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AudioFile Solutions' Blog
If you have a business podcast, you should definitely consider using MP3 tags. Besides the content and production quality, the MP3 metadata information is the next most important element to producing a high quality, professional podcast.
Podcast production requires a lot of time and effort gathering your facts, preparing the script and carefully recording and editing all the elements together. But it doesn’t end there. Today, the vast majority of podcasts are being distributed as MP3 audio files. These files use an ID3 metadata container to store information such as artist, album, title, track number and even an image file (cover art). All current music distribution services that sell MP3 files use the ID3 tag. If you’ve ever purchased a song from Amazon.com or other music download site, you’ve most likely noticed the artist, album, and title information scrolling down at the bottom of Windows Media Player on your PC. But before you see that, you’ll hopefully notice the gorgeous digital artwork that is the modern manifestation of the album cover. If you’re like me, a visual component in what is supposed to be an audio-only format is exhilarating! More about that in a minute. But as a business person, consider the millions of people who have downloaded music and have seen these elements. What happens when these same people download your business podcast and these things are missing? Trust me, your brand will suffer. The perception may be that you are subpar, or worse yet, incompetent in your field.
Let’s quickly breakdown the main tags. The artist, album and title tags are pretty self explanatory. The title of your podcast will be obvious, and you most likely will have already chosen one before you even start production. The artist tag is usually your company name. But the album name sometimes gives people trouble. Think of this as a category, or several podcasts grouped together under one name. Consider what categories best fit your podcasts? For example, if you are a Public Relations company, a good choice for an album may be the name of your clients. So you’d have an album named Pepsi, another named Nike and yet another named Walmart. If you have a sports podcast, maybe you’d categorize them by sport: football, baseball, hockey, etc.
But by far, the image tag is my favorite ID3 tag. I love seeing a visual component in podcasts, especially when I’m not expecting it. Not only will this image show up on most media playback software on a PC or MAC, it will also carry over to your Apple i-device, smartphone, you name it. As long as the playback software supports the ID3 tag, your device should display the image you’ve embedded into the metadata. Keep in mind that there are always exceptions to this rule and every manufacturer handles the image tag a little differently.
While this is by no means an exhaustive discussion of the topic, it is hopefully enough to convince you to start using MP3 tags for your business podcast. For our existing clients, if you don’t have anything suitable for your image file, contact us and we will create one for you at no extra charge. To create one yourself, make your graphic 600 x 600 pixels, keep it to only a few hundred KB, and format as a jpeg. Forward us the art along with the artist, album and title information and we will take care of the rest. Happy podcasting!
Ryan Dube from MakeUseOf.com recently wrote a great tutorial on how to use voice-to-text functionality within Express Scribe transcribing software. This is a great solution for recording yourself (dictation) and getting a very quick and accurate result; however, be aware that this is not a solution for transcribing voice audio files. Why? Voice recognition software must first learn your voice. Other voices will tend to confuse it and produce what Ryan calls “garbage”. Interviews, group discussions or any recording that is in a less than ideal environment will also not transcribe well. The noise and/or lack of clarity in these environments will create more “garbage” from your voice-to-text software. Want to see an example? I recently wrote a blog post that links to a radio station’s use of automated transcription software.
Also, keep in mind that the best transcripts not only includes the correct spelling of words, but also the correct punctuation, formatting and so much more. A relatively simple thing like the correct handling of homonyms may never be a realistic goal of voice-to-text programs. Also, professional transcriptionists will hear discrepancies because their ears have been trained to hear and comprehend the detail. If something said later in the transcript does not jibe with what was said earlier, your professional transcriptionist will bring this to your attention. Voice-to-text software will never be able to do this.
Lastly, terminology research is key to a great transcript. Here at AudioFile Solutions, it is not uncommon for us to verify 40 or 50 terms in a typical interview.
For these reasons, the automatic transcription of audio files is clearly not ready for prime time and, in my opinion, should be left to a professional.
Read Ryan’s complete article below.
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When you do a lot of phone interviews that get published in text format on the web, transcribing audio files becomes a big part of one’s life. There are a lot of people that have the need to transcribe voice to text, such as doctor’s that record a log of office visits, journalists that conduct audio interviews, or even students that record class lectures.
For years, I’ve been looking for a high-quality free voice to text software solution that will automatically take an audio recording and transcribe it to text. Such an application will put a lot of transcription companies out of work, but it’s a dream that I believe will come true some day. Recently, I conducted another hour-long interview… (continue reading the full article here: How to Use Voice-to-Text Dictation on Express Scribe.)
