Finding Affordable Transcription for Research Interviews

If you?ve conducted some research including one-to-one interviews, and then realised how much work is involved in transcribing them, you?ll probably be looking for an affordable transcription service. There are many transcription services available but sometimes an affordable transcription service can seem hard to find. Transcription is not cheap, because it is a lot more involved than copy typing, but that doesn?t mean you can?t find affordable transcription, and what?s more, by providing good quality recordings you can make the transcription more affordable, as it will take less time to complete.

You could do the transcription yourself, but if you are not a fast touch-typist and do not have specialist transcription equipment then it will take you a very long time. I have had clients come to me saying they started the work themselves and it was taking them 20 hours to produce a transcript of a 1-hour recording. That?s why they ended up using a transcription service!

The most important thing to remember is that it?s just not possible to type as fast as you speak. Even an experienced transcriptionist will be able to average four times as long for a good, clear one-to-one interview ? so an hour of recording will take an average of four hours to transcribe. ( Industry standards obtained from the Industry Production Standards Guide (I998), published by OBC, Columbus, OH, USA) Transcriptionists also have to make sense of what?s being said, punctuate the speech correctly and use the right homophones (words like there/their/they?re that sound the same but are spelt differently.)

So how can you make sure that your transcript is clear, in order to get an affordable transcription price? Basically, the easier you make the transcription for the transcriptionist, the more likely they are to be able to give you an affordable transcription quote.

First of all, use the best transcription equipment you can afford, and make sure it?s fit for purpose. This means that for interviews you should have a recorded with an external microphone rather than one built into the recorder, which is only designed to pick up one voice dictating. For focus groups you should have several microphones so that all participants are close to a mike, and for conferences the speakers should have good microphones and there should also be people in the audience with ?roving? microphones to take around to any audience members wanting to ask a question.

More and more transcriptionists are only taking on digital work now, rather than tapes, so to give yourself the broadest base to chose from you might want to consider using a digital recording method. These are also usually better quality.

Next, you should prepare well before each interview. Make sure that, if at all possible you have arranged a quiet meeting room, as background noise will dramatically increase the time taken to transcribe the recording, as the transcriptionist may have to listen to sections several times in order to capture the interview speech. It is helpful to spell out your interviewee?s name at the beginning of the tape, before starting the interview, and speak out any information you would like on the transcript header e.g. the date, the job title of your interviewee etc.

During the interview, unless you need to interrupt in order to take back control of the interview, try not to speak over your interviewee. Often in a normal conversation we say ?yeah, yeah, yeah? or ?right? or ?OK? more to indicate we?re listening than for any other reason. Every time you say that you are likely to be obscuring a much more important word or group of words spoken by your interviewee.

After the interview, it is enormously helpful if you can include a list of key words for the transcriptionist. Although we?re happy to go on a ?Google hunt?, searching the internet to find out how to spell technical terms, names of drugs, names of organisations etc., if you can provide this info in advance it certainly saves time, and saving time saves you money, again reaching toward that goal of an affordable transcription price. Technical work will always be more expensive than non-technical, but providing a ?crib sheet? of key words should reduce the cost.

Most transcriptionists work in a standard format, whether that be tabular, tabbed, interviews shown as initials or full names etc. Again most are happy to work to your specifications, but the standard format might well be cheaper, so think carefully about whether you need something different or not. Find out what the standard format is in advance if it concerns you, and you may be able to adapt it to your needs. If, for instance, it?s essential that you have speakers in different fonts or different colours, this will add to the price. It might be more cost-effective for you to put this in when the basic transcript is returned to you!

Finally, give some serious thought to whether or not you need a verbatim transcription. Verbatim transcription includes every repeated word, every ?um? and ?erm?, all those ?filler? phrases like ?you know? and ?know what I mean? that may be repeated a hundred times in one interview, and can also include pauses, coughs, throat clearing etc. if required. Needless to say if this takes longer. If the transcriptionist can filter out all this stuff the transcript is quicker. In my company the cheapest level is what we call ?intelligent verbatim? which cuts out all these fillers but leaves the rest exactly as it?s spoken. Different transcriptionists work this differently though, so always check when you?re phoning for your quote. Here are some brief examples. Somewhat more expensive is edited, which corrects the grammar and any mispronounced words as well as knocking out all the fillers.

