Here are my tips for recording the best possible sound file:

 Good Microphone Placement. If you are going to be conducting a focus group, conference or interview, then it is important that you set up the room with sound quality in mind. Making sure that everyone can be heard is essential for recording a high quality sound file. This can be achieved by making sure that there are enough microphones and that they are evenly spaced between speakers.

 Keep outside noise to a minimum. Try to minimise outside distractions by choosing a room that is away from excessive noise. Let your colleagues know that you will be making a recording so that they do not interrupt you by either making noise outside or entering the room during your recording. It is also worth checking that events such as a fire alarm tests and the like, are not going to be taking place during your recording.

 Purchase good quality equipment. If you are going to be recording a group interview, using your IPhone is not going to cut it. Purchase adequate recording equipment for your situation and needs.

 Keep focused. Participants in interviews or group sessions can have the tendency to lose focus on the topic that you are researching. Plan your interviews in advance to maintain purpose during your recording. Listen to what people have to say but be aware that you are making a recording for transcription, and that you need to keep to the point.

 Discourage Interjection. Although it is important to let people speak freely during your interviews or group sessions, you should discourage interjection and over speaking during your recording. This is because it can be extremely difficult to pick out individual voices when several people are talking at once and in extreme cases, you may end up losing what was said altogether.

 Repeat inaudible sentences, words and phrases. If you can’t hear what someone has said during an interview, don’t assume that the transcriptionist will be able to. Sound quality on a recording is rarely as clear as actually being in the room and can also be diminished during transit. If someone in your recording is particularly quiet or hard to hear, then ask them to repeat what they have said or you can repeat it yourself, just to clarify.

 Keep your transcriptionist in the picture. Even if you have a transcriptionist who has experience in your field, making a note of certain technical terms, new companies or unusual names can mean that your transcriptionist can turnaround your files more quickly and accurately.
All of these tips will really help you to make better quality sound files for transcription. This can make a real difference to the accuracy, turnaround and price of your future transcripts and can also help you to get the information that you need from your audio recordings with minimum hassle and maximum results.

This article was submitted to Voicetranscription.co.uk by:

Samantha Linnane
Transcription City
Specialist Transcription Services based in London.

http://www.transcriptioncity.co.uk

Express Scribe is free professional audio player software for PC or Mac designed to assist the transcription of audio recordings.

A typist can install it on their computer and control audio playback using a transcription footpedal or keyboard (with ‘hot’ keys). This transcribing software also offers valuable features for typists including variable speed playback, multi-channel control, playing video, file management, and more.

Express Scribe is completely free and can be used without any restrictions.

Features

Variable speed playback (constant pitch)
Supports audio and video playback
Supports professional foot pedals which connect to the USB port to control playback. More info…
Uses ‘hot’ keys to control playback when using other software (eg. Word)
Ability to dock both analog and digital portable recorders to load recordings
Works with Microsoft Word and all major word-processors
Integrates with Express Delegate Dictation Workflow
Automatically receives and loads files by internet (FTP), email or over a local computer network
Automatically sends typing to those who dictated the work
Works with speech recognition software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking to automatically convert speech to text
Loads CD audio directly – start to work as it loads in the background
Can switch to ‘mini’ mode to reduce screen space
Integrate with dictation management systems
Works with FastFox typing utility to turn difficult medical/legal phrases and common terms into mere shortcuts from your keyboard
Express Scribe is completely free

For more information please visit their website:

http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/index.html

http://www.medicaltranscription.co.uk/

Whether you need interview transcripts, including qualitative research interviews, focus group transcriptions, conference transcription, meeting transcription, film transcription, or vox pop transcripts, and whether you’re a student, a university researcher, a solicitor , representing a company or an individual, our team of highly competent, professional UK-based transcribers can offer a transcription service that’s right for you. We are very happy to provide digital transcription services and can transcribe from a whole heap of digital recording formats, audio and but we’re also happy to provide transcription from mini tapes, micro tapes or standard cassette tapes, as well as video cassette (European format only) and minidisk. If you can’t see a page that’s just right for you on the menu then don’t worry – we’re very happy to tailor a quote to suit your exact needs. Just fill in our form to request an online quote and we’ll get back to you soon with a transcription quote tailored to you.

We will normally offer you a fixed price transcription service for your digital transcription, so that you can plan your budgets effectively in advance. We can work with a wide range of digital files including wave (wav), dss, wma and mp3 file types, to name but a few. Please see the page about transcription time to see how this fixed price transcription quote works.

http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk/

King Audio Transcription and Typing Services (KATTS) work on a variety of transcription projects including for example most recently focus group transcription, interview transcription, international conference transcription, video production company transcription, patent application transcription, museum transcription, disciplinary procedures, appraisal interview transcription for an HR department and oral history interviews.

http://www.kingaudio.co.uk

In Transcription Employment, you are to provide 3 types of services that are needed by different people. The First and most common type of service is general transcription. The next is medical and the last would be legal transcription.

General Transcription

In general transcription, you are asked to transcribe into text a certain audio or video recording that’s about anything other than medical.

The usual subject which falls into as general transcription is business, academic and media. As a general transcriptionist, background and experience is not expected from you to be able to put into text an audio or video sent to you. In fact, this can be considered as the easiest and type of transcription service provided.

Medical Transcription

This is by far the most common type of service in transcription. Here, your clients are mostly doctors and physicians who are in need of your transcription skills to put into text patient records. Doctor’s secretaries and staff used to be the ones who this type of job in order to make the patient record as readable as possible but with the new technology and service available, medical transcriptionists’ service are much preferred. To be able to do this type of transcription, you must have at least a medical background.

This is indicated before you can start becoming a medical transcriptionist to be aware about medical terminologies which you need to transcribe.

Legal Transcription

This used to be part of the general transcription however with the rising demand for this type of service it became one of the top services catered in transcription. As a legal transcriptionist, you are to cater for the needs of lawyers and legal secretaries. Like in Medical transcription, you need to at least have a background on legal services to be able to function effectively as a legal transcriber.

This has changed the equipment needed. A foot pedal is still generally considered a necessity, but it’s attached to your computer rather than a bulky transcription machine.

The exact equipment you need will depend on whether you work for yourself or for a transcription company, and what the particular requirements are. If you are finding your own clients you will need to determine how they will get the dictation to you and how you will get the reports back to them.

If you’re working for a company, they will tell you the equipment needed. These days it is often a foot pedal, which the company might provide for you or tell you how to get your own.

Do not buy a foot pedal before you know what kind is compatible with the programs you will be using. There are a couple of foot pedals available on Amazon, as well as eBay, and you can compare these prices with those offered by your employer if your employer expects you to provide your own foot pedal. If you’re buying used, be sure that the quality is still good.

You will also need headphones. A good headphone makes it easier to transcribe, and keeps the dictation private as it should be. This is a case where I really do not recommend using your computer’s speakers. Just about any headset that works with your computer will do; this need not cost a fortune. However, some people do enjoy noise cancelling headphones, as these make it easier to work with other people around you. Once again, you can find them at Amazon and eBay fairly easily.

These days that’s about all you need in terms of equipment, aside from the computer and monitor you already have.