3 Tips to Avoid Common Missteps in Transcription
Several factors contribute to the quality of an audio recording, to make it either very clear or inaudible. Considering most transcriptions are for multi-speaker audio clips, it becomes a bit easier to understand how there can be difficulty in turning audio into words on a page.
Multi-speaker audio is best compared to a large networking event. Differing audio levels among speakers, sentences cut off mid-thought, and background noise all can obscure the intended words to be transcribed. The same can be said of a recording of a focus group or a video call, making it, at best, challenging and in the worst cases, impossible for transcribers.
Fortunately, Focus Forward has 3 tips to avoid these potential challenges before they arise!
#1. Mute All On The Call
For an audio recording of a video call, it is always good practice to encourage those on the call who are not actively speaking to mute themselves. Even when participants are not speaking, not being muted could invite distracting background noise to the recording.
#2. Record in a Soundproof Atmosphere
Having a quiet room for the video call or wearing a headset with a microphone can help isolate the speaker’s dialogue in the recording and eliminate any white noise.
For focus groups or in-person meetings, hosting the recording session in a soundproof/isolated place, where the voices of the speakers are clearly the loudest audio heard is the best way to prevent background noise.
#3 Let the Facilitator Facilitate
With multiple voices to be heard, it is sometimes challenging to avoid participants cutting off sentences and speaking over one another. The facilitator of the group can remedy this by overseeing and directing the conversation, maintaining a steady flow of singular audio.
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