I recently came across this SynthGear blog post that contains an old advertisement for a Sony TC-377: 1973 Ad for Sony Reel-to-Reel Tape Deck. Some of the text reads: This could be the tape deck you’ll leave your great-grandson. This is a classic ad because, indeed, I think many people have done just that; not just with the TC-377, but with all different types of analog reel-to-reel tape recorders.
A customer recently sent us this picture of her Sony TC-558.
Here’s a picture of one of our own: a Teac X-3R.
Why are these passed down from generation to generation, and say, cassette decks are not? Is it purely looks, frequency response or some tactile fascination? I hope you will help us answer this question in our comments below.
If you have an old reel-to-reel tape machine, feel free to post a picture of it to our Facebook Wall. We’d love to see it and hear how you came into possession of it. Or send it to us via Twitter.
Free Conference Call Services Can be Very Tempting
Our customers sometimes ask if we use one conference call provider to get the best quality conference call recording. The answer is both yes and no. Clearly, the quality varies between providers. PGi (Premiere Global Services) has the best quality we’ve heard, so we became an agent and have access to all their audio and web conferencing products. However, we’ve also used several free conference call companies because many times our customers already have accounts with a vendor—FreeConference.com and FreeConferenceCall.com seem to be the most popular.
However, there are several disadvantages to using a free service, and some can effect the quality of your recording.
Many providers move the dial-in number from city to city—most likely because they are chasing the cheapest rates on their end. I’ve also heard that they make money by routing callers to specific local exchange carriers. This means that your “permanent” dial-in number is not so “permanent” after all.
Free services use toll numbers, so you and your participants will pay long distance charges for the duration of the call.
Many times the call quality is poor. There are good quality audio conference bridges, and there are not-so-good quality bridges. Which do you think the free services are using?
Just about all of them charge excessively for anything other than a simple conference call. That means they are expecting you to upgrade when you figure out that the service is not really free (see #2 above and consider how #3 can effect the definition of your brand).
A big limitation is the feature set. Compare free conference call services to PGi’s ReadyConference Plus and you will see a huge difference. For example, did you know that ReadyConference has a web interface/control feature that gives you the ability to see a noisy phone line and mute it with a click of a button? This feature alone can be a huge differentiator.
For those who must have the best quality—businesses that are going to re-purpose the call into a podcast, for example—we offer the complete line of PGi audio and web conferencing services, including ReadyConference Plus. For those who would like to sample our recording quality, we offer a free conference call recording snippet, with no obligation. That is, we will record your call and send you a sample of it so you can verify the quality before making a commitment. Did I mention there is no obligation?
So there you have it, the 5 biggest shortcomings of free conference call services. Why did I not mention the advantages? Well, because there is only one, and you already know what that is…. It’s free!
Have you had an experience with a free conference call company—good, bad or indifferent? Tell us about it.
I recently found a good introduction to Podcast Recording at TechUniversity. Daniel Desrosiers discusses how to get started recording a podcast using Garageband for the MAC. Don’t worry if you are using a PC, he has some great advice for any newbie, and it is not at all MAC-centric. Here’s a synopsis:
What Hardware do You Need? Microphones, headphones and computers are discussed.
Software? Professional or Consumer?
Recording, Editing and Production in Garageband How to use tracks, effects and sharing features.
If you liked this screencast Intro to Recording a Podcast from TechUniversity, please let us know. Also check out our podcast recording and production services page.
Clark Kent Interviews Always Include a Recording with the Transcript
A Transcript Sans Audio Recording? I had a customer recently ask for a transcript of a conference call interview recording they were doing with a high profile figure. Since this is one of our core services, I said, “Sure, would you like a copy of the recording as well?” His initial answer may surprise you: “No, I don’t need the recording; just the transcript is fine.”
When I questioned him about this, it turns out that the transcript was going to be used for a magazine article, not for a podcast production or any other audio medium. While this answer makes sense on the surface, further examination will show the flaws in this thinking.
Your Personal Interviews
Think about the conversations you have in the normal course of your day—at work, at home, with the taxi driver, etc. How many times do you find yourself asking the other person to repeat themselves? You probably do it without even thinking: “what’s that”, “pardon”, “excuse me”. And that is a conversation you are having in person. How much more difficult is it for a transcriptionist during a conference call or other phone conversation to accurately comprehend every word being said?
My sister who is an elementary school teacher recounts a conversation with her boyfriend during a marathon phone interview, eh hem, I mean, conversation. She says:
“He thought I was talking about having a ‘cash can’ behind my driver’s seat, and I was talking about my ‘trash can.’ He didn’t know why I was emptying Kleenexes out of it.”
