1. All podcast participants should be dialed-in on a landline phone.
2. Non-speaking participants should be muted.
3. A phone handset or headset should be used, not a speakerphone.
4. Call waiting should be disabled.

All podcast participants should use standard landline phones.

But, don’t fall into the trap of pressing the speakerphone button—that is the quickest way to ruin your high-quality phone call 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 participants 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 phone 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 wired 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 phone.

Most phone companies allow you to disable this feature temporarily.  Before
connecting to your call recording service, press your phone company’s magic combination of buttons to disable this function—usually restored when you hang up.  *70 seems to be the ticket with CenturyLink, but be sure to check with your local telephone company in case they have a different method.

Troubleshooting Steps:

1. Ask the person to move to a quiet location.
2. Ask them if they are really dialed-in on a landline phone.
3. Ask them if they are on a headset; if so, pick up the handset.
4. 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.

1. Make every effort to keep the phone still while recording.  Phone handsets are notorious for popping and clicking when played with or squeezed too tightly.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Try your best not to talk over another participant.  Phone calls are 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 listener’s finger to click the “off” button—always!

Record phone calls for podcast interviews.

Follow these rules and recording phone calls for podcast interviews will become easy-cheesy. Be sure to use our services to ensure the best quality podcast recordings; your listeners will thank you and your audience will grow.

We’ve been recording podcasts via phone calls for over 20 years—before they were even called podcasts! We’d love to help you too. Contact us for more details.

The post How to Record Phone Calls for Podcast Interviews appeared first on AudioFile Solutions.

Looking for a way to use your iPod to cheaply record a podcast, record your company conference call, or transcribe an interview or lecture?  Recording with an iPod is easier than you might think.  In all cases, these audio files can be used for podcasting, archiving or uploading to a transcribing company.

Here are the top 4 articles we’ve found that will help you use your iPod for recording.

1. Recording a Podcast Using an iPod and a Micromemo
Author: academictechnology

In this YouTube video, Jason discusses using a standard iPod to record lectures or interviews with the Micromemo.  He demonstrates how to plug-in the device and how easy it is to record directly to the iPod Nano.

2. Recording Lectures with an iPod Touch
Author: Heather M. Whitney

This post on The Chronicle of Higher Education site is geared towards those wanting to use the second-and third-generation iPod Touch for recording audio.  This method can be used to record lectures, interviews or any other live source via the iPod Touch.

3. Recording Phone Calls with an iPod
Author: Jake Ludington

Conference call recording is typically best left to experts like, well … us.  Jake Ludington says as much in the introduction to this post.  But if you find yourself with no other choice, recording your next phone call using the iPod—while not perfect—is doable.

4. Using Your iPod to Record Audio and Podcasts
Author: Michael Miller

With the right equipment and accessories, you can use your iPod to record conversations and interviews, and even to record and mix podcasts for broadcasting over the Internet.  Read this article to learn more.

photo by Jay Riddle

The post Top 4 Articles on Recording Podcasts, Conference Calls, Interviews & Lectures with an iPod appeared first on AudioFile Solutions.

Commitment to Quality
Our company believes in producing the best podcasts; this starts with the highest quality podcast recordings possible.  Whether that be in the studio or over a telephone conference call, our recordings are always going to be top notch.  Ok, you might be asking, “What makes you so special?”  The single largest differentiator between us and our competitors is a commitment to quality. 

Our equipment is designed to produce the best quality audio and video productions, but equipment hardly tells the whole story.  In fact, podcasting equipment is only as good as the person using it.  We’ve been recording and editing digital audio since 1996.  We are first and foremost professionals in this field, and our experience is hard to beat.

One area we pride ourselves in is our telephone recording.  All of the companies mentioned above automate their phone call recording service.  That is, there is no one there to fine tune the settings for each individual podcaster.  Again, while this one-size-fits-all method may have it’s place, we have a different view.

1. Our recording levels are set by hand.  There is no one-size-fits-all approach here.
2. Phone call/line quality is checked and problems are troubleshooted.
3. Pre-processing of the audio file is done by hand, not using any automation. Your recording will be precisely optimized for the internet or for CD.
4. The beginning and ending are trimmed of any irrelevant material such as on-hold music.
5. Professional audio editing is available.
6. Audio file encoding and conversion are done to our exact specifications.

