you who has your best interests in mind and who is willing to follow your document needs to the letter. You don't have to use a large corporate transcription service. They're too impersonal and deal with such a large volume of documents that you get lost in the shuffle. Find an IC at home transcriptionist who will work for you personally and be your personal transcriptionist. They aim to please, and you will be delighted at the great quality of work they turn out in record time!
1. Don't bother with voice recognition software. You will have to have someone proofread and edit your transcript heavily afterwards anyway. Get an affordable speedy transcriptionist instead right from the start. You'll save money in the long run.
2. Make sure your audio is clear, free of static and background noise, and that the person(s) speaking is being as articulate as possible. Using a good quality microphone is key. Also testing your audio equipment in the same environment in which you will be using it first will save you a lot of headaches later.
3. Remember who your target audience is and stay on topic. Try to remember that you are being recorded and omit the types of verbal trackbacks that you use when talking casually. Write things down if it helps.
4. Don't record more than 30 minutes at a time--it will be too cumbersome a document to read otherwise, unless you plan to create several chapters in an e-book or it is part of a larger body of work.
5. If your audio/video is a webinar or teleseminar, make sure you clearly identify each caller and spell their names for your transcriptionist ahead of time.
6. Find a transcriptionist with whom you can relate to well personally and who is willing to transcribe your transcripts just the way you like them done. There are disagreeable and agreeable transcriptionists. Shoot for the latter!
7. Make sure your transcription service is US-based (no outsourcing--it's just not worth the potential savings), affordable, quick, and uses English accurately.
I will expand upon each of these seven tips individually in my next article.
...Articles – These could be for your website--they're one of the best free ways to get loads of visitors to your site. They can also be used as freebies for your opt-in list.
...E-Courses – Build trusting relationships with your email subscribers with a multi-part series of emails on specific topics. They'll be impressed by your excellent grammar and punctuation--a rarity these days online!
...Blog Posts – Blogs are incredibly easy, powerful, and routinely scoured and selected by the search engines. A one hour teleseminar or webinar can easily turn into several blog posts.
...E-Books – Do you have an existing manuscript or a collection of articles? They can be made into an e-book and used very profitably on your website.
...PowerPoint Slide Shows – Just narrate over your slides and get huge exposure on video sharing sites or turn your narration into hard copy documents for your websites.
Triple-A Transcription has created a medical transcription
service designed for its clients in the medical field whose subject matter necessitates specialized knowledge. We provide medical transcription for pharmaceutical firms, medical meeting planners, and Continuing Medical Education organizations with verbatim medical transcripts and summaries for external and internal communications and publishing.
Our medical transcriptionists are specialized, with extensive medical backgrounds. Whether you are holding an advisory board meeting, roundtable discussion, lecture, symposium, or panel discussion, we can document your event in our medical transcripts.
Triple-A Transcription also offers medical reports and summaries.
Ask for an estimate for our medical transcription service. We will get back to you within 24 hours.
Want to get the best possible quality of audio recording? See the article above on audio recording.
Poor transcription is often the result of bad recording. I recently transcribed a teleseminar where I could hear the guest fine, but the interviewer was so staticy that I could barely hear him. Not only was this irritating, but I actually was not able to transcribe some of the things he said.
It doesn't have to be that way. Below are four simple suggestions for improving the quality of your recordings and, consequently, the quality of your transcripts.
1. The recorder or microphone should be as close to the speaker as possible
For presentations, tape directly off the microphone. Usually, if you explain to the A/V technician that you want an audio tape of the presentation, they will make one for you. For an interview, place the recorder closer to the person you are interviewing than to yourself. For a group discussion, a roundtable or a focus group, use an “omni-directional” microphone. Inexpensive ones are available at Radio Shack or similar stores.
2. Keep the background noise down
Tape your interview in a quiet place. Restaurants are never quiet enough. Cars, other people, coughs, and paper shuffling will always be louder than you and your subject, even in a small group. Give your speaker a lapel microphone.
3. Make good equipment choices
Use standard size cassettes whenever possible. They provide better quality and durability. Check your batteries. If you don't know how old they are, replace them. Turn off voice activation. Set the recorder on standard speed, not slow speed (most micro-cassette recorders have two speeds). Buy a telephone record coupler that connects between the phone and handset to tape directly from the phone instead of recording from the speakerphone. Last, if you record on a regular basis, invest in a good quality recorder and microphone. A couple of hundred dollars invested in equipment will save you thousands of dollars in transcription costs and improve the quality of your transcripts.
4. Facilitate the recording
Announce and spell the names of subjects at the beginning of the recording. If it is important that individuals in a 2- or 3-person group be identified in the transcript, please have them identify themselves at the beginning of the session. Note that more than three people in a discussion are usually impossible to identify on an audiotape. If you want us to match a name with a voice, they must identify themselves every time they speak. Give us a terminology list whenever possible; any document or PowerPoint presentation will help. Last but not least, test the recording. Stop and listen after a few minutes of conversation to make sure everything is working properly and the most important voices can be heard clearly.
from PASS (Professional Association of Secretarial Services)
If you're having a hard time deciding which type of transcript you will need, here are some helpful hints.
You need a summary or edited report if:
No matter what document you choose, we can work from all types of audio files (digital or on CD). We can tailor your project according to your needs. Please be sure to ask for an estimate for your particular job and let us know your specifications (if any). We will get back to you within 24 hours.
"One of our medical transcription Virtual Professionals has discovered Voice recognition is incorrect. Proofing costs more than physical transcription." Friday, 12 December 2008, 7:33 am
Really, now! I couldn't have said it better myself!
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