Automated transcription services are popular with podcasters in the entertainment field, but can you “afford” to use them for your business podcast?
Podcasts dedicated to entertainment or just chewing the fat may benefit from using automated transcription services. They are downright affordable and the transcript can be generated very quickly. But as a business person, with the pressure to save money in today’s economy, can you take advantage of these services too—for your podcast production, interview, new product roll-out, or training session? The answer: No, run the other way! Serious Damage to Your Brand Could Occur!
Skeptical? Click on this link to go to WAAF’s The Hill-Man Morning Show. You can pick virtually any show, but be sure to click the + sign under the video to expand the “Automatically Generated Transcript”. It’s right next to the note, “May not be 100% accurate”. Click “play” and prepare to be entertained; yes, both from the show and the text! I think this will erase any doubts you might have.
It is easy to get confused about the differences between web conferencing and webcasting. At AudioFile Solutions, we record, edit and produce business presentations which can cross the boundaries of both technologies.
I think of web conferencing as a collaboration between many individuals; hands-on training is a good example. Let’s say your company has developed new software and you want your sales force to learn it before they sell it to others. A web conference is a great way to demonstrate the software and then allow participants to take control over that software and give it a test drive.
Webcasting, on the other hand, is more of an event broadcast. It is well suited in the education market—to name just one—which commonly uses it to capture lectures for both live streaming and on-demand playback. There is no collaboration with webcasting.
At the Audio Video Expo in Denver this year, Terri Douglas and Guy Murrel from Catapult PR-IR discussed these differences in more detail. Their focus, however, was on webcasting.
According to Terri and Guy, an overarching strong point of webcasting is that it is easy to use. Companies that sell the hardware (Sonic Foundry, Accordant) supply it as a self-contained briefcase—similar to the nuclear football carried by the U.S. President.
Other key points:
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High quality
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Automated production
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Reasonably priced
Why do customers like webcasting?
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Enhanced communications with video
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Reach a wider audience
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Branded events—logos, colors, and messages
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Offers a proven ROI
You can get started webcasting by contacting a vendor/service provider like Sonic Foundry, Accordant, BxVideo, Catapult, or OnStream.
Audio and video production hubs like Los Angeles and New York have their share of conventions and expos that many of us in the Rocky Mountains can’t always attend. Enter the 2011 Audio Video Expo here in Denver where one can check out the latest multi-thousand dollar video cameras from makers like Sony and JVC, as well as attend free seminars on topics anyone in audio and video production will appreciate.
This year’s AVX began with a keynote by Ryan Van Duzer, an independent, self-described “backpack journalist”—he does it all!
Many television channels—like the Travel Channel—are using Ryan’s productions mainly because it saves them a ton of money. Why hire a sound recordist, a cameraman and a host when you can have them all for the price of one named Duzer.
In a short 60 minutes, the audience learned four solid tips in a high-energy presentation by Ryan himself. His main points:
- Start with your most powerful shot and build the story from there.
- Get close to your subject to capture good audio, and for the video to translate well to the web.
- Shorter is better in the age of YouTube.
- “Lock it down!”. Don’t shoot everything and everybody. Focus on your shot and don’t deviate from it.
Ryan’s energy was infectious and concluded with “You can do it!” Uh, who me? Thanks for the encouragement, Duzer, but backpack jounalism is for the young. Go get ‘em.
Ryan can be reached via Twitter @Duzer, and at DuzerTV.com.
We offer GlobalMeet Web Conferencing from PGi (a full service web conferencing company). Contact us for more info. – – Andy R
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August 08, 2011 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
PGi Disrupts the Web Conferencing Market with GlobalMeet® 2.0 Release
With Significant Upgrades and New Market-Leading Rates, GlobalMeet Offers Better Meetings at a Better Price
ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The meetings experts at PGi (NYSE: PGI) launched GlobalMeet earlier this year bringing simple, affordable web and audio meetings to businesses worldwide. PGi designed GlobalMeet to deliver the simplest user experience on the market, with no software downloads for meeting guests and a “connect me” feature that calls participants automatically, making dial-in numbers and passcodes obsolete.
The market reaction to GlobalMeet has been very positive, with more than 20,000 people becoming paid users in just the first few months of its release. To continue to meet the needs of this growing community, PGi today announced general availability of GlobalMeet 2.0 – making the original product even more powerful with upgraded features and flexible new pricing options.
