Decide What Information You Need

Think of Patton’s 6 types of questions related to:

1. Behavior or experience.

2. Opinion or belief.

3. Feelings.

4. Knowledge.

5. Sensory.

6. Background or demographic.

Based on this list, write down the information you’d like to collect through the interview. Now frame your interview questions around this information. Also think of the possible answers you might get and prepare follow-up questions to ask.

Do Background Research on the Interviewee

A little research on the history and experiences of the person you’re going to interview can go a long way in helping you frame the right questions and predicting the answers you’d get.

Look up the person on Google, check where they’ve lived and worked, find out about their interests and activities, books they may have written, etc.

Use Open-ended Questions For Collecting General Information

If you want to collect descriptions, histories or general information, avoid using ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions. Instead, use open-ended questions that give the interviewee freedom to express their thoughts. Some examples of an open-ended question are:

“How do you feel about this situation?”

“What do you mean by [topic]?”

“Tell me more about your relationship with your peers”

Use Pointed Questions for Collecting Facts

If you want to collect facts or opinions, use more direct questions like “I would love to know your analysis of [topic]” or “In which year did that happen?”. If possible, let the interviewee know in advance that you would be asking these questions so that they can keep the requested information handy.

Keep the Wording Neutral

Word the questions so that they don’t influence the answer or sound judgmental such as “Don’t you think…” or “I think that may not have been the best approach for them to take, what do you think?”

Leave Room for a General Question in the End

The last question should allow the interviewee to share any thoughts or opinions that they might want to share, such as “Thank you for all that valuable information, is there anything else you’d like to add before we end?”

Carry your list of questions to the interview and use them for reference as the interview proceeds but don’t share the list with the interviewee because that would make the interview too formal.

You may have to digress from the list from time to time when a new idea or question comes to your mind but always return to the list to make sure you gather all the necessary information.

Oh and don’t forget to carry a good voice recorder!

A transcript can be annoyingly hard to read, intelligently edited, or very, very detailed depending on the transcription style used.

There are three basic styles of transcription:

Verbatim

Verbatim transcription is a detailed account of every word, sound and non-verbal communication (like laughter and pauses) on the recording. Here’s an example:

“…’Cause I mean…I think there are so many different needs er… different requirements within each one of those you know, those many and different segments that er… if you can hone in on each one of those segments um… and gosh there’s a lot of needs within the 25 to 54 [laughs]. I mean you know you’re getting families and…”

In this style the recording is transcribed without deleting or editing anything.

Verbatim transcription is used for research and analysis where every little detail counts.

Clean Read

This style uses editing and paraphrasing to create easy-to-read and ready-to-print transcripts. For example:

“There are so many different requirements within each one of those different segments that if you can hone in on each one of those… and gosh there are a lot of needs within the 25 to 54! I mean, you’re getting families and…”

Here the transcriptionist removes fillers, paraphrases incomplete sentences, corrects minor grammatical errors and presents the text in short, easy-to-read paragraphs.

This is the preferred style of transcription for business-related recordings

Intelligent Verbatim

This is a cross between the verbatim and clean read styles of transcription; it mixes word-for-word transcription with light editing. For example:

“…’Cause I think there are so many different requirements within each one of those many and different segments that if you can hone in on each one of those segments… and gosh there’s a lot of needs within the 25 to 54 . I mean you’re getting families and…”

In this style the transcriptionist doesn’t correct grammatical errors or paraphrase the sentences, but simply edits out the ums, ahs, you knows, etc. to create a neater transcript.

This is the default style of transcription used by transcription services unless you ask for something different.

Which one is best for you? Think of how you plan to use your transcript. A simple rule of thumb is to use verbatim or intelligent verbatim for research and clean read for business.

It’s a good idea to let your transcription service know your preferred style of transcription so that you get the right level of detail in your transcripts.

We’ve simplified the process of sending new files for transcription!

From now on, you no longer have to send emails to check availability or inform us about new uploads. Just follow these 2 easy steps and we’ll take care of the rest:

Step 1: Fill out the Send New Files form.
Step 2: Upload recordings to your Dropbox folder.

You can provide new instructions and choose the date you’ll be uploading files while filling out the form.