“On another occasion I said, ‘I talked to the PTA lady today,’ and he thought I said ‘I went to the pizzeria today.’”
And finally, a more serious issue came up that threatened to break up their relationship. She said:
“I’m putting my hair in a ponytail now.” And he thought she said, ”I’m putting my head in toilet water now.”
Your Business Interviews
All kidding aside, you can see that the last example has implications in the business world too. For instance, when interviewing a high profile sports figure about his alleged improprieties with a mistress, two people can hear the same response in two different ways:
“I never see her without my agent being in the room.”
This is very different from:
“I endeaver to see her when my agent leaves the room.”
Verifying Accurate Comprehension This brings us back to the original scenario. As a magazine editor, printing the later quote can have serious implications. Do you trust a transcriptionist 100% of the time in 100% of the situations he/she may come across in an interview recording? Let me ask that a different way: Do you trust YOURSELF 100% of the time in every situation when you are listening to a recording? The answer is, of course, NO. No one is perfect. And even though at AudioFile Solutions we strive to be 100% accurate—and have safeguards against transcribing incorrect information—are you willing to trust your livelihood and your company’s brand to anyone other than yourself and your staff? And if you’re using another audio transcription service, what safeguards do they have in place to protect against inaccurate comprehension?
A Legal Record Looking at it a bit differently, when this hypothetical sports figure takes you to court because he now regrets talking about his indecency, how are you going to prove to a judge that your interviewee actually did say, “I endeavor to see her when my agent leaves the room.”? Will only a transcript suffice? Of course not. Wouldn’t you feel better having the actual audio recording in-hand to prove beyond a doubt what was really said? Afterall, your career is on the line here.
I think the takeaway is obvious: Always, always request an audio recording of your interview along with your transcript. This is the only way you can review the transcriptionist’s work and protect yourself against being wrongfully accused of mis-quoting someone.
Note: Have you had someone accuse you of misquoting them? Or have you had a transcriptionist misunderstand what was said on a recording? Share it with us as a comment to this post.
Editor’s Note: We no longer use this transcription tool.
As a transcription services provider, our clients count on us to render line, form and movement to their audio and video recordings—the result being a tangible transcript of the spoken word. We’re contacted daily to deliver professional transcription support for focus group discussions, lectures, interviews, digital audio teleconferences, meetings, webcasts… the list is endless.
As a business professional, you need to feel confident those whom you’re entrusting to transcribe your content have your best interests at heart. We’ve been delivering transcription services to companies for many years and it’s our pleasure to provide the outline below—identifying four key areas and the elements within—for you to consider when evaluating and choosing a transcription company.
Technical Skills
Keyboarding Skills/Speed – Look for an above-average rate of speed (75+ words per minute) married with a high degree of accuracy (98% or higher). Fast isn’t valuable if precision isn’t the guarantee.
Know and Understand Technology/Computer Literacy – Work with someone who knows more than just the technology basics. Look for creativity and adaptability, ask what type of technology they use to listen to your audio/video and the software they use to create your transcript.
Working within Deadlines – This is all about time management and organizational skills. Great transcriptionists know how to “work backwards” in estimating typing time, proofing time and reading-for-comprehension time to beat your deadline and exceed your expectations.
Communication Skills
Spelling and Grammar – You have a right to expect your transcription services provider to excel in these areas. Inquire how they ensure the accurate handling of homonyms. If they’re uncertain or confused about their homonym policy, don’t go there.
Superior Listening – Typing what is said can be a science at times. Does the transcription company have the capability to provide verbatim (word-for-word) transcripts? Can they remove the superfluous (I know, you mean, like, uh, um, ah) interjections to create a cleaner transcript for you? Be specific with what you’d like to see as an end result and learn if the transcription company offers these skills.
Superior Comprehension/Ear for Detail –This is where experience is vital. Great 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 transcription company will bring this to your attention. It’s not too much to expect.
Experience
Specialties – Some transcription services providers specialize in delivering transcripts of accented speakers, those that contain two or more speakers or transcripts requiring time code stamps. Be sure you understand areas of specialty and any price increases associated with higher-value services.
Terminology Research – Is it important to you that your transcription company go the extra mile in researching and verifying terminology on your transcript? A transcription services provider who is on the ball will maintain a terminology list specifically for your work to ensure consistency on your future transcripts.
