Imagine you’ve bought a new webcam and you’re trying to record your own computer screen.
The webcam has a built-in USB microphone.
For your recordings, you speak as you record your screen.
Only to have an echo in your recording.
Argh. What’s going on?
Your searches online don’t provide any useful help and you’re looking to resolve the issue quickly.
What do you do?
The story is real, it happened last week to my friend Meryl Evans.
And she found the solution from a fellow Twitter user.
How I Learned of the Webcam Echo
If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know I’m a big fan of Twitter.
I’ve been active on Twitter for over 12 years, sharing resources, chatting with people in the user experience, WordPress, and accessibility communities, and promoting events.
Which is how I learned about Meryl’s issues with her new webcam.
I have a webcam. Without it, I can't record any videos on my computer with sound. But the webcam has an echo. Searched for solutions to no avail. Can anyone help?
— Meryl Evans speaks at WordCamp LAX Oct 18 (@merylkevans) October 8, 2020
Since I recently bought a new webcam, but hadn’t installed it yet, I had a vested interest in Meryl’s echo issue.
How the Twitter Community Responded
I did a quick search and tweeted some tips to stop video calls from echoing with Meryl.
Meryl replied, saying she had already tried the tips, including:
- Turning down volume
- Checking system settings for sound
- Muting sound while recording, which resulted in the video being muted
Other people offered additional tips on Twitter
I don't know if I'm offering a silly suggestion, but have you tried plugging in headphones?
— Christiana 爱霖 Mohr (@CantoChristiana) October 8, 2020
Hmm not too familiar. Curious about why an echo exists… If possible, try a recording with a different app and see if it still happens? if so, it's a software-specific issue.
— Greg Macek (@gmacek) October 8, 2020
Sounds like more than one microphone is capturing audio, with slightly different latencies which is creating the echo. Is there any other microphone recording besides the one on your webcam?
— Andy Ronksley (@RooRonks) October 8, 2020
How to Stop Echo with Webcam
The final resolution for the echo came after a series of questions from Andy Ronksley, who asked Meryl about her settings and speakers.
Well that’s good I guess! Is there anything outputting sound whilst you’re recording? Have you tried muting any sound output whilst recording?
— Andy Ronksley (@RooRonks) October 8, 2020
Yes you’ll need to keep the microphone live for recording but I was suggesting muting your speakers.
— Andy Ronksley (@RooRonks) October 8, 2020
I think you need to turn them off whilst you’re recording. Then when you’re finished recording, turn them back on to playback your work.
— Andy Ronksley (@RooRonks) October 8, 2020
And that’s what solved it: mute the speakers while recording, enabled them when you playback recording.
My friend Meryl was happy!
OMG! 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️ So simple! It worked!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!
— Meryl Evans speaks at WordCamp LAX Oct 18 (@merylkevans) October 8, 2020
In Conclusion
I was glad Andy was able to help Meryl resolve her webcam echo issue.
Through his questions and comments about her setup, Meryl was able to successfully record her short video on her new webcam.
Y'all — I was messing with the recording so much I didn't notice the captions weren't there 🤣🤦♀️🙈 Here's what it looks like. It's working across all browsers now. Whew! pic.twitter.com/gZoGF9lkuL
— Meryl Evans speaks at WordCamp LAX Oct 18 (@merylkevans) October 9, 2020
Once again, Twitter comes through!
Reinforcing why I enjoy the community-helping aspect of Twitter.
While we can get caught up in all the other Twitter conversations, it’s wonderful to be reminded of how people help each other out on Twitter.
Thank you Andy!
I love sharing these kinds of helpful stories. Have you unexpectedly received help from someone on Twitter? Share your story in the comments.
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