GlobalMeet 2.0 includes a streamlined interface, designed based on user feedback, to make navigating meeting controls and the most commonly used features even simpler. As part of the release, PGi also launched a GlobalMeet app in the iTunes® store – first in a pending suite of mobile apps that will make GlobalMeet available anywhere from any device, for meetings in the office or on the go.
PGi also announced new, market-leading pricing for GlobalMeet, starting at just $29 per month. With both bundled and unbundled audio and web conferencing plans, new options for power users and aggressive pricing for enterprise-wide implementations, GlobalMeet is affordable for any sized business.
“PGi leveraged our 20 years of leadership in collaboration to fix what was wrong with web conferencing. We designed GlobalMeet to work the way real people do, and we are genuinely excited by the early market response,” said Boland Jones, PGi founder, chairman and CEO, who is leading PGi’s next-generation product innovation. “PGi is changing the game again with GlobalMeet 2.0, by offering a user experience and price that is unmatched in the market.”
Additional new features and upgrades in GlobalMeet 2.0 include:
- Upgraded video, with picture-in-picture added to GlobalMeet’s unique “active talker” feature that switches between speakers’ webcams so meeting guests can easily follow the action
- Enhanced screen sharing that now supports multiple monitors, partial screen views and shared annotation and note taking
- A fully integrated toolbar plug-in for use with Microsoft Office Outlook® that gives users one-click controls to schedule, start, manage and record their meetings from the desktop
- Universal support for Mac® users
- International dial-out – with a “connect me” feature that now calls you wherever you are in the world
- Simplified recording for web and audio meetings, in a universal format that can be played in any web browser or uploaded to the YouTube™ video community
- Improved support for Microsoft® Office 2010, including the richest PowerPoint® presentations with animation and embedded video and audio files
For more information about GlobalMeet and to sign up for a 30-day free trial, visit www.globalmeet.com.
About Premiere Global Services, Inc. │ PGi
PGi is a global leader in virtual meetings. For 20 years, we have innovated technologies that help companies and individuals meet and collaborate in more enjoyable and productive ways. Every month, we bring together over 15 million people in nearly 4 million virtual meetings. Headquartered in Atlanta, PGi has a presence in 24 countries worldwide. For more information, visit us at http://www.pgi.com.
All trademarks belong to their respective owners.
Statements made in this press release, other than those concerning historical information, should be considered forward-looking and subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are made based on management’s current expectations or beliefs as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. A variety of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in Premiere Global Services, Inc.’s forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following factors: competitive pressures, including pricing pressures; technological changes and the development of alternatives to our services; market acceptance of new services, including our iMeet® and GlobalMeet® services; our ability to attract new customers and to retain and further penetrate our existing customer base; risks associated with challenging global economic conditions; costs or difficulties related to the integration of any new technologies; service interruptions and network downtime; price increases from our telecommunications service providers; technological obsolescence and our ability to upgrade our equipment or increase our network capacity; concerns regarding the security of transactions; our level of indebtedness; future write-downs of goodwill or other intangible assets; assessment of income, state sales and other taxes; restructuring and cost reduction initiatives and the market reaction thereto; risks associated with acquisitions and market expansion; the impact of the recent sale of our PGiSend business; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights, including possible adverse results of litigation or infringement claims; regulatory or legislative changes, including further government regulations applicable to traditional telecommunications service providers; risks associated with international operations, including political instability and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; and other factors described from time to time in our press releases, reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the “Risk Factors” section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or a person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
Listen to the best quality podcast recordings today and you will find that they are usually programs produced by established radio personalities—Glenn Beck, Imus, etc. One reason that their audio quality is so good is that they are using the microphone that is best for their voice. Producers spend hours testing multiple microphones with their talent/host and their equipment (mic pres, compressors, limiters, EQ, etc.). The final microphone choice is determined by sound quality, not cost or connectivity.
All to often, amateur podcasters resort to using the mics that are designed for easy connectivity, such as a USB connection to their PC or MAC. It makes sense, why spend the time, effort and expense in creating a more professional set-up when the equipment manufacturers have made it so easy. Ultimately, it comes down to sound quality. There are so many more choices when you open yourself up to the world of XLR connectivity, not just USB. The solution, a XLR to USB converter.