On the scheduled date, we’ll download the recordings and send you an acknowledgement & invoice.  We will also send you notification when the transcripts are ready for download.

How to access the form:

1. Save this link to your favorites: http://indianscribes.wufoo.com/forms/z7x4a9/

2. Visit our website and click on Send New Files

If you have any questions/suggestions about this change, do leave a comment or write to info@indianscribes.com.

Look forward to hearing from you!

1. To reduce the file size so that you can upload/email it easily

2. To make the file compatible with a particular player

3. To extract audio from a video file, etc.

Here are 3 tools, ranging from paid to free, that can be used to convert file formats:

Wavepad

This application from NCH can play and converts more than 30 audio & video file formats (including wav, mp3, wma, mp2, m4a, ogg, avi, mid, flac, mov, amr, aac, mpga, dct, au, aif/aiff, raw, dvf, vox, cda, gsm, dss, sri, shn, dss, msv, wmv, and others).

It also allows editing audio and video files at the time of conversion – like amplifying, cutting out unimportant parts of a recording and reducing noise.

The application allows a lot of import flexibility such as the ability to extract audio from video files and extracting audio from DVDs.

Wavepad comes with a free 14-day trial period and costs $79.99 after that.

Excellent for heavy users or people working with not-so-common file formats.

Audacity

This is a free, open source program that can be used to convert files to MP3 and WAV format.  Its file export function is very easy to use (see how to convert file formats using Audacity).

The downside is that it works with a limited file formats (.aup, .wav, .aiff, .mp3, Sun Au/NeXT, IRCAM, and Off Vorbis) and cannot exact files directly from a DVD. (You may find some workarounds if you research online).

Great for specific file-types.

iTunes

iTunes can be used to convert files to MP3, AAC, AIFF and WAV formats.

To convert a file, select it in iTunes and then choose the appropriate conversion option under the Advanced menu.

Good for occasional file conversion needs.

Are there any file format converters that you’ve used and would like to recommend?

The most obvious and easy thing to do is to ask your client to provide a list of speaker names. You can also ask for a list of participants if available.

From the Seminar’s Itinerary

The itinerary of a seminar is often published on the organizing entity’s website along with a list of key speakers. That’s a good place to find out the spellings of the speakers’ names.

From Company Websites

The seminar host introduces each new speaker with a short background on their work. You can look up the organizations that the speaker has worked with to find out more about them.

A simple Google search based on the phonetic sound of a name will eventually get you the information you need, but these simple tricks can save you some research time.

Happy Transcribing!

The accuracy of a transcript can vary greatly depending on the thoroughness of research done by the transcriptionist.

For e.g., take a look at this paragraph from the oral history of  Dr. Erwin L. Hahn:

Well, I was destined somewhat to be a particle physicist in that I had started with Kerst as a graduate student developing a power supply, of various kinds, devices to power high current ignitrons and things of that sort, to power his betatron. At that time, we had a 20 MEV and a 50 MEV betatron that were developed, and I was sort of stuck, I thought, in being an electronics technician. Now, he may not like that but that was the truth. And I wanted to do some physics. Now, I started to do some physics with Bob Koch. He’s the retired director of the American Institute of Physics.

To transcribe these 110 words, one needs to know:

1. Who was Kerst (Donal William Kerst) and how did he spell his name?
2. What are ignitrons and betatrons?
3. What is the correct way of writing MeV — MeV, MEV, M.e.v or Mev?
4. How does Bob Koch spell his last name (Koch or Kotch)?

Typing phonetically, Kerst could become Kurst, ignitrons could become ignetrons and Koch could become Kotch!

To find out the correct spellings one needs to do proper research (which means that a minute or two of recording could actually take up to 30 minutes to transcribe).

There are other factors that affect the accuracy of a transcript, but there’s no doubt that research is one of the most important ones. What do you think?

It’s generally a monologue, an interview or a conversation that’s systematically recorded, verified, analyzed and stored by oral historians and researchers.

Transcribing oral histories can be a rewarding experience because of the rich detail and insight they offer. Here are a few tips to get the transcription right:

Transcribe Verbatim

An oral history captures the unique perspective of the speaker. It is therefore imperative that you don’t paraphrase anything that’s said.

The transcript should be present an exact, word-for-word account of what’s spoken.