Verbatim: Erm ? well, I dunno really, know what I mean? I mean, you know, when I asked them what Mary?s, er, um, condish, condit, condition was, they said like erm ?I?m afraid we can?t, erm, tell you that, Mrs. Smith, ?cause you ain?t a relative.?

Intelligent Verbatim: Well, I dunno really. I mean when I asked them what Mary?s condition was they said ?I?m afraid we can?t tell you that, Mrs Smith, ?cause you ain?t a relative.?

Edited: Well I don?t know really. I mean when I asked them what Mary?s condition was they said ?I?m afraid we can?t tell you that, Mrs Smith, because you are not a relative.?

You can see that a whole extra line of typing is required for the verbatim work in just those few short sentences.

There are occasions when verbatim is required ? depending on your topic it might be required for legal reasons, or you might be studying the language. But if you really don?t need it, don?t end up paying for it!

There are many excellent reasons for interviewing groups of people, but don?t do this in order to try to reduce the transcription cost! It takes much longer to transcribe a group of more than two or three people (including the moderator/interviewer) because of the time taken to distinguish the different voices and the fact that people will inevitably talk over each other, especially when they get excited, enthusiastic, impassioned or angry.

And finally, a note of caution: remember that the cheapest transcription quote might not be the most affordable one in the end. There is an oft-quoted phrase: if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Will it really be cost-effective to send your hard-won interviews to the cheapest service if what comes back is gobbledygook and you have to go through the whole thing correcting every other word? How much time will you then waste that could have been spent more productively on your analysis?

Anne Hickley has many years experience in a wide variety of administrative posts. Roles have included provision of secretarial services, PA work, project management and administration, academic and business report writing and editing, and recruitment. She has worked for a range of companies and institutions from SMEs to multinational businesses. Anne has a degree and a doctorate, and also holds the Diploma in Recruitment Practice, the membership qualification for the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.

She runs her own small business, Penguin Office Services (http://www.penguinofficeservices.co.uk) and has a website specifically dedicated to transcription at http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk These provide a wide variety of administrative services to clients around the world, from corporates to individuals.

This article is copyright, Anne Hickley, 2007.

Finding Affordable Transcription for Interviews, Focus Groups, Conferences and More

You may have been conducting research interviews, focus groups, market research, but whatever your reason for recording conversations you?ll be looking for an affordable transcription service. There are many transcription services available but sometimes an affordable transcription service can seem hard to find. Transcription is not cheap, because it is a lot more involved than copy typing, but that doesn?t mean you can?t find an affordable transcription service, and by providing good quality recordings you can make the transcription more affordable, as it will take less time to complete.

You may have planned to do the transcription yourself, but if you are not a fast touch-typist and do not have specialist transcription equipment then you have probably now realised that it?s going to take you a very long time. I have had clients come to me saying it was taking them 20 hours to produce a transcript of a 1-hour recording. That?s why they ended up using a transcription service!

The most important thing to remember is that it?s just not possible to type as fast as you speak. Even an experienced transcriptionist will be able to average four times as long for a good, clear one-to-one interview ? so an hour of recording will take an average of four hours to transcribe. A focus group may take six hours or more per hour of recording. (Industry standards obtained from the Industry Production Standards Guide (I998), published by OBC, Columbus, OH, USA) Transcriptionists also have to make sense of what?s being said, punctuate the speech correctly and use the right homophones (words like there/their/they?re that sound the same but are spelt differently.)

So how can you make sure that your transcript is clear, in order to get an affordable transcription price? Basically, the easier you make the transcription for the transcriptionist, the more likely they are to be able to give you an affordable transcription quote.

First of all, use the best recording equipment you can afford, and make sure it?s fit for purpose. This means that for interviews you should record with an external microphone rather than one built into the recorder, which is only designed to pick up one voice dictating. For focus groups you should have several microphones so that all participants are close to a mike.