There are several XLR to USB converters on the market today; Use Google to search “XLR to USB Microphone Converter” for the most up-to-date list. The CEntrance MicPort Pro is one of them and a review from The Gamer Access is below. Also see RecordingHacks.com review of four XLR to USB converters here.
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Whether you are recording a podcast, conducting an interview, or recording vocals for an upcoming audio track, a quality microphone is the most essential tool in order to produce a quality experience for the listener. With that said, most professional and studio microphones do not use your standard 3.5mm or USB connector, but instead utilize XLR making it somewhat of a challenge for those who record to a computer. That’s at least what I thought until I had the opportunity to check out CEntrance’s MicPort Pro. Read more to discover how to utilize your professional or studio microphone on any device supporting audio through a USB input!
As the only portable microphone preamp supporting 24bit/96kHz, the MicPort Pro delivers true studio sound from your XLR microphone to any device with a USB input in lossless quality. Simply connect your microphone’s XLR connector to the female XLR input on the MicPort Pro and connect the included USB cable from the MicPort Pro to your USB device, and you are all ready to go! Not to be confused for a simple XLR to USB converter, the MicPort Pro contains its very own preamp for high quality audio recordings using not only basic dynamic microphones, but those who require phantom power. If you are unaware, what phantom power is, it is the method in which DC electric power is transmitted through microphones that require active electronic circuitry. Phantom power is required for a majority of the professional and studio microphones used today. … continue reading the full article here: A Must-Have Professional Audio Device: CEntrance MicPort Pro (Review)
Many people think that corporate or business podcasting is difficult and expensive. But with the free services that are available today, cost can be whittled down substantially. After the production itself, using these services to host and distribute your company’s content can be absolutely free, assuming you don’t mind 3rd party branding and/or a little extra work on your part. One caveat, this method produces a non-downloadable podcast which many argue is not technically a “podcast” at all. An example from our friends at Omega ATC is shown above. I will be referring to it as we go along.
Let’s start with the part that is not free, but is the most important aspect of any business podcast.
Corporate Podcast Production
The production can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. You can go crazy and produce a full fledged video talk show, or you can re-purpose existing content—like a conference call or webinar—and call it a day. While we at AudioFile Solutions always suggest you put your best foot forward and produce a completely professional event, many businesses find that extending the life of content that has already been produced can also yield marketing fruit. For the rest of this article, we’ll assume that you already have an event—like a webinar recording—that you want to use as your podcast (in this case, a video podcast). Our conference call recording service and high definition web conference recording service can both be used for this application.
After the webinar has been recorded, you’ll need a 3rd party to host the video file.
YouTube Video on Your Blog
Many small businesses do not want to host the files themselves because of the cost involved in storing large audio or video files on their server. In our example, a typical webinar can yield a 30-80MB video file. Add up several months or years of recordings, and your storage requirements will be substantial.
To host a video on YouTube, open an account and click “Upload”. It’s that easy. For a webinar recording, it is important to use a high definition video as your source to keep the text and images crystal clear. Using a low resolution video file means that large text will be blurry and small text will be unreadable.
After uploading, YouTube will create several different versions of the video. You can access them individually by clicking the three digit number followed by the letter “p” in the lower right-hand corner of the player. Choose “720p” or “1080p” to view the high definition file. Immediately to the right are four arrows arranged in a square. Click this to make the video full screen. Using a high def video from AudioFile Solutions as your source, you should have no trouble clearly seeing all the text on a typical webinar.
Note: View the embedded video above at 30:00 to see a good example of small text. In full screen mode, at 360p, the text is extremely blurry. Toggle the video to 720p to see the sharpest text.
Now that your video is live on YouTube, you can embed the video directly on your blog (as we did at the top of this article) by going to the YouTube page containing the video. From there, click “share” and copy & paste the embed code directly to your blog. If you don’t already have a blog, there are many free blogs to choose from. WordPress.com, Blogspot.com and WordPress.org are all good places to start. Or see Mashable’s article 40+ Free Blog Hosts.
Note: Keep in mind that YouTube can change this process at any time, so you may have to use some common sense when using future versions of YouTube.
With the video now embedded on your blog, and because your blog is syndicated (check with your blog host if it is not), you now have a low-cost non-downloadable podcast.
A final thought, but no less important, don’t forget to have your podcast transcribed. This will allow you to place the entire text of the podcast on the same page as the audio or video. Not only is this great news for the hearing impaired, it is a necessity to receive SEO (Search Engine Optimization) credit. SEO is beyond the scope of this article, but suffice it to say, search engines like Google must have on-page text in order to index your blog post, and a word-for-word transcript is the best way to do this.
