Tips for recording group interviews

• Use a small, quiet room with no interfering background noises (such as humming air conditioners or noisy cafes), as this will be picked up by your recorder.
• Use a good quality external microphone, and ask all participants to speak slowly and clearly.
• Allow interviewees to finish their sentences, keep interruptions to a minimum, and reduce over talk(when participants speak over each other) as best you can, otherwise words and phrases may be inaudible to the typist.
• Sit still, don’t shuffle paper or type on a keyboard near the microphone, and don’t walk around the room.
• If your interviewees have strong accents ask them to speak slowly and repeat their responses if necessary.
• If you’d like speakers identified in your transcript other than with Q (for interviewer) or A (for interviewee), please provide details in the notes box when uploading files.

See Interview transcription services and Tips for recording interviews for more information.

Tips for recording telephone interviews

• Telephone microphones are very sensitive and can pick up so much more than the ear can hear. Background noise and distortion can compete with your speakers.

• Ask interviewees to choose a quiet location with no background noise.

• A landline generally produces better results than a mobile phone or Skype

• Don’t use your mobile phone on speakerphone – the in-built microphone is very sensitive and will pick up every sound within a short distance and may produce an inferior recording.

• Use a telephone pick-up microphone to better capture the interviewee.

See Interview transcription services and Tips for recording interviews for more information.

Quality versus turnaround speed of audio transcriptions 
 

If you have an urgent job, we’ll do our best to get it back to you within your required time frame, but we have audio limits for a reason. Our guaranteed 1-2 day return is based on a maximum of 60 audio minutes. When we do a rush job – and 100 minutes in 24 hours, whilst achievable for some, is a rush job for most typists – the quality can diminish.

Think about it: when most of us are put under pressure to deliver a very quick result, the quality of output suffers. This certainly applies to typists who may already be dealing with poor quality audio, heavy accents and multiple speakers.

So if you have an urgent job, please understand that while we’ll do our best, a hurried job may deliver lesser quality than a job done in a reasonable time frame. For more information on this, see What are your turnaround times? in our FAQs.

How long does it take to transcribe a 60 minute audio file? 

That is a good question, and one that can have varied answers. SmartDocs typists can type quickly and accurately and reach typing speeds around 85-100 words per minute. But they don’t just type the transcript and leave it at that. They often need to stop the audio, rewind and double check unfamiliar or indistinct words and unclear speech. They also spend considerable time Goggling words, acronyms, and company names they are not familiar with. 60 minutes of normal speech (audio content) will take approximately four to six hours to transcribe, based on clear audio. Poor quality audio, multiple speakers (eg, focus groups), verbatim transcripts and a complex subject will take longer. In some cases, a one hour interview or focus group can take the typist eight hours, or longer, to transcribe. It certainly is not easy. The clearer the audio, however, the faster and better the result.

Achieving a good quality transcription is an easy process – providing you understand the basics of your recording device and how best to use it. Here are our 5 top tips:

• The best quality audio comes from high quality recorders – the savings made on cheap recorders are often wiped out by higher transcription costs. Check our recommendations at Which recording devices are best? 

• Make sure you understand how to choose the right settings for your type of recording, otherwise your audio quality may not be clear. Read Using your recorder for advice.
  Poor quality audio can also be caused by lots of extraneous noise – you’ll find many tips at How do I avoid poor quality audio? 

• Recording interviews or discussions can be challenging at times. Helpful hints are at Tips for recording interviews and Can you identify speakers in Q/A interviews and focus groups?
  Better quality audio can also be obtained with certain audio files.MP3 or .WAV file formats nearly always provide the best quality audio – read File formats for more information.

Better quality recordings: just follow these steps 

We receive hundreds of files every week at SmartDocs Transcription Services – some are crystal clear and some are very poor quality. Clear recordings are obviously faster and easier to transcribe, and result in the most accurate transcripts.

Here are some tips:

1. Make sure your recorder settings are correct, then do a test run. Use your recorder under the actual conditions then play back – don’t simply speak a few words into the recorder at close range. 
2. Use an external microphone for multiple voices – they can make a huge difference in audio quality and all speakers can be heard clearly.
3.  Small rooms are better than large ones. Background noise such as street traffic, paper shuffling or a radio or TV can really impact on recording quality.  
4. If speakers have strong accents, ask them to speak slowly and clearly. Repeat their answers if they are indistinct. 
5. Feel free to send us your first audio file and ask our opinion about the quality. More tips are here: Tips for recording.