If you?re conducting interviews then, if at all possible, conduct them in a quiet room, as background noise will dramatically increase the time taken to transcribe the recording, as the transcriptionist may have to listen to sections several times in order to capture the interview speech. It is helpful to spell out your interviewee?s name at the beginning of the tape, before starting the interview, and speak out any information you would like on the transcript header e.g. the date, the job title of your interviewee etc. You may also want to conduct a ?debrief? session at the end of the recording, when you are alone, in order to quickly record your impressions of the interview. For research interviews this is often part of the methodology.

Focus group transcription will cost more than a one-to-one interview transcript, but you can still get an affordable transcription service if you work to make your recording as clear as possible. Again make sure the recording is conducted in a private quiet room. Air conditioning can affect a recording, but so can opening a window, so if it?s a hot day it?s worth making a couple of test recordings before you start to see if there are problems! It?s really important to firmly chair a focus group too. Remind all the participants that all their views are valid, there are no rights and wrongs and, while you?re interested to see if they agree or disagree with each other, they should try not to talk (or shout!) over each other to make their point. Saying this at the beginning is important but it?s even more important, if you want affordable transcription, to remind participants each time things start getting a bit ?out of hand? that they need to speak separately for the sake of the recording. Finding the balance here between letting the talk flow and making sure you get a good recording is quite an art!

Conference recording is best left to the professionals if possible! Often these days a venue will provide recording facilities of good quality, included in the price. A microphone needs to be set up for the speaker and there should also be people in the audience with ?roving? microphones to take around to any audience members wanting to ask a question.

Digital recording systems provide the best quality and many transcriptionists only work with digital now, so if you want to give yourself the widest field then it?s certainly worth considering digital.

Any information you can provide to the transcriptionist about your recording will help, and may help toward an affordable transcription service. For example a list of key words will reduce the time spent ?Googleing?, searching the internet to find out how to spell technical terms, names of organisations etc. If you can provide this info it certainly saves time, and saving time saves you money, again reaching toward that goal of an affordable transcription service. Technical work will always be more expensive than non-technical, but providing a ?crib sheet? of key words should reduce the cost.

Most transcriptionists work in a standard format, whether that be tabular, tabbed, interviews shown as initials or full names etc. Again most are happy to work to your specifications, but the standard format might well be cheaper, so think carefully about whether you need something different or not. Find out what the standard format is in advance if it concerns you, and you may be able to adapt it to your needs. If, for instance, it?s essential that you have speakers in different fonts or different colours, this will add to the price. It might be more cost-effective for you to put this in when the basic transcript is returned to you!

Finally, give some serious thought to whether or not you need a verbatim transcription. Verbatim transcription includes every repeated word, every ?um? and ?erm?, all those ?filler? phrases like ?you know? and ?know what I mean? that may be repeated a hundred times in one interview, and can also include pauses, coughs, throat clearing etc. if required. Needless to say if this takes longer. If the transcriptionist can filter out all this stuff the transcript is quicker. In my company the cheapest level is what we call ?intelligent verbatim? which cuts out all these fillers but leaves the rest exactly as it?s spoken. Different transcriptionists work this differently though, so always check when you?re phoning for your quote. Here are some brief examples. Somewhat more expensive is edited, which corrects the grammar and any mispronounced words as well as knocking out all the fillers.

Verbatim

So, anyway, you know, I said ?er, ?Well, Susan, I really think you, you shouldn?t be um asking, er, me that.? And she, erm, er, she, she, well, she said, ?Look Mark, I dunno what you mean,? know what I mean?

Intelligent Verbatim

So anyway I said, ?Well, Susan, I really think you shouldn?t be asking me that.? And she said, ?Look Mark, I dunno what you mean.?

Edited

So I said, ?Well, Susan, I really think you shouldn?t be asking me that.? And she said, ?Look Mark, I don?t know what you mean.?

You can see that a whole extra line of typing is required for the verbatim work in just those two sentences.

There are occasions when verbatim is required ? depending on your topic it might be required for legal reasons, or you might be studying the language itself and the way it?s used. But if you really don?t need it, don?t end up paying for it!

There are many excellent reasons for interviewing groups of people, but don?t do this in order to try to reduce the transcription cost! As already stated, it takes much longer to transcribe a group of more than two or three people (including the moderator/interviewer) because of the time taken to distinguish the different voices and the fact that people will inevitably talk over each other, especially when they get excited, enthusiastic, impassioned or angry.

