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Record a System Recording

System Recordings are the audio prompts UnifiedBX plays — IVR greetings, announcements, queue messages, after-hours messages. Record from any extension by dialing into the recording feature, or upload a pre-made WAV.

Before You Start

  • You've decided on a name for the recording (e.g. main-greeting, closed-greeting).
  • An extension you can record from is registered.

Record from a phone (preferred)

  1. Go to System Attributes → Recordings.
  2. Click + Add Recording.
  3. Fill in:
    • Name — short, no spaces, e.g. main-greeting.
    • Description — optional.
    • Language — Default or pick a language.
  4. In the Record over Extension field, enter the extension you'll record from (e.g. 1001).
  5. Click Click to Record (or the Go / similar button next to the extension field). The page will tell you to dial the recording feature code from that extension.
  6. From the extension, dial *77 (default record code).
  7. After the beep, record your greeting. Press # when done.
  8. To listen back, dial *99 from the same extension.
  9. To re-record, dial *77 again — it will overwrite.
  10. Back in the GUI, click Save.
  11. Click Apply Config.

Upload a pre-made file

  1. System Attributes → Recordings → + Add Recording.
  2. Fill in Name / Description / Language.
  3. Click Browse under Or upload a recording.
  4. Pick the file. Supported formats: WAV (best — must be 8 kHz mono PCM), GSM, ULAW.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Click Apply Config.

To convert a higher-quality MP3 to the right WAV format on the host:

sox input.mp3 -r 8000 -c 1 -e signed-integer -b 16 output.wav
# Or via ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -ar 8000 -ac 1 -acodec pcm_s16le output.wav

Verify

Use the recording in an IVR or Announcement, call into it. The audio should play cleanly with no distortion.

Common Issues

  • Distorted / scratchy playback. Wrong format. Asterisk plays best at 8 kHz mono 16-bit PCM WAV. Use sox to convert.
  • "Recording feature is not enabled." The *77 feature code is disabled in System Attributes → Feature Codes. Enable it.
  • Recording is silent. Microphone muted on phone, or extension wasn't registered when *77 was dialed. Re-register and retry.
  • File-too-large upload error. UnifiedBX limits uploads to ~10 MB by default. For long recordings, edit php.ini upload_max_filesize or split the recording.
  • Recordings overwrite each other when re-recording. That's the point — *77 always writes to the file selected in the GUI's "Record over Extension." If you want to preserve the old version, rename the file in /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/custom/ first.