Help & Guide

Everything you need to get the best out of Vox5000.

⚠ Use Google Chrome on a desktop or laptop. Mobile Safari and Firefox have limited support for the Web Audio and recording APIs that Vox5000 depends on. Chrome desktop gives the most reliable experience.
About audio quality: Vox5000 captures audio locally in the browser's native recording format (usually WebM Opus in Chrome/Edge and M4A/AAC in Safari), preserves that original as the safety copy, and prepares MP3 copies after recording stops. If you need true lossless capture, record directly into your DAW using an audio interface.

✅ Before every recording

Use wired headphones — Bluetooth adds latency and dropouts
Select your external mic from the dropdown — not the built-in laptop mic
Do the 5-second mic test and listen back before starting
Keep levels peaking around –12 dB — never hitting 0 dB red
Use Chrome on desktop for the most reliable experience
In interview rooms, guests must keep their tab open until the track transfer completes

🎧 Hosting an interview

  • Click Create interview room and name the room
  • Copy the guest invite link — send via WhatsApp or email
  • Do not use the guest link yourself — reopen your room from My Rooms
  • Admit guests from the waiting queue
  • Check consent status for each guest
  • Hit Record — 5-second countdown on all screens
  • Stop recording — guest tracks transfer to you automatically
  • Every participant's track is also saved continuously in that browser for crash recovery
  • Guest audio chunks are copied continuously to the host, so the host can download a partial original if either internet connection drops
  • Download separate tracks and the consent log
  • Download the safety original first; Vox5000 also prepares widely compatible 256 kbps MP3 copies after recording

🙋 Joining as a guest

  • Click the link the host sent you — no install needed
  • Put wired headphones on before entering
  • Select your mic and do the mic test on the setup screen
  • Enter your name — it labels your audio track
  • Choose whether to be recorded or join as Observer (mic off)
  • Wait for the host to admit you
  • Keep the tab open until you see the green Done message
  • If transfer fails, download your backup track and send it to the host

🎚 Audio quality

  • External USB or XLR interface mic — not the laptop built-in
  • Wired headphones — not Bluetooth
  • Quiet room — close doors, turn off air conditioning
  • Levels peaking at –12 dB — not 0 dB
  • MP3 320 kbps for broadcast delivery and sharing
  • WebM Opus is used internally for resilient browser capture; downloads are converted to MP3
  • WAV export is a conversion — not original PCM
  • Chrome on desktop for interviews

💾 Downloads & formats

  • MP3 — compressed, great for delivery and sharing
  • WAV export — PCM WAV converted from the recorded audio
  • WebM or M4A — the browser-native safety recording (format depends on browser)
  • 320 kbps MP3 is the standard for radio delivery
  • Interview room tracks download as 256 kbps MP3 files
  • Guest tracks are labelled with the guest's name and a timestamp
  • Files go to your Downloads folder — Ctrl+J / Cmd+J in Chrome to find them

🔧 Troubleshooting

🚫 My microphone is not showing up
Make sure your mic is plugged in before loading the page. Check it appears in your computer's sound settings. Refresh after plugging it in. On Windows, check Chrome has mic permission in Settings → Privacy → Microphone.
🔒 I clicked Deny on the microphone permission
Click the padlock or microphone icon in Chrome's address bar → Site settings → Microphone → Allow. Then refresh the page.
🔊 I can hear myself echoing
You or your guest is using speakers instead of headphones. Speakers pick up the call audio and feed it back into the mic. Everyone must use wired headphones or earphones.
📊 The recording is too quiet or distorted
Too quiet — increase Input Gain until peaks hit around –12 dB. Distorted (red on waveform) — reduce Input Gain immediately. Target: –24 to –6 dB.
👥 Guests are not appearing in my waiting queue
Make sure you sent the correct guest invite link (copy it from the Invite Guests button — not from My Rooms). Both host and guest must have their pages open at the same time. Ask the guest to refresh and try again. Both should use Chrome on desktop.
📤 The guest transfer is stuck or not progressing
Both host and guest must keep their page open and not lock their screen. If the transfer stalls, the guest will be prompted to download their backup track and send it via WeTransfer or Google Drive.
🔗 My Rooms opens the room as a guest instead of host
Always use the Open as host button in My Rooms to reopen your room. Do not copy the guest link and open it yourself — that link is for guests only.
📱 I'm recording on a phone or tablet
On iPhone, Chrome and Safari both use Apple's WebKit audio system. Allow microphone access, keep the VOX5000 tab open, and do not lock the screen or switch apps during recording. When you enter the room, tap Enable interview sound if it appears. Tap the green local-recovery indicator to view and download recordings saved in that browser.
🛟 The internet dropped or the recording page closed
Open the same browser and device, return to an interview room, then tap Local recovery at the top. VOX5000 saves audio approximately every second while the page remains active. Recovered downloads stay in their original browser format so they can be prepared without a risky conversion. The host also receives rolling guest chunks and gets an emergency partial original when a connection drops. Download recovered files before clearing browser data. A locked phone, discarded tab, private browsing, device storage cleanup, or uninstalling the browser can interrupt or remove locally saved recordings.
💾 I can't find my downloaded file
Check your Downloads folder. In Chrome press Ctrl+J (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+J (Mac) to see recent downloads. Files include your name and a timestamp, e.g. Ian_HOST_2026-06-21.mp3
🏠 My rooms have disappeared
Rooms are stored in your browser's local storage. They can be lost if you clear browser data, use private/incognito mode, or switch to a different browser or device.