And finally, remember that the cheapest transcription quote might not be the most affordable one in the end. There is an oft-quoted phrase: if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Will it really be cost-effective to send your hard-won interviews to the cheapest service if what comes back is gobbledygook and you have to go through the whole thing correcting every other word? How much time will you then waste that could have been spent more productively on your core business?

Penguin Transcription (http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk), part of Penguin Office Services (http://www.penguinofficeservices.co.uk), offers an affordable transcription service by tailoring each quote to the exact requirements of the client. The more information the client can provide us with, and the better the quality of the recording for transcription, the more affordable the transcription service will be. Why not visit our site and fill in an enquiry form at http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk/PTS_enquiry_form.html to receive a quote for your transcription requirements.

This article is copyright, Anne Hickley, 2007.

Transcription vs. Copy Typing - What are They and How Do They Differ?

Many people are confused as to why transcription (audio typing) apparently costs more than copy typing, as both are typing services. This article aims to explain the differences between the two services and what makes up the costs for a transcription service.

Firstly let?s take copy typing. This normally refers to the typing of written ?copy? ? this maybe a previously typed document (perhaps typed on a typewriter and needing to be input into a Word Processor) or a hand-written document. The cost will vary depending on the ease of readability but with basic copy typing there is no editing or interpretation required; the typist simply types what is written in front of them. The cost of the typing services will vary according to how difficult the writing is to decipher ? it will be relatively cheaper if the original document is very clear handwriting or type-written.

Transcription, on the other hand, has no copy for the typist to look at, only an audio recording, which may be an audio tape, video, DVD or audio digital recording. This brings with it a number of issues that copy typing does not have: is the speech clear; is the content comprehensible (e.g. highly technical content might be full of words the transcriptionist is not familiar with); is the recording quality good (e.g. is there any background hiss on the tape or background noise from the surroundings the tape was recorded in); do you need verbatim transcription (word for word with all ?ums and ers?, speech patterns and fillers such as ?you know?, ?know what I mean? or ?kind of? repeated often through the recording; do you want the transcript edited to improve the grammar and sentence structure?

Clearly transcription is much more involved than copy typing. Another thing to bear in mind is that an hour of recording is not equivalent to an hour of transcription time. Even an experienced transcriptionist will be able to average four times as long for a good, clear one-to-one interview ? so an hour of recording will take an average of four hours to transcribe. ( Industry standards obtained from the Industry Production Standards Guide (I998), published by OBC, Columbus, OH, USA) A group, or a poorly recorded transcript, will take commensurately longer. Thus when you receive a quote per hour of recording it may seem like a lot of money, but remember this is NOT your transcriptionist?s hourly rate but rather a quote for a minimum of four hours of her/his time.

Transcriptionists also have to make sense of what?s being said, punctuate the speech correctly and use the right homophones (words like there/their/they?re that sound the same but are spelt differently.)

Many transcriptionists specialise in a particular area so that they are familiar with the technicalities e.g. medical transcription, legal transcription. Others are more generalist and work on less technical transcripts such as research interviews and market research focus groups, video or telephone conferences, seminars and conferences. These may all, of course, contain technical data and if they do it?s helpful to provide your transcriptionist with a list of keywords or, at very least, some background information about your work. Otherwise Google is a wonderful tool if used properly to research the topic but that will add to the total time taken to produce your transcript, and therefore the cost.

Hopefully it is now clear that transcription requires more skill than ?straightforward? copy typing with no editing or formatting involved, and therefore commands a higher hourly rate.

There are a number of things you can do to reduce the cost of the transcription though, and these are detailed in some of my other articles. (See below).

Penguin Transcription (http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk), part of Penguin Office Services (http://www.penguinofficeservices.co.uk), offers an affordable transcription service by tailoring each quote to the exact requirements of the client. The more information the client can provide us with, and the better the quality of the recording for transcription, the more affordable the transcription service will be. Why not visit our site and fill in an enquiry form at http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk/PTS_enquiry_form.html to receive a quote for your transcription requirements. More information about transcription is available through other ezine articles listed at http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Anne_Hickley.

This article is copyright, Anne Hickley, 2007.

