Definition
Call recording is saving the audio of a phone call, usually with a transcript, so it can be reviewed later. For a voice agent call it captures both the caller and the agent.
How call recording works
A recording is made where the audio passes through a system you control: the phone system, a media server, or the voice agent platform. The platform copies the audio stream, writes it to storage, and links the file to the call record. There are two common layouts.
A mixed recording puts both sides in one channel. It is smaller and easy to play back. A dual-channel recording keeps the caller and the agent on separate channels, which makes it easier to see who spoke when, to measure interruptions and silences, and to transcribe each side without the two mixing together.
The quality of a recording is set by the call. Audio that crossed the phone network is telephony audio, usually sampled at 8 kHz, so the file is not studio quality however it is stored. A transcript is a separate artifact made from the audio by speech recognition, and it can contain errors that the audio does not. Keep the two linked, and keep the audio when a dispute depends on exactly what was said.
Why it matters for voice agents
Recordings are how a team finds out what an agent really did. Listening to a sample of calls shows interruptions, bad handoffs and wrong answers that a dashboard of counts will not. Recordings and transcripts also supply test cases when you change the agent’s instructions, and they settle disputes about what a caller was told.
They also hold whatever callers said. Card numbers, health details and account numbers can end up in the audio and transcript, so decide who may listen, how long files are kept and whether sensitive stretches are redacted. See data retention.
Whether you may record, and what you must tell the caller first, depends on where the parties are. That is the subject of call recording consent. An announcement at the start of the call is the usual way to give notice.
Example
An illustrative setup: an agent opens with “This call may be recorded to improve our service.” The platform stores a dual-channel file and a transcript for 90 days. A reviewer samples twenty calls a week and flags any in which the agent talked over the caller.