How to Record and Upload File Into Computer Music

Over the years that I've been providing transcription services to journalists and researchers, I've found that my clients haven't always been as au fait every bit yous would expect with recording, downloading and sending audio files of their interviews.

Hither are some handy hints that I've developed to help my clients – any journalists or researchers who have to record and transcribe interviews should find this data useful.

Recording your interviews

You might be using a dedicated dictation automobile or your Smartphone to record your interviews. Whichever you are using, hither are some hints to go the all-time out of your recording:

Set and test the recording levels. You will  probably exist able to modify the volume, at very least, and maybe the graphic equaliser. If you're going to be doing a lot of interviews, it's worth doing a examination session with a friend, and checking the quality of the recording. And so leave the levels fix at that point.

• If the levels are as well loud, when it'southward played dorsum, it volition be distorted, fifty-fifty if the level is turned down on the machine that's playing it back.
• If the levels are too quiet, when it's played back it will exist really tranquility still. Your transcriber will strain to hear it. Fifty-fifty if they upwardly the book at your finish,  there's only a certain corporeality they tin can exercise
• If the bass or treble are set up also high, the recording will pick up and amplify all bass or treble noises, such as cars going past or cutlery rattling

You may have some pre-gear up recording levels in the menus on your recording device. Oddly enough, yous demand to cull ane that reads something like "interview" or "1 to ane", rather than "coming together" or "concert" or "outdoors". This will ensure that the device picks up yous and the interviewee, rather than the conversation at the side by side table or the inexorable whoosh of the cappuccino machine.

• If an inappropriate pre-set recording level is called, your transcriber may be bombarded with cutlery and glassware sounds and other people's conversations, or simply hear voices booming around like they're in the bottom of a bucket.

Check each time that the recording level is correct – it is not unknown for the buttons on the recording device to get pressed in the journalist'south bag on the way to an interview, leading to a transcriber with ear-strain and a transcription full of gaps!

Transferring your audio files to your computer

One time you've saved your interview files, you're going to need to get them off your recording device and onto your figurer.

There are ordinarily two ways to do this:

Option ane – connect your recording device to your computer using a USB cable

Selection 2 – send the file from your recording device to your computer via email

Option 1 is the easiest. If your recording device comes with a USB connection, plug it in to your computer. Y'all will find that the computer treats it as an extra drive, like the C or D drive. Employ the file navigator to find the file and copy it beyond to your figurer, ready to send to your transcriber.

Option ii is more catchy, as most phones will have a limit equally to how long a file yous tin send. You lot may demand to suspension it upward into chunks, or zip the file on your telephone / dictation machine first.

There is an Option iii which you can use if your dictation machine is an analogue one, i.eastward. uses those little tiny tapes (or big ones!). Become into a silent room. Gear up a microphone up connected to your computer. SET THE RECORDING LEVELS very carefully and test them. Play the tape and record information technology digitally. Annotation: please don't do this if yous tin can assist information technology. The record quality will ever exist affected (think what the tapes were like that you recorded off the radio as a teenager. Exactly). Your Smartphone volition have a voice memo app pre-loaded onto information technology, or you can download one. Do that: get digital. Your transcriber will thank you!

What to do when your iPhone voice memo is besides big to email …

This is a topic in itself and 1 I've been asked about fourth dimension and again.

If you demand to transfer an iPhone vocalization memo to your computer to ship to your transcriber, and you try to electronic mail it to yourself or them, you will probably go a message telling you that it's besides long to email. Don't break information technology up into chunks, do this instead …

Turn on your phone, connect it via USB cable to your computer and open iTunes.

iTunes should accept a tab called My iPhone.  Click on the Sync button in this tab if it doesn't do it automatically. It will and then record it into your computer'due south memory.

Under Playlists, click on Voice Memos. Find your recording (it will be labelled with its date, which should help you lot to find it), right-click and cull Become Info. This will tell you where the memo is saved on your computer. Re-create it into the file where you lot want to keep it, and send it to your transcriber.

For other phones, I always recommend connecting the telephone to the computer rather than trying to electronic mail information technology.

Sending your audio file to your transcriber

Near audio files are really large and won't ship hands every bit an email zipper.

The outset matter to try is zipping information technology. Go to the file in your figurer'due south folders, and correct-click. Yous should be given some kind of selection to Zip the file. This makes it smaller, like putting a duvet in ane of those vacuum pack bags. Your transcriber volition unzip it at their terminate to piece of work with information technology.

If this is however too large, there are lots of services online that will transfer your file for yous. My two favourites are YouSendIt, now called Hightail, and Wetransfer.  Both of these have free versions – you pay more than to go more feedback and ship larger files.

You can also utilise Dropbox, which acts as an extra, secure drive for your figurer, living out in that location in the 'Cloud'. Sign upwards (again, gratuitous) and copy your files into this folder. So share information technology with your transcriber, or send the file and so they can download information technology.

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This article has hopefully helped to make technical matters clearer for journalists and researchers who want to record interviews and transcribe them themselves, or have them transcribed past a professional person transcriber.

Related posts:

More on transcription and careers in transcription starting here.

Why you need a human to do your transcription

My book: A Quick Guide to Transcription every bit a Career – buy from Amazon UK or visit the book's web folio for worldwide links and news.

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Source: https://libroediting.com/2013/12/18/how-to-record-transfer-and-send-audio-files-for-journalists-and-researchers/