Do Some Intelligent Editing

Narrators of oral histories often use a lot of fillers and clipped sentences. These can be edited for easier reading, after discussion with the client.

Send a verbatim and edited version of a section of the transcript to the client, highlighting the changes you’ve made and the reasoning behind your editing. This will form the basis of your discussion. Once you establish what the client needs, you can proceed without worrying about re-work later.

If the transcript looks like it needs a professional editor, point this out to the client and offer to do a verbatim transcript that can be edited by someone else.

Research Research Research

Oral histories are full of references to people the speaker knew, places they visited, famous personalities of their times, hangouts in their town etc. All these words have to be researched online to get the spellings right.

You can type these words phonetically while typing the first draft and do the research later, while proofreading.

It’s tempting to leave these words as blanks in the transcript, but that just means additional work for the client. If you want your clients to become lifelong customers, take the time to do it right!

Add Time Codes

Transcripts of oral histories are used for research. At some point in time, someone would want to hear how the speaker sounded while saying something mentioned on the transcript. At this point time codes can be a great help in locating the correct part of the recording to hear.

After discussion with your client, place periodic time codes in the transcript. These time codes are usually in [hh:mm:ss] format and are placed in the transcript every few minutes, every time the speaker changes, or every time a new question is asked etc.

Use Speaker Identification

Some oral histories are in the form of conversations between 2-3 people. Find out the names of the participants and clearly identify each person separately in the transcript.

If the client wants to maintain anonymity of the participants, use markers like Male 1, Female 2, Interviewer, etc.

Stay tuned for more tips of transcribing!

The setting affects -

(a) The quality of responses you get

(b) The recording quality

so it’s important plan carefully.

Here are a few tips for choosing the right location and setting:

Choose a quiet location

A quiet room is best for conducting an interview.

If the outdoors are unavoidable, such as a restaurant or a park, choose a place that’s not too crowded.

At outdoor locations, check for distracting sounds like passing traffic, children playing or loud background music – all of these tend to break the interviewee’s chain of thought.

Recording tip: If you’re recording an interview at an outdoor location, surrounding noise like the sound of clinking cutlery or the wind can drown the voices of the participants. Use professional recording gear like a DVR and microphones to ensure a good quality recording.

Minimize distractions

Put cellphones on silent mode, put a ‘Do-not-disturb’ sign on the door and tell people you are not be interrupted. Send the dog for a walk if necessary.

If you’re conducting the interview at the interviewee’s house or over the phone, convey to the interviewee the importance of an uninterrupted conversation and suggest ways to minimize distractions.

Recording tip: For recording telephonic interviews, use a telephone adapter for a clearer recording.

Conduct the interview in a relaxed environment

For a meaningful conversation to take place, it’s important for the interviewee to be at ease.

Choose a location that is comfortable, with no loud noise or light.

If possible, ask the interviewee where they’d like to be interviewed. Some people are comfortable being interviewed at home, others prefer the outdoors or a telephonic interview.

Set up the recording gear before the interview

Beginning on schedule is important. So connect any DVRs/cameras, plug in external microphones and set up your laptop well in advance.

A simple search for terms like ‘transcription service’ or ‘transcriptionist’ on Google, Twitter or Facebook will throw up several pages worth of information.

But how do you decide which is the right service for you? What questions should you ask? What instructions should you provide? How do you decide what you need?

Here are some things to consider:

1. Transcription style

Decide how you want the recording transcribed.

Do you need a word-for-word transcript or would you rather have the unnecessary parts (like the ums and ahs) edited out?

There are two styles of transcription generally used – Verbatim & Clean Read.

Verbatim transcription involves typing out every word and sound on the recording along with non-verbal communication such as laughter, pauses, etc.

This style is ideal for research and analysis. But if you’re simply looking for the main ideas on the recording, a transcript based on this style may be cumbersome to read.

Clean read transcription makes for easier reading. It involves typing all the important parts but leaving out the irrelevant content such as fillers, false starts, side conversations, etc.

2.  Transcription Turnaround time

How soon do you need the transcript?

One hour of recording takes 4-5 hours to transcribe. The transcription time increases if  the recording involves strong accents, background noise, multiple speakers, technical terminology etc.

If you need editing & formatting as well, that would require additional time.

