Collecting conversations
On this page
Most conversations come in through the portal: people scan a QR code or open a link and record on their own phone, with no account and no app. You can also upload audio files you already have. Both become conversations in the same project.
| Way in | Who does it | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Portal, spoken | Participants, on their own phone or laptop | A room, a group, or people somewhere else |
| Portal, typed | Participants | Someone prefers to write |
| Upload audio | You, in the dashboard | The recording already exists |
Check your plan before the session#
The free plan includes 5 hours of audio a month for your whole account, and at most 1 hour per conversation. The month starts on the 1st (UTC). Uploads count, and so do conversations you deleted. Only one project takes recordings: the others show “Recordings are paused for this project on the free plan.” Press “Use this project for recordings” on the one you need.
When a limit is reached, recording stops and the participant sees “That’s a wrap”. Everything recorded up to then is saved, transcribed and summarised. Once the month’s hours are used, the portal shows “This project isn’t taking recordings right now.” until the 1st.
An example: eight groups record 40 minutes each at the same time, on an account with 5 hours left. Together they reach 5 hours after about 37 minutes, so every recording stops there.
A paid plan takes a short form and a call with the dembrane team, not a button, so arrange it before the day. See tiers, billing and usage.
Share the portal#
A project accepts recordings from the moment you create it. The dashboard has no switch to open or close the portal, so the link keeps working after your session.
On the project’s “Overview”, the “Take part” card has the QR code and four buttons.
| Button | Use it to |
|---|---|
| “Copy link” | Send the link by message or email. |
| “Open link” | Open the portal yourself, to test it or to record a conversation you are part of. |
| “Download QR code” | Get the code as a black on white picture for a slide or a poster. |
| “Download event printouts” | Print the host guide. |
The portal opens in the project’s language. The language is part of the link and of the QR code, so set it in the portal editor before you print anything.
The host guide#
“Host guide” is a one-page instruction sheet with your QR code, a title, numbered steps and tips. You find it on “Overview”, in the portal editor and on the “Monitor” page.
- Click any text to change it. Your changes save by themselves and every host of the project sees the same guide.
- “Download event printouts” opens your browser’s print window, where you can also save the page as a PDF. “Go fullscreen” puts it on a screen in the room.
- Switch on “Live recordings” and a line under the code counts the recordings in progress.
- The text you edit belongs to one project language. Change the language later and the guide shows the standard text for the new language.
What participants do#
- Scan the code or open the link.
- Read the privacy card, and the tutorial cards if you chose a tutorial.
- On “Ready to begin?”, enter a “Session name” and pick tags, if your project asks for them. Press “Continue”.
- Press “Record”. A timer and a level meter show that audio is coming in.
- Press “Stop” to pause. “Recording paused” offers “Resume” and “Finish”.
- Press “Finish”. The thank you page confirms that the response was recorded.
There is no microphone check before recording. The microphone test sits behind the gear icon, “Settings”, in the portal. It opens by itself when the microphone gives no signal for 8 seconds.
Someone who would rather write presses the text icon and types. Typed and spoken parts land in the same conversation.
The participant’s side is described in recording your conversation.
Ready, Check, Go#
Say this to the room before anyone presses “Record”.
- Use good wifi or mobile data. A VPN or a strict office network can block the recording.
- Allow the microphone when the browser asks.
- Keep the screen on. A locked screen means no recording.
- Charge the phone and turn off battery saver.
- Turn on Do Not Disturb. A phone call interrupts the recording.
- Opened the link from LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook? The portal warns that the microphone is unreliable inside those apps. Use “Copy link” and open it in Safari or Chrome.
- Press “Finish” at the end and wait for the thank you page. Closing the tab early loses the audio that was not sent yet.
Tip
Print the QR code large and test it from the back of the room. Then give one spoken instruction: "scan this, allow the microphone, press Record and just talk".
When a participant gets stuck#
| They see | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Connection issue” and a “Record” button that stays grey | The network blocks the recording. Turn off the VPN or switch network (a mobile hotspot works), then press “Reconnect”. |
| “Recording interrupted” | The microphone stopped delivering sound, typically because the phone locked or took a call. About the last minute is lost. Press “Reconnect”. Everything sent before that is kept. |
| A message about microphone access | Allow the microphone for the browser, then press “Check microphone access”. |
| “You seem to be offline, please check your internet connection” | Get back on the network and keep the page open. The portal keeps trying to send the audio it holds. |
Watch the room#
“Monitor” in the project sidebar (Beta) shows the session as it happens: who scanned the code, who is setting up, who is recording and who has finished. Each recording is a tile with its state, a microphone level and the recorded time. Two signals are worth acting on at once:
- “Audio was coming in but stopped.”: walk over and check their connection and whether the phone is locked.
- “Away”: their screen is locked or the tab is hidden. Recording pauses until they come back.
Uploaded files do not appear on the Monitor. More in the live monitor.
Upload audio you already have#
Press “Upload” on the “Conversations” page or “Upload audio” on “Overview”.
- Formats: MP3, WAV, OGG, WEBM, M4A, MP4, AAC, FLAC, OPUS.
- Size: at least 5 KB and at most 200 MB for each file.
- Up to 10 files at a time.
Each file becomes its own conversation, named after the file. You can change the name before you upload. Files are not joined together. dembrane transcribes and summarises an upload straight away and marks the conversation with an “Upload” badge.
Upload takes audio only. There is no upload for documents, transcripts or text files. Written input comes in through the text screen of the portal.
With the “Observer” role you cannot upload. On the free plan, dembrane checks each file’s length first. A file that is too long shows, for example, “This file is {file} long. You have {left} of recording left this month.”
dembrane Go#
dembrane Go, the iOS app, cannot sign in to the current version of dembrane. Have people record through the portal in their phone’s browser. See dembrane Go on mobile.
After the session#
A conversation is finished when the participant presses “Finish”, or by dembrane itself when no new audio has arrived for five minutes. It then gets its summary. Read on in transcripts & conversations.
Related#
- Setting up the portal: what participants see and are asked.
- Transcripts & conversations: reading what came in.
- Troubleshooting transcripts and summaries: when the text is wrong or missing.
- The participant portal: the portal, screen by screen.
- Recording: how audio is sent and what happens on a bad connection.
- The live monitor: every state and warning.
- Tiers, billing and usage: the free plan’s hours and paid plans.
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