Should I use Speaker Labels or Multi-channel?

Last updated: March 21, 2025

The choice depends on your audio source:

Use Multi-channel when:

You have audio where each speaker is recorded on a separate channel, such as:

  • Twilio calls with configured channel separation

  • Call center software that exports multiple audio channels

  • Any recording where speakers are pre-separated into channels

Multichannel is more accurate since each speaker's audio is processed independently.

Note: Multichannel audio will not automatically separate multiple speakers on the same channel. If you have multiple speakers on a single channel, speaker labels are required for speaker separation.

Use Speaker Labels when:

You have single-channel audio with multiple speakers, such as:

  • Standard audio recordings with multiple participants

  • Calls recorded as a single track

  • Any audio where speakers share the same channel

For speaker labels, you can improve accuracy by specifying the expected number of speakers in advance using the speakers_expected parameter.