The standard turnaround time of most transcription services is 3-5 business days depending on the length of the recording.

If you need a transcript sooner, mention this to the transcription service before the project begins and discuss any applicable ‘rush’ charges.

3. Technical Terminology

What is the subject of your recording? Is there industry-specific terminology involved (related to finance, software, real estate etc.)?

If you need technical terms transcribed, look for a  transcription service that researches spellings at the time of transcribing. This will save you a lot of time filling in the blanks.

If you don’t need the technical terms transcribed, you can ask the transcription service to put a time stamp (hh:mm:ss) at the point in the transcript where the word appears. This will help you quickly skip to the relevant part of the audio at the time of proof reading.

Transcription services charge a higher rate for technical recordings, so it’s a good idea to ask for a quote before sending work.

4. Accents

People with neutral accents are easy to understand (and transcribe).

But transcribing speakers with accents requires familiarity with the accents. For example, not everyone can transcribe an Australian or Irish accent unless they have a trained ear for these.

If the speakers on your recording have strong accents, it would be wise to choose a transcription service that is familiar with the accents involved.

5. Audio Clarity

If your recording has background noise, low volume, echo, or multiple speakers talking over each other, then it will be hard to transcribe.

Such recordings require several rounds of proofreading to reach a decent level of accuracy and therefore take much longer to transcribe.

Additionally, there’s no guarantee of accuracy and the costs are invariably higher.

It’s a good idea to send a sample file to your transcriber so that they can give you an accurate evaluation and quote before starting work. You can even ask for a paid sample to see if it’s worth the effort.

Precaution is better than cure in this case. Try using professional recording gear to ensure a good quality recording.

6. Speaker Identification

When there’s more than one person speaking on a recording, it helps to have each speaker identified separately on the transcript, like:

John: blah, blah, blah

Katy: blah, blah, blah

Or

Speaker 1: blah, blah, blah

Speaker 2: blah, blah, blah

Transcribing 2-3 speakers is not a particularly difficult task, but if there are more involved, then the transcriptionist has to listen very carefully to differentiate between the voices of the different speakers to mark their names correctly on the transcript.

Not everyone can do this well and therefore it’s a good idea to choose an experienced transcriber or transcription company for recordings with multiple speakers.

7. Editing

Many transcription companies provide editing services that can be used for creating a ready-to-use documents.

Editing services may include checking the transcripts for grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, fillers, false starts, slangs, etc.

You can also ask for the text to be placed under contextual headings or have the transcript converted into an information product such as an e-book, blog post, workbook, handout, PowerPoint presentation, etc.

Transcription companies that provide editing services usually charge more. Discuss what you need and ask for a quote to make sure you don’t go beyond budget.

8. Formatting

This is an important one if you don’t want to land up with a long document without breaks, something like this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam nisi nibh, vestibulum eu vulputate in, pharetra id velit. Phasellus aliquet, leo eu porttitor sagittis, augue elit ultricies sem, a dignissim nisi dui vel dolor. Nulla eget nisl sit amet dui condimentum ullamcorper. Proin ultricies viverra pharetra. Sed at ipsum urna, ut malesuada sapien. Mauris id ipsum dui, nec lobortis arcu. Donec imperdiet porttitor nisl a vehicula. Integer in neque sed ipsum commodo mollis at id est. Suspendisse lacus ipsum, molestie sit amet suscipit sit amet, suscipit ut lorem. Proin lacinia convallis nisi, et adipiscing nunc ultrices in. Ut at leo tellus. Nulla quis massa turpis. Cras semper dolor quis mauris faucibus eget tristique tellus ornare. Fusce pellentesque justo dolor, sit amet porta augue. Proin tristique malesuada velit eu lobortis. Phasellus ornare mollis laoreet. Fusce vel neque vitae eros cursus interdum. Fusce dapibus felis nec eros condimentum accumsan. Duis cursus semper arcu, sed venenatis mi fringilla euismod. Aliquam eget urna quis augue mattis tincidunt. Donec dapibus cursus odio, a volutpat leo pretium et. Morbi tellus nisl, rhoncus non accumsan vel, auctor ut felis. Nulla congue tristique augue vel egestas. Ut dignissim convallis lectus, id porta eros varius non. Morbi sit amet euismod orci. Integer et nisi leo. Proin nunc arcu, molestie ut gravida id, molestie semper neque. Nulla gravida urna sit amet libero dictum scelerisque.

