couple of suggestions.
          The H6 comes with detachable capsules, and one of them: XYH-6 X/Y mic capsule, comes with a 1/8 mic input with plug-in power. So you can plug the ME33 boundaries to the H6. Now, the XYH capsule is the standard capsule that comes with the H6, so the department should have it.
          Alternatively there are adapters that convert the XLR inputs into 1/8 inputs. Get ones that convert phantom power into plug-in power (the ME33s needs plug-in power to work). If you need Amazon links to the XLR-1/8 adapter plugs let me know. So those are a couple of ways to connect the ME33s to the H6; use XYH capsule or adapter plugs.
          To your second question, can you record the ME33s into a single stereo track on the H6? Yes you can. Lets say you have 4 ME33s and are going to use the XYH capsule. So you’d connect 2 ME33 mics to each other, then using the splitter that comes with the ME33, connect them to the capsule; 2 mics on the left and 2 mics on the right channel. If you don’t have any other input on the H6, it’ll only record the capsule. So, you’ll get a stereo wav/mp3. If you use the XLR adapters (I’d get 2 adapters), then you’d have 2 mics on each track. Then combine the 2 tracks into a stereo recording (simply press the 2 track buttons simultaneously and they will be linked). Finally, if you record using the mp3 format, a single stereo MP3 file will be created regardless of the number of tracks. So that’s probably the easiest option.
          There are few alternatives to the ME33 boundary mics, cheaper ones are USB powered and more expensive XLR boundary mics. I’ve used a few USB boundary mics, they are not great, and you cannot link them. I’ve not used the XLR ones, but again you can’t link them, which reduces your area of coverage.
          Finally my thoughts on the remote. Zoom remotes are wired, and the max distance is 5 meters/15 feet. So keep that in mind. And there’s a Olympus recorder that has a wireless remote…if you really need the remote function, it’s worth looking at.
          All the best,
          Isaac

          1. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            Thanks, that answers my questions. I wanted the remote so the end user didn’t feel like they were looking at a miniature soundboard and feel overwhelmed. I will check into using the one the other department already has or getting the lowest end Zoom unit that can use a remote which appears to be the H2n. Again thanks for your help and feedback.
            Thanks, Nathan

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