A few tips for good recordings

 

The following tips will help you produce good quality audio files and keep the cost down:

  • Speak clearly, slowly and at an audible level.  Ensure all participants speak up- if you can't hear them clearly then the transcriber is not going to either.
  • Use an external microphone - and for group recordings, i.e. focus groups, roundtable discussions you may need several microphones which link to the main unit.
  • Place the microphone close to the source of sound.
  • Voice-activation can cut out the first few words of speech so it's better turned off. 
  • Spell out technical words - providing a glossary of difficult words in advance will speed up the transcription time. 
  • If refreshments are planned during the recording session it would be better to switch off the recording for a few minutes - it's surprising how much speech will actually become inaudible over the 'clinking' of crockery, leaving significant gaps in the transcription.
  • With Focus Groups, ask the participants to introduce and say a little about themselves to enable the identification of voices if speaker identification is necessary for the transcript.
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