Let the transcription service know that you would need the text broken into short, easy-to-read paragraphs with page breaks at appropriate places.

You can also ask for additional formatting such as headings, subheadings, special margins, italicizing of text, etc.

This may involves additional time and cost, but is worth it in the long run.

9. Transcription of videos

Most transcription companies convert video files to audio formats compatible with transcription software.

If a video cannot be converted, then the transcription must be done directly from the video. The same principle applies to online videos such as the ones on YouTube.

As a rule, transcribing videos takes longer and costs more. Checking on the additional costs and turnaround time may be a good idea.

10. Time stamping & Time Coding

Time stamps are inserted in a transcript where the transcriptionist can’t understand a word. They’re usually in [hh:mm:ss] format and are helpful while editing.

Time codes are periodic codes placed on a transcript (say every minute or every 3 minutes etc.). Time codes are also placed on transcripts of video footage.

Discuss your requirement with the transcription service to ensure they put in the right stamps/codes.

11. Sending files

How are you going to send recordings to the transcription service? Do they provide online space where you can upload files? Can you use FTP or send a link to the recordings? Emailing recordings is not a good idea due to size and encryption issues.

How will the transcript be delivered? Will you receive a downloadable link? Would the transcript be sent as an attachment in an email?

Many transcription services provide free online space for uploading files. If they don’t, you can use online file transfer services such as yousendit.com, sendthisfile.com, etc.

Using securing online storage for sharing files is highly recommended if you’re concerned about the safety of your data.

12. Payment methods

Depending on the location of the transcription service, there are several payment options to choose from such as PayPal, Moneybookers, Payoneer, and Xoom. Wire transfers, moneygrams, and checks are also some options available.

Deciding on a mutually convenient method of payment will save a lot of inconvenience later. Don’t forget to check for transaction fees that differ according to the payment method used.

Outsourcing your transcription work can lead to substantial savings both in terms of time and cost. But an uninformed decision can lead to the opposite.

For best results, invest a little time on research and ask the right questions.

Good luck!

But over the years I’ve developed several tricks to make it easier. In this post I’ll share a few of them and hopefully you’ll find them useful:

1. Keep a database of spellings

I have an 20-page word document of IT-related spellings that I guard with my life.

This document has four categories – Acronyms, Applications & Software, Companies and People that I’ve come across while transcribing.

It’s sprinkled with words like Cloud BI (Business Intelligence), OLAP (Online Analytical Processing), SaaS (Software as a Service), WinShuttle, Microsoft, ORACLE, ESS/MSS, etc.).

The document is like a dictionary of IT-related words that saves me a lot of online-research time.

You can easily create such a document while transcribing a recording, updating it with new spellings as you you go.

This is especially useful if you’re working on a large number of recordings on the same topic OR working with a repeat customer.

2. Do some pre-work

Before starting to transcribe a recording, I do one round of listening simply to gather clues about the topic – like the software being discussed, the company in question, and most importantly – if the recording is part of an event that I can research online.

Large events like seminars and conferences usually have dedicated websites with a wealth of content that can be used for reference. Content can also be found on websites of companies that have organized the event.

If you can find links to PDFs/blogs for the event you’re transcribing, you can add them as favorites on your web browser and use them for reference.

3. Discuss the transcription style with your client

People who are passionate about their subject usually speak at a high rate of speech, frequently change their mind in mid-sentence and use an enormous amount of fillers (the ums, ahs, you knows, etc.).

Most clients don’t want a verbatim transcript of these speakers; they prefer a neat, easy-to-read transcript.

Knowing this beforehand can be a blessing because you can save hundreds of keystrokes by leaving out those unnecessary words. Thus it’s always a good idea to discuss the transcription style (verbatim or clean read) with the client before beginning a project.

4. Add time Codes

IT-related transcripts are often used for research and analysis. You can delight your client by adding periodic time codes in the transcript that will help them review the transcript with the audio when they begin the analysis stage of their work.

Were these tips helpful? Do you have your own short-cuts that you use while transcribing IT-related audio? Do share some tips with us!