Verbatim transcription is the art of converting spoken word into text such that a message is captured exactly the way it has been spoken. This requires a keen ear and attention to detail. Verbatim transcripts cannot be created by mindlessly listening and typing. One has to pay close attention to every sound, tone, word and make intelligent use of punctuation to convey the correct message. Here are 4 important rules of verbatim transcription: 1. Capture EVERY word (don’t paraphrase) Many transcriptionists have the habit of paraphrasing statements to convey the general idea of what is being said rather than typing [...]
6 Ground Rules for Recording an Interview
There are two components to a well-recorded interview – clarity of the recording and clarity of speech. In this post we’ll talk about the latter. Not everyone is a professional speaker. Unprepared or uninstructed, most people would speak at an interview the way they would in a normal one-on-one conversation. Now that’s perfectly fine for an informal discussion, but for a professional recording that’s probably going to be shared, transcribed, and re-produced in several different forms, it’s important to lay a few basic ground rules for the participants - 1. Speak slowly When speaking in a flow, people generally accelerate [...]
How to Record Classroom Lectures
Got an important lecture coming up that you’d like to record? Here are 4 easy ways to make sure you get a good recording - 1. Get a good recording device Ideally get a Digital Voice Recorder with a USB port to attach an external microphone. This device will not only help you get a great quality recording but will also make it easy for you to later transfer the recording to a computer or laptop for reviewing, transcribing, editing, sharing, etc. See How To Choose A Digital Voice Recorder for more on this. You can also use your laptop’s in-built [...]
Outsourcing Transcription of Research Interviews
When planning to outsource the transcription of your research interviews it may be a good idea to invest some time in writing out a clear set of instructions for your transcriptionist because research transcription is quite different from regular transcription. Here are a few points to get you started - Identify the Transcription Style In research interviews the HOW of what’s being said is almost as important as the WHAT. For this reason the preferred style of transcription for these interviews is Verbatim Transcription. This style involves typing out everything that’s recorded on the interview including - Fillers (the ums, ahs, you knows, [...]
Using Directional Microphones for Recording Speech
A microphone can pick up sounds from all directions or just one direction depending on its technical structure. This sensitivity to sound from one or more directions is called Directionality. Based on directionality, there are 3 main types of microphones available - Omnidirectional Microphones Unidirectional Microphones Bidirectional Microphones Omnidirectional Microphones These microphones pick up sounds from all directions and are generally used only when there are multiple speakers involved in a recording (as would be in the case of a conference or meetings). These microphones are not recommended for recording the speech of a single speaker unless you’re recording in [...]
What is clean read transcription?
Clean read or intelligent verbatim transcription focuses on typing out the essence of what’s being said on a recording rather than the absolute and exact words. This means that the transcript is edited to remove any fillers (ums, ahs, you knows, etc.), false starts, repeated words, side conversations, interruptions, and other speech/sounds irrelevant to the transcript. For e.g., Original transcript- “The idea you know is to take…is to place your umm.. business er…right at the…where your customers can you know see it” Clean read transcript – “The idea is to place your business where your customers can see it” The [...]
