Imagine the scenario: you have set up an appointment to interview someone; you arrive, set up your recording equipment and spend some productive time getting some great material from the interviewee. However, upon checking the recording later you find there is so much background noise that you can hardly hear what the interviewee is saying.
KATTS' advice is to check out your recording equipment before your interview or interviews are scheduled. Play with your equipment, become familiar with it. Try recording yourself and experiment with the distance of the microphone. If you are using a device rather than your computer to record the interviews, transfer the test recording to your computer and listen to it using headphones. It may sound completely different to the way it sounds on the actual device.
A recording with a very low volume can be as troublesome to a transcription services provider as a recording with a noisy background so try to ensure that the finished recording can be turned up as well as down without distortion.
When it comes to actually carrying out the interview choose the quietest environment available to you. A busy restaurant is not an ideal environment for carrying out an interview that you will be sending to a transcription services provider for transcription.
Do not use voice activation when recording your interviews as words can be lost if there is a slight delay.
Turn off mobile phones. When a mobile phone searches for network coverage it interferes with recording equipment and can obscure voices even when set to silent or vibrate modes.
Remember, the clearer the recording the more accurate and complete the interview transcription will be.
For further information on recording interviews here's a link to an interview guide with some really good advice. This is an external site and the link will open in a new window. You may also find this KATTS blog article about realistic expectations useful.
If you would like a no obligation quotation for interview transcription contact KATTS.