Proofing Process – Ask questions about the proofing process. If your transcript is not proofed a minimum of two times, you may want to consider speaking with another potential provider. And… a response of “proofing as the transcript is typed” is not an acceptable guarantee of accuracy or consistency on your deliverable.
Years in Business – Ask the provider how long they’ve been in business providing transcription services. Any transcription company worth its salt will be pleased to share this information with you. Longevity is significant.
Work Ethic
Professionalism – This does not become any less important as we move from the brick-and-mortar environment to the virtual workplace. Ask for references and examples of work if this will provide you with a better feel for the provider’s professionalism. Those who are serious about your business will gladly respond to your requests.
Confidentiality – Work with a transcription services provider who provides a confidentiality clause in their service agreement. (Yes, be sure to sign an agreement.) Feel confident that the subject matter shared with your transcription company stays with your transcription company.
Business/Industry Knowledge – This is extremely important when it comes to creating your content. A transcription company should be familiar with standard business acronyms, business leaders and business trends.
Vested Interest in Your Success – Work with a transcription services provider who wants to understand what’s important to you. Find someone who isn’t afraid to have a voice-to-voice conversation and clarify your needs. You want to work with someone who requests that level of detail because it indicates they’re interested in your success.
And finally… transcribing is more than just typing. If you have ever received transcription services support, you quickly discovered upon review of your final deliverable whether you hired a skilled service provider. Transcription is a combination of art, skill and business savvy; it’s the transformation of your raw material into a meaningful deliverable to support the success of your business. Be sure to partner with a transcription company that has experience, is pleased to answer your questions and is committed to your success.
All the best.
Lori J. Clark is the Founder and Lead Administrator of Clark VA Solutions, a virtual administrative consulting practice delivering services based on a strong, 30-year professional foundation of education, skills and experience. Clark VA Solutions serves C- and executive-level professionals and entrepreneurs with writing services, corporate/business transcription, administrative planning and brainstorming/structuring service offerings for success. See http://clarkvasolutions.com for more information.
Not long ago, I wrote a guest blog for VitualAssist.net on the three basic styles of podcast productions. I hope it will help your company better focus it’s efforts. Here is a snippet. Please follow the link at the bottom to read the entire article.
Today I want to talk about the basic types of podcast productions and which one may be right for you—especially if you are selling a product or a service.
1. Podcasting as a Commercial
In this day and age, we have all grown up on television, radio and now the Internet. From day one we have been taught that bigger is better, flashy is finer, and louder is more desirable.
As a child, what was the birthday toy you wanted the most? The one with the flashiest commercial, of course! At six years old, we may not know the “why” of it all, we just know we “waaant” it!
This style of production is now a legitimate approach on the World Wide Web. The thought being, produce the best podcast imaginable, and “they will come”.
This is usually your most expensive option as it requires hiring a full-fledged advertising agency, outside consultants and/or actors and actresses to get it just right.
What is TV overscan?
Wikipedia defines it as:
Extra image area around the four edges of a video image that may not be seen reliably by the viewer. It exists because television sets in the 1930s through 1970s were highly variable in how the video image was framed within the cathode ray tube (CRT).
With the advent of digital television and new viewing technolgies such as Plasma, LCD and LED, understanding how TVs overscan your DVD is not as important as it once was. These TVs use newer connectors and often have 0% overscan—showing the complete image. But how many millions of older TVs still overscan the image? Your guess is as good as mine, but even some of the best HDTVs of today may still overscan a video image by as much as 20%.
That begs the question: What happens to text or images that are around the outside edge of a slide when you convert PowerPoint to DVD? In many cases, when watching on a TV, you will not see this part of the video.
Here is an example of a PowerPoint slide that contains some text completely outside of the 20% boundary indicated by the second set of dotted lines (the interior set of lines). In video circles, this is called the “Title Safe Area”.
As you can see above, “Tips and tools for creating…” is completely outside the 20% boundary and in danger of being cut off by a huge number of televisions. The last two letters in the larger text above it, “Widescreen Presentation” will also be left unseen by anyone who has a TV that overscans by 20% or more.
How to defeat video overscan issues when converting your slides. When creating your PowerPoint presentation, make sure to keep any text away from this 20% boundary. Graphic elements and some images may be acceptable along the edges, but text is NOT. You don’t want to leave your audience guessing about what you are trying to say, do you?
Here is an example of a slide that has all text positioned correctly inside the title safe area.
As you can see, not only is the text inside the usable area, relevant images are as well. If there was a caption beneath the graphs at the bottom, we’d want to move the graphs even further inside the safe area to avoid losing the text below the image.
