Anyone who’s worked with audio knows the difficulty in salvaging a poor original recording. Whether it’s in the legal world recording a deposition or simply trying to understand a voicemail message made with spotty cell phone reception, there’s little you can do if the original file is damaged or recorded incorrectly.

Thankfully, those put in charge of recording interviews, lectures, or podcasts don’t need a degree in audio engineering to ensure a high-quality source recording for transcription purposes. With a few easy tips and some practice, you’ll be able to provide your transcriber with effective, actionable audio that will translate perfectly to the written word. Here’s how:

Reduce Background Noise
Whether it’s music playing in a café or a noisy air conditioning unit, don’t be afraid to ask someone to turn some knobs. Unless you’re in a professional recording studio, you’ll probably never be able to soundproof everything, but doing everything you can to keep background noise to a minimum will pay huge dividends to the quality of the recording.

Educate the Participants (And Interrupt)
Aside from podcast hosts and TV personalities, not many people are used to having their voices recorded on a regular basis. If a subject mumbles or speaks unevenly, asking them to repeat what they just said won’t just help clarify their previous statement, it may help them to expand on that statement by having the opportunity to think about it again. And should a plane fly overhead or a phone rings in the next room, ask to pause and wait for the background noise to end before resuming the recording.

Use a Backup
This is huge for legal interviews and businesses. Thanks to advances in technology, everyone has a recorder in their pockets these days. If you’re unsure about the primary equipment you’re using to record or have had trouble with it in the past, using your smartphone as a backup recorder could save you a lot of headaches when it’s time to transcribe the recording.

Spell Out Proper Names
If you have a list of participants prior to the recording, use a few minutes at the beginning to have everyone in the room spell out their first and last names. Not only will this help with transcription accuracy, but anyone taking notes in the room will be able to reference proper names throughout the recording.

Use a Professional Transcription Service
As recent history has shown us, there’s little reliability in automated transcription services like Siri and Google Voice. By partnering with a human transcription service, you’ll have limitless access to a professional transcriber 24 hours a day. Services like Transcription Hub approach 100% accuracy with turnaround times as fast as a single day – essential for demanding industries such as the legal, medical, and academic fields.

For a free quote or to get started transcribing your audio recordings to a written format, contact Transcription Hub today!