Moderating A Focus Group for Later Transcription

Things to consider before conducting the focus group

If you are conducting a focus group and need to produce a transcript of it later on for analysis then you need to consider the transcription aspect right from the start.

What could be more frustrating than moderating a really productive and information-rich session only to find that your recording is unusable or the transcript comes back from your transcriptionist looking like gobbledegook.

Transcription of even a one-to-one interview is a tricky business and a professional transcriptionist will take around four hours per hour to transcribe a clearly recorded one-to-one interview. A focus group takes even longer because of the variety of different voices and accents, the fact that people talk over each other and the need to work out who is speaking. However, there is quite a bit you can do to make the transcription easier, and an easier transcription will take less time and therefore should cost less if you?re having it professionally transcribed.

If you?re providing refreshments preferably have the food before or after the discussion. Not only is transcription of people eating somewhat unpleasant, it?s also considerably more difficult to understand people, as you?ll know if you?ve ever listened to someone talking with their mouth full.

Do make sure you have a good enough recording system with external microphones. Putting a Dictaphone in the middle of the table is just not going to do the job. These are designed to be held close to the mouth for one person to record dictation into. For a focus group you will need a system with external microphones, ideally one per participant. If that?s not practical then one good quality microphone at the very least and preferably two or three. Do also make sure the group is meeting in a quiet self-contained room with no distractions.

Sometimes you won?t need to know who?s speaking, so long as each time a new person speaks this is indicated on the transcript. This will usually be cheaper as the transcriptionist does not have to distinguish the different voices, so it?s worth considering in advance whether you need the information on who?s speaking at any particular time.

If it is important to know who is talking then you will ideally not have more than five people of the same sex or eight people altogether, unless their voices or accents are very distinctive.

Conducting the focus group

Firstly lay down the ground rules at the beginning of the focus group. Explain why the tape recorder is there and check no one objects. Have a back-up plan or policy ready if anyone does object, or make sure everyone is notified in advance.

You will obviously need to explain what you want from the participants, why the group is being conducted, what you are researching etc. but if you don?t want this transcribed switch the recorder on after you?ve done that, or tell the transcriptionist where on the tape to start. (This is easier with digital transcription as audio tape counters are not very precise.)

Explain that people talking over each other will be problematic for the recording so ask that they please refrain from doing so. Don?t be afraid to remind them of this as when people get passionate, excited or angry they will talk over each other!

Before going any further get everyone in the group to introduce themselves. Ask them to say specific things so that you get more than a name. For example, ?Hello, can you tell me your name, where you live, your job, who else lives with you and your favourite food?. This would be appropriate for market research. For a group of scientists you might say ?can you say your name, just for the purposes of the tape, where you work and a sentence or two about your current research?. The point is that the transcriptionist has a chance to ?learn? the different voices.

It?s hard to strike the perfect balance between getting all the information and letting a true discussion develop. If the purpose of the group is to develop a discussion e.g. a group of company directors discussing government policy or a group of scientists giving opinions on your company?s latest product, then you won?t want to be continuously interjecting to remind them not to talk over each other, but if your primary reason for using a focus group rather than one-to-one interviews is financial e.g. market research, then the primary goal is probably to get opinions from as many people as possible and an in-depth discussion is not really the aim. In this case you can be firmer with moderating the group. You could, for instance, ask them to say their name every time they speak e.g. ?Mike. I think it tastes like sawdust actually?. ?Hi, I?m Lisa. I think it?s a cross between a digestive biscuit and sandpaper.? ?Mike again. Yeah, sandpaper?s a good description.? The transcript would then be produced as follows:

Mike: I think it tastes like sawdust actually Lisa: I think it?s a cross between a digestive biscuit and sandpaper. Mike: Yeah, sandpaper?s a good description.

If it?s important to stick to a discussion plan the don?t be afraid to gently reign people in if they go off track e.g. ?That?s a very interesting point Mike, but what we?re really discussing here is the price. Of course taste is extremely important and we?ll certainly be discussing it later on. For now though, what do you think of the price??

After the group ? preparing for transcription

Make a list of all the names (with correct spellings) and genders, and other relevant info e.g. Dr Sandy Shaw, Blogs Hospital NHS Trust, Qualified 10 years ? Female. Give this list to the transcriber along with the names of the moderator and anyone else who is present and makes any comment e.g. someone who?s helped to organise the group or is participating in the research.

