First Takes

Tell us how Recordist is going, in a minute or less.

First Takes opens soon. When it does, people who have the Recordist beta will be able to record a take of up to 60 seconds about how they really use it, right here in the browser. The first 500 people who send a take and confirm it will each hold a spot. We're making something for those 500 people, and we'll show it at launch.

There will be 500 spots.

Read the rules

The launch surprise

We're making something for the first 500, and we'll show it at launch.

We'd rather not say what it is or what it's worth yet, because then it wouldn't be a surprise. Here is what we can promise now. It's free, and there's nothing to buy. We pay for delivery. If we can't send it to your country, you get a year of Recordist Pro instead. There's one per person, and everyone who holds a spot gets the same thing.

It won't be a car, in case that was the plan.

Whatever you say

Every take counts the same, whatever it says.

A take that says the app froze on Tuesday holds a spot exactly like one that says it saved your week. Nobody scores the takes, nobody checks whether you liked Recordist, and we never remove a take for being negative. Honest takes are the useful ones, because they tell us what to fix.

We remove a take only for one of these four reasons, and we email you to say which one:

It isn't a real take: it's silent, blank, or about something other than Recordist.
It has someone else's voice or face in it, other people are in it, or the voice or face is synthetic.
It's illegal or abusive.
It's a duplicate of another take.

Separately, a spot is cancelled if the person who holds it can't take part under the rules, for example someone under 18. That rule is about who sent the take. What a take says never affects it.

If we remove a take, its spot goes back to the pool, and you can send a new one while spots are left.

Your take

The recorder opens soon.

When it opens, this is where you'll record your take. We're making something for the first 500 people who send one, and we'll show it at launch.

Until then, the best preparation is to use Recordist on a few real calls. If you don't have it yet, ask for the beta.

What happens next

Here is what happens after you press Send.

01

You send your take. Nothing is uploaded before you press Send.
02

We email you a link. Open it within 48 hours and press Confirm. That's when your spot is held.
03

You get your number. Spots go in the order people confirm, so your number is wherever the count has reached.
04

At launch we show what we made. Within 30 days after First Takes closes, we email you once to ask where to send it.

Publishing

If you let us publish your take, here's how it works.

Publishing is a separate choice, and it's off unless you tick the box. It doesn't change your spot or your gift. If you allow it, we may post your take with your first name on recordist.app, X and YouTube. Anything we publish carries this line, in the video and in the post:

First Takes: a beta user who gets the same launch gift as every other First Take, whatever they said.

Allowing it doesn't mean we'll publish your take. Before we publish any take, we check it against one list, the same way whatever it says: it mustn't say anything inaccurate about Recordist or another product, name or show other people, share anything confidential, or describe recording people without the notice or consent the law requires, and we have to be able to hear or see it clearly enough to caption it.

We may trim silence at the start and end, crop or resize it to fit, and add captions. We never edit a take to change what you said. If we ever show several takes together, we'll choose them without regard to what they say about Recordist, apart from that list, and that page will say how we chose them and how we checked each one came from a beta user. You can withdraw permission at any time with the link in your email, and we take it down from our own pages and accounts within 7 days.

Your take

Your take stays yours.

A take is the only kind of recording we ask anyone to send us, and you choose whether to send it. You make it in this browser tab; the Recordist app itself never sends audio to us or anyone else. Your take is kept privately with our hosting provider. It has no public address, and only our small team can play it.

We watch or listen to takes to run First Takes and to learn what to improve. We never run face or voice recognition on a take, never use one to train an AI model, and never send one to another company for transcription or analysis.

The page you see after sending, the confirmation email and the email with your number each have a link that deletes your take. While First Takes is open, deleting removes the recording and its record at once and gives up your spot. After it closes, deleting removes the recording at once and keeps only your number and address, so you still get the gift. We delete every take 90 days after the launch gifts are sent, and in any case within a year after First Takes closes. The exception is a take you've allowed us to publish that we've published: we keep it while it's up, and after it comes down we delete it on that same schedule, or within 30 days if that's later.

We email you only about your take: the confirmation link, your number, a note if a new take comes from an address that already holds a spot, a note if we ever remove your take, one email after First Takes closes to arrange the gift, and a note if we have to cancel First Takes. We send no marketing email, to anyone. Privacy policy.

Questions

Here are the questions we expect.

Do I have to say something nice?: No. Say what's true for you. A take that lists three bugs holds a spot exactly like any other.
Can I record in another language?: Yes. Any language is fine.
Do I need the camera?: No. Voice only is the default, and it counts the same.
Is this a contest or a draw?: No. Nobody judges the takes and nothing is drawn at random: every confirmed take holds a spot until the 500 are taken. It's also separate from the early-access draw for a year of Pro, which works exactly as before.
What do you do with my take?: We watch or listen to it to run First Takes and to learn what to improve. We never run face or voice recognition on it, and it goes to no other company for analysis. We publish it only if you tick the publishing box and it passes the checks above.
I already sent a take. Can I send a better one?: If you haven't confirmed it yet, send a new one and confirm the one you want. The take you confirm holds your spot, and we delete the others. If you've already confirmed one, delete it first with the link in your email. Deleting gives up your spot and your number, so you'd get a new number if a spot is open when you confirm again.
What if all 500 spots are taken?: This page will say so. If someone deletes a take before First Takes closes, the spot opens again, and this page shows it within a minute.
Who can take part?: Anyone who is an adult where they live (18 or older, or older where the law says so), asked for the Recordist beta, was sent the download and has used it, except where the law doesn't allow it. People who work for us, and their households, can't. The rules have the details.
Why do you need my email?: To check that the beta download went to you, to send the confirmation link, and to reach you about the gift after First Takes closes.

First Takes is separate from the early-access draw and changes nothing about it. Read the First Takes rules.