Happy podcasting!
We are seeking home based transcriptionists who have great attention to detail and are able to work at home with no supervision on a contract basis. High personal ethics and a command of the English language are a must. Be at home and work for us at the same time!
Requirements:
- Expert in MS Word and transcription software.
- Accurate grammar and spelling.
- Above average typing speed.
- Top notch listening skills.
- Proofreading with 100% accuracy.
- Proficient with Internet investigation.
- Attention to detail.
Job duties will include general transcription, legal transcription, interview transcription and more. May include transcribing focus groups, meetings, conference calls, videos and the like.
This job can be performed at home with a turnaround time (cycle) of 1-3 business days. Workload varies and can range from 0-4 hours of recordings per cycle. Candidates are able to limit their workload based on their availability.
If interested, please read our blog articles that explain in more detail what we are looking for:
3 Keys to Providing the Best Transcription Services
The Best Transcription Companies — How to Find One
Testing is required. Please inquire HERE (tick “Job Openings”), or call 719-477-9600 and tell us you want to apply.
AudioFile Solutions, LLC is a professional transcription company since 2002. We are based in Colorado Springs, one hour south of Denver. We provide nationwide service to our customers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the UK.
When using our Podcast Recording Service for your next interview, it is important to remember that our service alone will not guarantee the best quality telephone recording. There are a few steps you must take to ensure the recording is as clean as possible.
- All parties should be dialed-in on a landline phone.
- Non-speaking participants should be muted.
- A handset or headset should be used, not a speakerphone.
- Call waiting should be disabled.
All participants should use standard landline telephones.
But, don’t fall into the trap of pressing the speakerphone button—that is the quickest way to ruin your high-quality recording. Also, do not use a cell phone, a VOIP service, or even a wireless phone connected to a landline. All of these technologies degrade the telephone audio in some way and should be avoided. VOIP is getting better every day, but you should be very careful if you are going to break this rule as some VOIP phones sound just as bad as cell phones.
Non-speaking parties should be muted.
Any participant who is not speaking should press their own mute button well before the podcast recording begins. Some conference call services allow for muting by pressing *6 or some other combination of keys. Do yourself a favor and use this functionality.
A handset or headset should be the tool of choice.
A bit earlier, we talked about not using a speakerphone on a podcast recording. Instead, use a headset. Most headsets these days have very good audio quality and will allow you to talk with your hands free. Although, once in awhile, even a good quality headset can “act up”. At those times, pick up your old reliable handset; you’ll be amazed how good it sounds.
Disable the Call Waiting feature on your telephone.
Most telephone companies allow you to disable this feature temporarily. Before
connecting to your podcast recording service, press your telephone company’s magic combination of buttons to disable this function—usually restored when you hang up. *70 seems to be the ticket with Qwest/CenturyLink, but be sure to check with your local telephone company in case they have a different method.
If everyone follows these rules, your telephone podcast recording should be off to a great start. If any of your participants sound noisy, distorted, or the quality is lacking in any other way, follow these… Troubleshooting Steps:
- Ask the person to move to a quiet location.
- Ask them if they are really dialed-in on a landline phone.
- Ask them if they are on a headset; if so, pick up the handset.
- If the noisy/poor quality audio persists, ask them to dial-in again to re-establish the connection.
Tip: Poor quality audio can most often be tracked to a non-landline phone. So, whatever you do, do not break this one rule. Ignore all the others before you omit this one.
Finally, after you have made the most of the audio quality of a typical phone line, continue by notifying the participants of the following:
- Make every effort not to move the phone around while recording. Telephone handsets are notorious for popping and clicking when played with or squeezed too tightly.
- Keep the handset mouthpiece at the same distance from the mouth as when the audio quality tests were underway. Moving the mouthpiece around will cause a fluctuation in volume that will drive your podcast editor crazy and increase your editing bill exponentially.
- Refrain from breathing directly into the handset when you are not speaking. Not only is this distracting to the listeners, it’s a little creepy.
- Try your best not to talk over another participant. Telephone audio is not a wide frequency bandwidth medium. This means that it is more difficult for the ear to distinguish between voices. When two or more voices are talking at the same time, the ear loses track of who is speaking and the brain becomes confused. Confusion leads to anger, and anger always tells the finger to click the “off” button—always!
Well, there you have it. Follow these rules and your next podcast interview will shine.
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