Make sure you tell your transcriptionist exactly what you want e.g. you almost certainly won?t need a ?verbatim? transcription including every ?um? or ?er? and every repeated word. If you do need this it will probably be more expensive. Don?t be confused into thinking that it won?t be an accurate transcript if it?s not verbatim. ?Intelligent verbatim? is exactly what?s said, but leaving out all the ?speech fillers?, hesitations etc. and this is probably more practical in these situations. Sometimes you might want the answers edited to tidy up the grammar, and sometimes for market research you might want each comment categorised into a table to make the results more quantitative. Each of these ways of transcribing will be differently priced and some transcriptionists will have more experience in market research categorisation, so think carefully about what you need and make sure you find the appropriate person to carry out the work for you.

Penguin Transcription (http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk), part of Penguin Office Services (http://www.penguinofficeservices.co.uk), offers an affordable transcription service by tailoring each quote to the exact requirements of the client. The more information the client can provide us with, and the better the quality of the recording for transcription, the more affordable the transcription service will be. Why not visit our site and fill in an enquiry form at http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk/PTS_enquiry_form.html to receive a quote for your transcription requirements.

This article is copyright, Anne Hickley, 2007.

Digital Versus Analog Recordings for Transcription

Firstly it is useful to understand the differences between digital and analog audio. This applies to any recordings, not just to recordings of voice for transcription. Analog machines, such as tape cassette recorders, record sounds as wave forms, the way that the sound occurs in nature. Digital machines record sound by taking samples of the signal and storing them as bits of data, in the same way as a computer stores information. Because of the way the sounds are recorded digital recordings have a higher signal-to-noise ratio. Noise here refers to any background noise but when comparing analog to digital recordings it really refers to recorder-induced noise such as ?tape hiss?. So the quality of the digital recording is better. That alone is a good reason to consider using digital recording rather than analogue tapes!

There are other good reasons though. Not least of these is the fact that copies of analog recordings deteriorate in quality, so sending a copy of your master tape to a transcriptionist can result in a poor quality transcription, because the quality of the audio is poor. Digital recordings can be copied again and again with no deterioration in quality because all that?s being copied is a series of bits of data.

Of course when using digital recordings you do need to check that your transcriptionist can transcribe from the file type you are using, or convert it. Most transcriptionists will be able to transcribe from any standard analog cassette and many can transcribe from micro and mini cassettes and video. So long as they have the relevant tape transcription machine they can transcribe the tape. Not so, unfortunately, with digital.

Most digital audio file types are compressed and a codec (the algorithm used to reduce the number of bites contained in large files by eliminating redundant data) and the transcriptionist or transcription software will need access to the codec that has produced the compressed file. However, this is often not an issue as PCs and many types of transcription software come with a variety of codecs already installed. It is certainly important to check with your transcriptionist though that they can work with your file type. Please see my separate article on digital file types for transcription for more information on this.

Digital file types are also easily manipulated and this can be useful when recording for transcription. If there are parts of the file you do not want transcribed it is a fairly simple matter to remove those parts and only send the transcriptionist the parts that should be transcribed. Alternatively, because a digital recording indicates where you are in it second by second, you can send the transcriptionist instructions such as ?transcribe between 3 minutes 20 seconds and 60 minutes 10 seconds.? This does not work on analog media as, even if you and your transcriptionist both have tape players with minute counters, the level of accuracy is quite poor.

Another huge benefit from the point of view of the transcription itself is that in a transcription from a digital recording your transcriptionist can mark the precise time that an inaudible word occurs. If that time is 3 minutes and 22 seconds then you can go back to your copy of the recording and almost instantly find 3 minutes and 22 seconds, play the word, and hopefully fill in the blank. With an analog recording on tape the transcriptionist can mark an inaudible word but it's not possible to note the time with any degree of accuracy and you will either need to flick back and forth through the tape to find it or listen through the whole recording.

There are various ways to make a digital recording. Perhaps the commonest when recording for transcription is onto a card, in much the same way as a digital camera records pictures onto a card. The recorded files can then be transferred onto your computer and sent to your transcriptionist via email (if compressed), FTP, file sharing sites or, in some cases, a file-sending box located on the transcriptionist?s website.