While telephone and conference call recording is only one aspect of our business, the above serves as a key reason why recordings made with DIY services may not be the way to go, especially if you are a business protecting the quality of your brand.  Recordings made my DIY services typically sound inferior in many different ways:

1. Volume levels are low or, alternatively, much too loud.
2. Audio is heavily distorted because of number 1 above.
3. Audio sounds unnatural because of an inferior encoding process.
4. There is dead air at the beginning or end of the file.
5. The end of the audio contains loud pops and clicks when you hung up the phone.
6. Various drop-out and quality issues because of a poor VOIP connection. 

Commitment to Service
The second reason we’re different from DIY services is our commitment to service.  When we begin a project, our producer is with you hand-in-hand helping you decide which podcast production style is right for you.  Once the style is decided upon, he/she will walk you through the entire recording and production process—from beginning to end.  Whether that is to record a telephone interview with a content expert, produce a script for a professional voice-over, or discuss the best music to use for the introduction, we’re with you the entire time.

Commitment to Our Customer
We do not believe in producing expensive, extravagant podcasts when the situation calls for much less.  Our commitment to you is that we will give you our honest advice based on the needs of your company, not ours.  If your company is best served with a podcast production costing $100, we promise not to push you into producing the next version of Titanic—it’s that simple.

If you’d like more information on any of our audio and video production services, please contact us here.  We’d love to help.

The post Podcast Production Should Be a Team Effort, Not a DIY Project appeared first on AudioFile Solutions.

Free Conference Call Services Can be Very Tempting

Our customers sometimes ask if we use one specific conference call service to get the best quality conference call recording.  The answer is both yes and no.

Clearly, the quality varies between conference call services.  PGi (Premiere Global Services) has the best audio 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.

There are several problems with free conference call services, and some can effect the quality of your recording.

What are the problems with free conference call services?

1. 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.
2. Free conference call services use toll numbers, so you and your participants will pay long distance charges for the duration of the call.
3. Many times the call quality is poor.  Conference bridge quality can be good, or not-so-good.  Which do you think the free services are using?
4. 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).
5. A big limitation is the feature set.  Compare free conference call services to PGi’s GlobalMeet and you will see a huge difference.  For example, did you know that GlobalMeet 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 GlobalMeet.  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 problems with 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 in the comments below.

The post 5 Problems with Free Conference Call Services appeared first on AudioFile Solutions.

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.

photo by Thomas Duchnicki :: Location Scout

The post Ace Reporters Use Both Recording & Transcription Services for Interviews appeared first on AudioFile Solutions.

Abbey Road–One of the Best Recording Studios Ever

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.

1. We record the conference call manually, not using any automation.  We get perfect recording levels every time.
2. We record natively to uncompressed 16 bit wave files.  Conversion to a compressed format is done later in the process.
3. We trim any unwanted noise, on-hold music or blank space from the beginning and ending of the call.
4. We fade the beginning and ending to sound professional.
5. 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.
6. 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…

photo by Hyougushi

The post 6 Reasons Our Conference Call Recording Service is the Best appeared first on AudioFile Solutions.

Jack Feels the Sting of 100 Angry Stares After Ruining the Most Important Conference Call of the Year

Most of our new conferencing customers come to us looking for an edge over their competition.  They’re looking to get their message out, but many have never had a conference call before.

Early on, we explain to them the features of our most popular audio conferencing product—PGi’s ReadyConference Plus—and go over the ins and outs of having a successful conference.  Invariably, we arrive at a very common customer question, “What about recording?  We want the best quality we can get.”  Well, that’s music to our ears since we were founded on providing the best quality conference call recordings possible over a standard telephone line.  “That’s the entire reason we exist,” we say.  “Would you like a high resolution MP3, Wave, WMA?”

That gets the discussion started, but none of the technical jargon matters if we don’t discuss the quality issues before the audio gets to our equipment.

There are five critical areas that must be addressed to get the best quality conference call recording.

