There are three ways used to record data to be transcribed. They are as follows:

Voicescriber
Using any hand-held dictation device such as a VHS for video, cassette, micro-cassette or, now the most common, digital recording device. The easiest way is to simply use a hand-held digital recorder for audio/video; it is much cheaper and effective than using a cassette or VHS. These hand-held units come from a number of suppliers and offer a wide variety of options for audio quality and file length. The recorder is then connected to a PC and the audio file, usually in “.wave” format, is uploaded into a designated directory in the PC.

These files can be played back by invoking the Windows Media Player or Winamp software (which we give you). The recorded digital file is then uploaded directly to you through e-mail or by accessing the client’s server files, if requested, with a one-button click. If a cassette is used, the client will have to mail the original copy to you (the transcriber) for transcription; that is why the digital is now being used more often and with better quality. We will explain a little later in the training how to use the different digital formats.

Phonescriber
Dictation via telephone. Some companies will allow clients to use dial-in dictation from any remote phone via a local or 800 number. This allows dictation to be done on a 24/7 basis. The dictation is recorded on digitalized sound, compressed, encrypted, and immediately placed on an electronic queue for professional transcribers.

Digital dictation, in general, eliminates the cost of pickup and delivery of analog tapes resulting in huge cost savings and quick turnaround. Unless you have your own transcription business, which we will show you how to do later in the program, you will not need to worry about this. The companies that will outsource the assignments to you will do this for you and send you the digital file ready for you to transcribe.

Dictation support via PC
Another effective option is to utilize the PC or a laptop. All reasonably current PCs and laptops come with an audio function built in. All it needs is a low cost microphone to be plugged into the “MIC” jack. Windows comes standard with the sound recorder, usually found in the Accessories section.

There is, however, a downside in using such a system. The files are sometimes digital formats, such as “.wave” or “.mp3” “.mp4” or “.wmv”. Direct PC recordings usually default to the “.pcm” format, which results in very large files, and is therefore not amenable for efficient Internet transmission. There are solutions to this problem that you will not need to worry about as the transcriber. The companies that will collect the recorded audio will do this for you and transfer it to you ready to be transcribed.

General Recording Tips to Give Your Clients for Transcription
It will make it easier for you to transcribe if the person who is recording can follow some simple tips when setting up recordings. If you are only going to do outsource assignments and NOT own your own transcription company, then you will not be responsible for the quality it will be the company outsourcing the work to you who should make sure the quality is good enough to get an accurate transcription.

However, even if you are only going to be doing outsource assignments, you can always make suggestions to the company that will be sending you the assignments if you continually get bad quality files.

Here are some good tips (Courtesy of Wordworth Typing and Transcription) to give your clients:

Ask participants to avoid talking at the same time

Before you start the event, a sound check (where you record a few words from each subject and then listen to make sure the result is clear) is helpful. When doing a sound check, make sure each person speaks at the distance from the mike that he or she will be at during the entire interview.

Try to minimize background noise. Some common sources of background noise include:

-Traffic, construction, and other street noise coming through open (or even closed) windows.
-Noise from other rooms or hallways coming through open doors.
-Machinery running in the background, e.g., fans or air conditioners.
-TV sets and radios.
-People making noise in the background.
-Pets or other animals.
-Clocks that chime (especially those that do so every fifteen minutes).
-Doors shutting or slamming.
-Coughs, sneezes, etc.

If anyone is leaving or entering the room during the conversation, encourage them to close the door softly and encourage speakers to pause while the door is being opened.

Ensure that a microphone is close to the person speaking. One mike per person is ideal.

Try to place microphones quite close to the speaker and pointing directly toward him or her.

If in an interview there is only one microphone, direct the mike to the interviewee as it will be less of a concern to miss out on transcription of the questions than the answers.

If you have a choice of microphones and do not have one mike per speaker available, or if a speaker will be moving around during the event you might prefer an omnidirectional mike (which picks up sounds from all directions). Conversely, directional mikes work best if you have one mike per speaker and the speakers will not be moving much.

If you use lapel mikes, make sure they won’t be rubbed by a piece of clothing and that they pick up the speaker’s voice when his or her head is turned.

If possible, encourage speakers to make some verbal reference to things they may be indicating visually.

If it’s important to get down references to people, places, Web sites, organizations, etc. that the transcriber might not know or be able to easily distinguish, it’s ideal to repeat them clearly or even spell them out.

Alternatively, if your project involves a lot of jargon or technical terminology, consider sending the transcriptionists a list of terms likely to have been used. The more context the transcriptionist has, the more accurate his or her work.

If you feel comfortable that the recording is quite clear, you may wish to urge an interviewer not to repeat back what the respondents say, as some interviewers are inclined to do. Alternatively, you might direct that the transcription leave out such repetitions.

However, if you’re concerned about sound quality of a recorded interview, you might prefer to have an interviewer repeat important responses.

If an interviewer is using a standard list of questions, you may want to provide that list with the recorded interview.

Recording Tips to give clients for Multiple Speakers

The following additional guidelines are useful for events where there are more than two people involved:

It is very important to have a microphone for each speaker. This is commonly done in conferences, but often overlooked in focus groups, group interviews, or other smaller settings. Having a speaker some distance from a microphone almost guarantees that their contributions will disappear behind background noise.

If you have multiple speakers, it’s ideal to be able to identify each speaker each time she or he speaks. If that is not possible, it’s helpful for the speakers to introduce themselves at the beginning in their own voice.

If you use a mike for an audience or other large group, such as a mike in the aisle for questions, it helps cut down on noise (e.g., coughing) if you turn that mike on only when, for example, someone in that group is asking a question.

If you have an audience asking questions but don’t use a separate mike for them, you can ask your speakers to repeat the question that has been asked, before answering it. This is also sometimes helpful if other audience members may not have heard the question.

When recording an interview, meeting, lecture or other event with the intention of having it transcribed later, you can help make the transcription process as efficient and accurate as possible. While it’s not always possible to follow all of these tips, taking them into account can help ensure better transcription by improving sound quality and minimizing incidental noise.

The better the recording, the more accurate and cost-effective the transcription will be.

As much as possible, ask the client to try to follow these guidelines for best results, which will make your job as the transcriber much easier.

Poor Quality Recordings
In some cases clients may still transcribe poor-quality dictation because the content is essential. The outsource companies or yourself will review each case individually to let the client know what can be done to provide the best quality transcription possible. Poor-quality dictation includes those in which there are noisy, muffled, simultaneous overlapping conversations, and two or more speakers recorded at greatly different volumes. In some cases the outsource company or yourself will be able to digitize and enhance the audio to remove noise or clarify the speakers.

In such cases you will work to understand how many “inaudible” sections are permissible. This work is billed at an hourly rate depending on the services needed. Rush service for poor-quality tapes, if offered, is billed at rates higher than normal rush service because of the huge effort and possible transcriber fatigue involved.

In large jobs where you encounter a poor-quality tape or digital file, you can often choose to not transcribe the particular recording until the client is contacted for guidance. In rare instances you may refuse to transcribe very poor audio because of the likely poor quality of the resulting transcription or fatigue on the transcriber (yourself).

More than likely, the outsource company sending you work will weed out these assignments. However, you can suggest that you will try certain assignments, and thus build a good relationship with the outsource company. However, this can result in many future projects of poor quality recordings. The upside is that these will pay the best; the downside is that you have to work a little harder (maybe a lot harder in some cases!) to decipher the recording.