The Recording Guide

Record your lesson so it actually works.

Great summaries start with audio that captures your instructor. Here's how to get it — whatever your setup, wherever you ride.

The one rule

Put the microphone near the voice,
not near the horse.

Everything below is this rule, applied. Your instructor's words are the signal; hoofbeats, wind, and arena echo are the noise.

Your setup

Find yours below. Difficulty reflects how hard it is to get clean audio — not how hard it is to do.

A phone, during a regular lesson

Easiest

Set your phone near where your instructor stands or walks — a fence post, a chair, the mounting block by their usual spot. Screen-lock it, put it in airplane mode so a call doesn't interrupt the recording, and press record before you mount.

Voice-memo audio is all we need — you don't have to record video. Audio files are far smaller and upload much faster.

One check before lesson day: some built-in voice-memo and camera apps stop recording at a time limit, when storage runs low, or when the screen locks. Run one full-length test at home. If yours cuts off, a free dedicated recorder app from your app store will record for hours without complaint — and it's worth installing before you need it.

Avoid: the phone on the rail across the arena from your instructor, or in your pocket while you ride. Distance is the number-one recording killer.

At a clinic

Easiest

Most clinicians are mic'd so auditors can hear. Stand your phone where the auditors gather — they've already found the audio sweet spot for you. Near the speaker, if there is one, is even better.

If the clinician isn't amplified, ask a friend who's auditing to keep your phone near the clinician.

Avoid: recording from the in-gate or the warm-up end. If the auditors can't hear from there, neither can your recording.

Pivo or a virtual lesson

Already done

Your virtual-lesson recording carries your instructor's voice by design — it came through the app. Upload the recording as-is. No extra steps.

If the video file is large, uploading just the audio is much faster. Two easy ways to pull the audio out: on your phone, a free "video to MP3" converter app from your app store does it in one step; on a computer, the free VLC player does it under Media → Convert / Save — choose an audio profile like MP3. Not sure about any of that? Just upload the video — it works fine, it's only slower.

A dedicated recorder (Tascam, Zoom, and similar)

Best audio of all

A small field recorder placed near your instructor produces the best capture we see. One setting matters: record in MP3, not WAV. WAV files from a full lesson can reach a gigabyte and make uploads slow and fragile; the same lesson in MP3 is a fraction of the size, and the summary quality is identical.

Check your recorder's format setting once — it's usually under Record Settings — and you're set forever.

An AI voice recorder (Plaud, Limitless, and similar)

Made for this

The new wave of AI recorders — small clip-on or card-style devices that record and transcribe automatically — are a natural fit. Place or clip the device as close to your instructor as your setup allows, and you'll get two useful outputs. Both work here:

The transcript: export the full, word-for-word transcript from the device's app and use our paste a transcript option — no upload needed at all. Choose the verbatim transcript export, not the app's own AI summary.

The audio: most of these devices also let you export the raw audio file, which you can upload like any other recording.

Avoid: pasting the device's built-in AI summary instead of the transcript. Its summary doesn't know dressage — ours does, and it needs your instructor's actual words to work from.

Outdoors

Wind is the enemy

Wind ruins more outdoor recordings than distance does — it doesn't just add noise, it buries the voice entirely. Shelter the microphone: a foam windscreen if your recorder has one, or simply tuck the phone inside a jacket sleeve or draped cloth with the mic end exposed toward your instructor.

Position matters double outdoors: get the recorder as close to your instructor as you can.

Comtek, CeeCoach, or other wired comms

Honestly the hardest

Here's the irony: your instructor's voice is crystal clear — in your ear — and never touches open air where a recorder can hear it. There's no perfect answer, but two workable ones:

Option one: place a phone or recorder near where your instructor stands anyway. You'll capture their side of the conversation directly from their voice, which is the side that matters.

Option two (best): if your receiver has a headphone jack, a small recorder connected to it captures the transmission itself perfectly. It takes a splitter cable and a minute of setup, and the result is studio-clean.

Avoid: assuming the comms system records. Most don't — check yours before relying on it.

Before you press record

✓Ask your instructor first. Nearly all say yes — recording lessons is a long tradition in dressage. It's courteous, and in many states it's the law.
✓Microphone near the voice — the one rule, one more time.
✓Airplane mode on, so a call doesn't cut your recording in half.
✓Audio beats video for uploading — smaller, faster, same summary.
✓One lesson per recording. Stop and restart between rides at a clinic.
✓Ten-second test: record yourself from your instructor's spot, play it back. If you can't hear you, we can't hear them.

Recording in hand?

Turn it into your summary