1. All participants should be dialed-in on landline phones.
2. Non-speaking parties should be muted.
3. A handset or headset should be the tool of choice.
4. Call waiting should be disabled.
5. The on-hold button should be anathema!

All participants should use standard landline telephones.
It seems funny, but one of our oldest technologies is still one of our best.  However, don’t fall into the trap of pressing the speakerphone button—that is the quickest way to ruin your high-end 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  conference call audio in some way and should be avoided.

The reality is, however, some of your participants will ignore the above “DO NOT USE” list.  ReadyConference to the rescue… see next step.

Non-speaking parties should be muted.
A great feature of ReadyConference Plus by PGi, is the *6 muting function.  Any participant who is not speaking should press *6—the system will mute that line individually.

As the Host/Moderator, you can also control a participant’s mute status from the online web interface.  That is, if an unusual amount of noise is coming from a specific line, you will see it and be able to mute that line with a click of a button.

Another method is to have all speakers dial-in with the Host/Moderator passcode, and all non-speakers use the participant code.  Before starting the formal part of the call, have a moderator press *96 to mute all participant lines.  This acts as a global mute and can come in very handy with a little bit of think-ahead planning.

A handset or headset should be the tool of choice.
A bit earlier, we talked about not using a speakerphone on a conference call.  Instead, use a headset.  Most headsets these days have very good audio quality and will allow you to talk with your hands free.  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 dialing your conference, 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, but be sure to check with your local telephone company.

Never…ever use your on-hold button during a conference call recording.
Many businesses have on-hold music for the enjoyment of the person waiting.  Imagine the surprise of all the conference call attendees when you put them on hold and they are treated to the Musak version of Beat It by Michael Jackson.  Ok, so maybe you like MJ, but the practical implication is that the conference call will come to a complete stop until you return—and then you will know what embarrassment truly is.  One hundred of your most important business contacts will be wondering why you just wasted their precious time, and they’ll be looking to “light you up”—maybe literally—like Jack in the picture above.

While these five steps won’t guarantee a perfect conference recording, they will catapult you above your competitors who are not following these steps.  Your company brand now has one more edge in the dog-eat-dog world of business.

photo by garybirnie

The post 5 Tips to Get the Best Quality Conference Call Recording appeared first on AudioFile Solutions.

For instance, how many people know what the progressive scan feature does on their DVD player, or the difference between the IDE and SATA cable in a computer? On one hand, not knowing a DVD player’s video setting might leave you with a less than pleasurable viewing experience. But more seriously, not having the basic knowledge of the inside of a computer during a breakdown could leave you with a non-functioning pile of circuits and hardware—costing you hours of lost productivity.

At AudioFile Solutions, we certainly don’t want to add to the myriad of people blogging about the everyday functionality of the iPhone, or about any product that people are using in their consumer lives. But, we can help you with techniques and technology that can improve your professional life, and hopefully help you relieve that recurring itch on your forehead.

Our Plan: We couldn’t be more excited to announce our new blog on the techniques and technology of the things we know best—podcast production, telephone recording, and even our transcription services.

Our Customers: Our customers often ask for our thoughts on ways they can improve their podcasts, telephone interviews, etc. Questions like:

• Why is the quality of my conference call so poor? Could using Skype be the cause?
• What is the best mobile recorder for an in-person interview in a noisy IT environment?
• For SEO purposes, should a podcast contain loads of keywords like a website does?

We will attempt to address many of these questions in future posts. Heck, we may even join the chorus and talk about the iPhone—the professional uses, that is—as long as we are not duplicating ground that has already been covered elsewhere. In fact, did you know there is a hardware plug-in that turns your iPhone into a mobile recorder! But we’ll talk about that later.

In the meantime, do you have a question of your own? What bit of audio or video technology leaves you scratching your head in your professional life? Is converting that 100 page PowerPoint presentation to video giving you fits?

Our Future Blog: Please leave your questions in the comments section of this post; even if you find this several years after the initial posting. We look forward to a conversation with you on these often overlooked topics.

The post What Does an iPhone, DVD Player and a Computer Have In Common? appeared first on AudioFile Solutions.