10 Tips to Record a crystal clear Audio Dictation for transcription

Outsourcing transcription to a transcription service company may be the best business decision you could have taken. It saves you cost, time, and generally, you gain all the advantages of having a large administrative staff.

That's all true.  However, with little or no effort, you can still improve the results you get from your transcription service provider.


While transcription companies are expected to provide 100% error free transcripts every time, there is one thing you could do to help – provide them with a crystal clear dictation. Remember the popular phrase “well begun is half done”? This is also true for getting the best out of your transcriptionist. As a client you would only want 100% error free transcripts from your transcriptionist. For a transcriptionist to provide their clients with error free transcript much depends on the quality of the dictation.

A dictation may be considered crystal clear when there is no background noise, the speaker prepared for his recording and knows what he’s talking about, no interruption during the recording, no technical snags, dictation is not too fast or slow(natural), etc

How to record a good audio dictation for transcription

1. Invest in the best set of recording equipment you can. It will pay for itself. Equipments from Olympus and Sony are the best. (Aff. links)
2. Check that your recorder is working: See that there is no technical snag that can compromise your recording.
3. Organize your data before you start recording: Ensure you have all the necessary notes, and in order. It’s quite a tiresome process when a dictation jumps all over the place.
4. Dictate in a quiet area, with no distractions, background noise or interruptions. So that your voice is the only sound in the audio. Ideally, lock yourself in a room where no one can disturb you.
5. Be seated comfortably or if you have a hand held device you may pace around slowly while you speak.
6. Take turns to speak: If two or more persons are recording – say, in an interview, conference or discussion – take turns to speak. Don’t interrupt your colleagues.
7. Speak clearly. Not too fast; not too slow. Pace yourself. Don’t dictate too fast just to save time and money, you may actually end up losing money if the transcription service charges you for difficult audio!
8. Speak from 6 inches away from the recorder. Don’t speak too close into the mic.
9. Don’t rush. Dictate at an even pace and speak clearly.
10. Don’t use abbreviations unless stating what it stands for at least once in the report.

The most important tip would be find the best transcription company that specializes in your industry and work with them so that there is a clear understanding of what is expected of them and you, to achieve the best results.

What more tips would you add?
How can you improve on the quality of your dictations?  What percentage of accuracy of transcripts do you expect from your transcription company? What do you do to improve the quality of your audio recordings?
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