What if your 300-slide PowerPoint show is already completed—incorrectly? Our PowerPoint-to-DVD service is able to “fix” this problem for you. During the video editing process, we can shrink your slides slightly and create a new background to fill the newly created space around the edges of your slides. In most cases, it will look exactly as you intended. In fact, the second image above was created from a slide that was originally built incorrectly—containing some of the text outside of the 20% safe area.
We will discuss other PowerPoint-to-DVD tips in subsequent articles. In the meantime, if you have the need for any of our services, please contact us here.
I’ve been asked by prospective customers, “What makes your conference call recording service better than the less expensive Brand X?” After eight years in business, this question still bothers me; like someone is attacking my baby. But it’s a legitimate question. After all, none of us want to pay more for the same product or service.
So instead of taking it personally, I think of the types of products and services that I am willing to pay more for.
I have a Home Theater. When I first built it, did I buy all the cheapest electronics: the smallest screen, the weakest amplifiers, the least expensive projector? When I take my wife out to dinner, do I take her to McDonald’s every time? Of course not. In both cases, I usually look for a good value; good quality that doesn’t break the bank. But I also consider what I’m hungry for that day—do I feel like steak, BBQ, or seafood.
I think this is how customers think about our services:
Am I getting a good value?
What do I need to accomplish my goals today?
Will a free conference call recording from Brand X be sufficient, or will it make my brand suffer?
Why is Our Recording Service the Best? If you are like me and want a good value, let me help.
When I started recording telephone calls digitally in 1996, there was absolutely no competition. Conference call companies were still recording to cassette, but it was clear to me that MP3, RM and WMA were the future of conference recording.
But these audio file formats are delivery formats. They are not meant to be recording formats or files you should use for editing. They are formats you use when you deliver the final product to the customer. They are what’s called a “compressed” file which will lose much of it’s quality if you don’t handle them properly. This concept has been lost on some providers, or they never knew it to begin with. In addition, these formats require great care when encoding. Soft volume levels here, frequencies being over extended there—the result is a substandard file.
Here is where AudioFile Solutions is different.
We record the conference call manually, not using any automation. We get perfect recording levels every time.
We record natively to uncompressed 16 bit wave files. Conversion to a compressed format is done later in the process.
We trim any unwanted noise, on-hold music or blank space from the beginning and ending of the call.
We fade the beginning and ending to sound professional.
We optimize the audio for volume and frequency content. This makes the file comparably loud to other audio files you may play on your computer.
We encode the final compressed audio file to our exact specifications, to any high quality format you might need. Just try asking Brand X for an Ogg file and see what answer you get.
We strive to make our recording service flexible and able to meet your specific needs. We truly believe this is a different model than what is practiced in the industry as a whole. Give us a shot. Ask us for something tough; something that no other company would ever give you. We dare you…
Conference Call Recording Feature Will Not Work with This Type of Phone
ReadyConference Plus Features People who already use PGi’s ReadyConference Plus audio conferencing service may already know about the cool features that are included for free with this service:
Web Interface/Control Including Active Talker Icon
Global and Individual Mute/Un-Mute
Dial Out Access
Each of the above features separates PGi’s ReadyConference Plus from the free conference call services.
Conference Call Recording But today I am going to talk about the conference call recording feature (hint: press *22 to activate before your call formally begins). This is my favorite, by far, because it serves two very unique purposes.
1. It records your conference call as a digital replay—accessible to anyone with a telephone.
2. It acts as a high quality conference call recording for creation of high resolution audio files—such as wave, MP3, etc.
Most of our clients need a high resolution, high quality conference call recording, so we will skim over number one fairly quickly. Suffice it to say, if anyone misses your live conference call, this is a great way to allow them to listen to it after-the-fact.
High Quality Conference Call Recording To record your conference call and receive a pristine audio file useful for archiving, podcast production, audio editing, or online distribution, it’s as easy as pressing *22 before your call formally begins. When your call is over, just hang up, and the recording will stop automatically. Here is a link to PGi’s support page and a video from PGi that gets into the details of using this feature. But believe me when I tell you, it is easy cheesy.
After the call is over, PGi will email you instructions on how to access this recording. Forward that email to your AudioFile Solutions product manager and you will receive your audio file shortly afterward. Costs for this service vary, so please ask your representative for pricing before you record your call.
We can also create a high quality conference call recording from your live event. Please don’t hesitate to contact us for the details.
Stay tuned for more ReadyConference Plus features you might have overlooked.
As seen on our Twitter and Facebook pages, here are our top 4 equipment choices of the last month that should help to improve your next podcast recording.
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