One of the most important things about getting a great transcript is starting with great audio. That doesn’t mean you need to get fancy though. There are plenty of tips and tricks that will get you going with good audio. You don’t have to use all of these, this is just to help you troubleshoot if you’re having some issues!
- Find a central location for your recording device. This helps balance the volume levels of all participants. If you have to choose, you may want to position it closer to your interviewees to get the best audio of their responses.
- Once you have placed your device, try not to move it around, especially when people are speaking. The resulting noise can make it difficult or impossible to hear.
- Stay away from machines and devices as much as possible. Recording in driving cars, or near dryers and dishwashers, or even running microwaves can increase the difficulty of the file. The less background noise, the better.
- Another way of helping with noisy environments is to record a short clip with no one talking. Play it back, listening using headphones. You’ll be surprised at what is being picked up by the mic! This can give you an opportunity to identify potential problems before you’ve already invested time in the recording.
- Leave a few seconds of audio at the beginning of the recording. That ambient noise can be used to reduce the overall noise of the file.
- Recording in coffee shops, restaurants, and other crowded places can be particularly hard for recordings! Background voices and noises are hard to filter out from audio files and can be hard to hear through.
- As much as possible, avoid crosstalk. In our day-to-day conversations, we often talk over each other, but it can make it very difficult to understand either speaker, and can make for a choppy transcript. Waiting for the last speaker to finish can be very helpful (and usually makes for a better interview anyway!).
- Identify speakers at the beginning. Have everyone on the recording introduce themselves.
- Send me a list of speaker names, with correct spelling, and a list of terminology that may be specific to the industry or topic. I will always do research to find the best option, but a list will ensure I use your preferred spellings. For example, I may find a product listed as “Reddi-wip,” “Reddi-Wip,” or “ReddiWip.” With a terminology list, I can be assured that “Reddi-wip” is your preferred spelling.
- If you have a note for me, say something like “Note for the transcriptionist. Please don’t transcribe the conversation with the waitress”. I will always do my best to follow instructions, but if I am confused I will default to transcribing it and add a note in square brackets.
I hope these tips give you some ideas to create the best audio possible. Of course, you don’t have to have perfect to get a great transcript, but good audio always helps.