Minidiscs have an excellent sound quality but many transcriptionists are unable to transcribe from them as the data needs to be transferred to PC first and then usually converted for use in transcription programmes.

DVDs and CDs also need to be converted before use in transcription software.

Recording can also be done directly onto a computer hard-drive using various types of software and an external microphone. However, when conducting interviews the presence of a laptop and large microphone might be rather intrusive.

However the recording is made and stored, it should be possible, with the right equipment and software, to convert the file into something you can download onto your PC and send to your transcriptionist by one of the methods mentioned above. So digital recordings not only improve on quality but can save you time and money. Recordings can be ?instantly? transferred to the transcriptionist instead of posting audio cassettes, you save money on postage costs to and from your transcriptionist and a better quality transcription will cost less to transcribe as it will take less time.

All in all, in a comparison between digital and analogue recording for transcription, digital recordings come out well ahead.

Penguin Transcription (http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk), part of Penguin Office Services, offers an affordable transcription service by tailoring each quote to the exact requirements of the client. The more information the client can provide us with, and the better the quality of the recording for transcription, the more affordable the transcription service will be. Why not visit our site and fill in an enquiry form at http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk/PTS_enquiry_form.html to receive a quote for your transcription requirements.

This article is copyright, Anne Hickley, 2007.

Transcription - Get Digital Recording Equipment That's Right For Your Needs

There is a bewildering away of recording equipment available to record your interviews, focus groups, conferences etc. for later transcription, but this article aims to inform you on the different features available for recorders, what they're for and how the will (or won't) be of use to you, as someone who is recording for transcription. There is an enormous price range from less than ?50 to hundreds of pounds, and this article aims to explain indicate which features cost more and what to look out for. The different features are first listed and then explained, and this should allow you to choose a machine that's right for you and your transcriptionist. As any visit to a good website or shop selling these machines will show you, this is not a comprehensive list. It's a lost of the most important aspects from a transcription point of view.

The different features are:

• Recording quality
• Frequency response
• Amount of recording time
• Computer interface
• File type
• Editing of recorded voice e.g. rewinding and adding or deleting some words
• How is the recorder powered?
• Dimensions
• Microphone jack
• Links with a speech recognition software

Recording quality will normally be indicated as SHQ - stereo high quality, HQ - high quality, SP (short play) and LP (long play). SHQ is the best quality (and stereo of course) but will take up the most memory, so you will be able to record less at this setting. LP is the poorest quality but you can record more time. Mono is probably perfectly adequate for an interview, but if you're recording a number of different people e.g. at a meeting, conference or focus group, it might be useful to have stereo recording. To use stereo you will need a stereo microphone or more than one external microphone.

The different recording qualities relate to different frequency responses. The human ear picks up audio in the range of between approximately 20 Hz and 20 kHz. But what are the most used frequencies in speech? I'd love to know but a quick Google search gives an unbelievable range of answers! I think it's fairly safe to say it's somewhere around 250 Hz to 5 kHz, with the higher end being a high-pitched woman's voice and the lower end being a low-pitched man. So it's around those ranges that you need to be looking. There is a wide range of different frequencies available in different recording machines but frankly most will record a one-to-one or one-to-two interview to acceptable quality at SP, and possibly even at LP.

The amount of recording time will depend on which recording quality you choose, and again the range of times is enormous, so you really need to think about what your needs are. You might need a long recording time if you're going to be researching 'in the field' for significant lengths of time, with no access to your PC to download files, or if you are recording a conference, especially if you want to use a high quality recording for this, which will mean you have less time. If, however, you are recording notes or dictation, or one-to-one interviews, and can regularly download information onto your PC, there is no need to save vast amounts of data onto the machine. It is probably this factor that creates the biggest price differences, so think carefully and don't buy a machine that gives you hours more time than you need.

The computer interface is a really important consideration. If you are planning to send the recordings to a transcriptionist to be transcribed you will need to download them onto your PC first. They can then either be emailed (if small enough, see file type section), transferred by FTP, or in some cases, including my company Penguin Transcription, sent using a file-sending box on the transcriptionist's website. Even if you plan to transcribe the files yourself it is a tedious business if you have to do this directly from the 'note taker' as recorders that don't have a download interface are sometimes called. Ideally the recorder will link to your PC with a USB interface, usually requiring no extra software or drivers. Alternatively it might link through a port and come with a CD containing the relevant drivers.

