Recording for Transcription Services
If you are doing your own recording for transcription, you will get a more accurate document if you follow some simple ground rules when you set up to record.
We’ve all watched a video on YouTube where the speaker had something we really wanted to hear, but airplanes kept flying overhead, someone insisted on vacuuming in the background, or the wind kept blowing into the microphone. Too often it is just not worth the discomfort of trying to listen, and we give up and tune out.
In department meetings, focus groups, depositions and research interviews, you may be aiming for an accurate transcript more than a beautiful sound. But even when you are making a recording for the purposes of a speech to text transcript, the quality of the audio recording is important.
Successful recording for transcription
- Choose an appropriate recording device and microphone. Make yourself familiar with the equipment you are using before you begin. Better equipment will provide better audio and a better transcript.
- Use at least two independent recording devices. You’d be surprised how often batteries fail, or someone accidentally forgets to hit “record.” Another device provides peace of mind.
- Test the equipment at least two hours before the start of your meeting. If you detect problems, give us a call — we’d be happy to trouble-shoot with you.
- If possible, hold your meeting or interview in a quiet environment. Try to eliminate background or ambient sounds such as fans, air conditioners, office machines, telephones or traffic. Choose a room that is relatively free of echoes and reverberation. A carpeted floor may help reduce sounds of chairs scraping.
- Let those around you know you are making a recording, and encourage them to keep quiet. Avoid unnecessary table sounds, such as eating, tapping a pencil, zippers and Velcro, and the moving of furniture or equipment.
- If you must interview someone in a restaurant or other loud space, make sure to have the microphone closest to the person being interviewed.
Have a complex or challenging situation? Hire a professional to record your meeting.
Tigerfish Transcribing can record your live event on-site. Our audio technicians will ensure a top-notch recording is made, take notes for speaker identification, and send it on to our transcribers for a speedy delivery to your inbox.
See More - Topics:
- Best Practices
- Famous Transcripts
- Local Color
- The Wide World of Transcription
- Tigerfish News
- Transcription Technology
- Transcription Tips
- Video Transcription
- What is Transcription?
