Getting Great Documents from Your Audio or Videos: Seven Insider Tips

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.

WHAT ABOUT VOICE RECOGNITION SOFTWARE?

What about it?  Can voice recognition software do the job?  

From my experience, it doesn't.  Here are some of the reasons:

• It is very expensive to start with
• People speak differently than they write
• It often can't understand foreign accents
• It transcribes verbatim, which is just not up to par
• You still need a transcriptionist in the end to proofread and edit what the VoiP has delivered

My transcription service is inexpensive, quick, and accurate. I'm an independent contractor so you don't have to deal with a lot of red-tape. Just let me know what you need and I aim to please.

Listen to what someone Tweeted on Twitter about the inferiority of Dictation Software to live transcriptionists:

"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!

The problem with voice recognition software is that no one talks perfectly when they record audio files unless they're working from a well-written script. If you're doing an internet call-in program, teleseminar, or webinar, there will be a lot of "false leads," "ums," "So uh," "like, yeah, like," etc. in casual interviews. If you're using voice recognition software, it will transcribe all that useless talk verbatim and your transcript will end up being very hard to read and quite confusing.

Even in medical transcription where many hospitals use voice recognition dictation software, they have to have professional MT's proofread and edit heavily when the virtual transcription is done because parts of the body, medications, and procedures are mispronounced (and even misspelled--I know, I've done 600+ actual doctor dictations when training to be an MT) by doctors or nurses dictating at the end of a long tiring day. That just adds up to way too much money, especially if you own your own small business.

The solution is to hire someone like me to do the transcribing, editing, correction of grammar and punctuation, and final proofing in one fell swoop. You sure can't beat the price! (See prices below and special limited-time half-off offer above.)