The file type is another very important consideration and is perhaps the one that is most often overlooked. Examples are WAV (uncompressed, great quality but enormous), WMA (Windows Media format, compressed but reasonable quality for voice), DSS (Olympus proprietary transcription file, very compressed but specially designed for voice so good quality). These are just a few examples and you can see details of a wider range of file types in my separate article on this site 'Digital File Types for Audio Transcription'. If you plan to send your files to a transcriptionist for transcription you will ideally want files that are reasonably small and can be emailed, although there are various ways of sending much larger files over the net. WAV files will not only take a long time to send, they will take up a lot of space on your PC, and on your recorder. DSS or DVF files for instance, are much more convenient as they are small and compact, can be emailed without being blocked by the server, and are delivered quickly.

Editing of recorded voice will probably be more important if you are using the machine to take dictation rather than an interview. When dictating a letter you may want to go back and delete the last few words and replace them with something else. The recorders at the mid to upper end of the price-range usually have this feature but if it's important to you it's worth checking to make sure as they by no means all have it.

How is the recorder powered? Most recorders are battery powered but if you're gong to be using your recorder significantly it's worth checking that you can use rechargeable batteries, from an environmental and cost perspective! It's also a consideration if dimensions are important to you. In particular the batteries can add considerably to the weight. Most modern recording machines are fairly light and quite discreet though. If weight is a concern make sure that the weight listed includes the batteries.

Whether or not the recorder has a microphone jack is an important consideration, as is the quality of mike that it allows you to plug in. Really for anything but one-person dictation an external microphone is a necessity. Recording an interview with only the machine's internal microphone is likely to give disappointing results. A poor recording will lead, at worst, to a poor transcription, and at best to an expensive transcription, as it will take longer to complete! If you are recording a conference you will need more than one mike, or a stereo microphone, as already mentioned.

Some recorders link with speech recognition software. As yet this type of software is really only of use for one-voice recording e.g. dictation of notes. Even then you will need to spend some time and energy 'training' the software to recognise your voice, and then carefully check the transcript as it will doubtless be ridden with mistakes, especially on homophones (words that sound the same but are spelt differently.) However, if you are going to use one of these packages then a feature that links your recorder directly to it is a useful addition.

This list is only the most important features in my opinion for transcription of interviews, dictation, focus groups and conferences. It does not cover the recording of music which requires a much wider frequency range and a number of other specialist considerations, but I hope that it is helpful for those embarking on research that requires transcription.

Penguin Transcription, part of Penguin Office Services, offers an affordable transcription service by tailoring each quote to the exact requirements of the client. The more information the client can provide us with, and the better the quality of the recording for transcription, the more affordable the transcription service will be. Why not visit our site and fill in an enquiry form at http://www.penguin-transcription.co.uk/PTS_enquiry_form.html to receive a quote for your transcription requirements. If you are looking for transcripiton equipment we use and recommend Speak IT, http://www.speakit.info

This article is copyright, Anne Hickley, 2007.

Media Transcription

We are pioneers and experts in supporting Television Media Production companies , Documentary producers, independent Content producers, Media consultants and numerous associated Media professionals in their Transcription needs. Our vast experience gained over customer projects is evident in our satisfied customer feedbacks.B-Roll is an extra footage that can be used to illustrate the main story-line. Example: If a person is talking about a new school, the B-roll will include video of the new school. Most of the Television documentary and reality shows require transcription of the extra footage with simple narration. This will give good reading experience to the story readers. We are specialists in B-Roll transcription and we consistently attempt to identify each person speaking and transcribe brief descriptions of what is happening. The descriptions are general and it gives the reader of the transcript an idea of what is happening. We handle variety of Standard Tapes, Micro cassettes, MiniDVs, and VHS. We are experts in converting all types of non digital source audio/video into digital. Converted digital files are then sent for transcription. Extra charges are applicable for non digital to digital conversion.Unless until specified, we follow the below standard notations and document rules:

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