Small Rant

Most of you probably know that when I'm not blogging or singing, I pay the bills by being a transcriptionist. That means that I type out transcriptions of audio recordings of meetings, or I transcribe one-on-one interviews or teleconferences.

Today, I feel like ranting about said interviews. I think there are very few people who understand how important it is to make a good audio recording of meetings one wants transcribed, and of those few people, only a very small percentage are actually in charge of setting up the audio equipment at those meetings.

I went to one of those meetings last week, as a participant. When I walked in the room, I saw the two microphones taped down to the middle of the table and knew EXACTLY what the recording would sound like: the folks close to the microphones would be heard very well (including their side conversations) and the people farthest away would sound like they were across the street.

Upon introducing ourselves, I was dismayed to see that the people with the hard-to-understand accents were sitting farthest from the microphones (go figure), and I had to say something. So I did, and I mentioned that I was a transcriptionist, so I had experience in these things. Did they listen to me? Did they move closer to the microphone or speak more clearly? Of course not.

Not that it's really the fault of the people with accents. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out what someone with a thick accent is saying if I can hear them clearly. It's really the fault of the person in charge of the sound equipment, who I'm sure is just a secretary who isn't a sound engineer (and why should he/she be?) but was told to record the meeting.

So I've decided to educate the public. This weekend, while I was updating my web site (go check it out! I'm really proud of it), I put together a tip sheet for those poor clueless secretaries. No offense...I've been a clueless secretary, and I've learned a lot from just searching Google for tip sheets like these.

Now, I'm not a sound engineer either, but I've learned from listening to many, many recordings that in order to make a good recording YOU'VE GOT TO USE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT IN THE PROPER MANNER. Too many times have I torn my hair out trying to understand a conversation recorded on a microcassette dictation device that was put on the table next to a speakerphone where the main portion of the meeting or interview was with the guy on the other end of the line who was on a cell phone. I have grown too many white hairs yelling in frustration at the idiot in the breakout meeting who forgot to turn his microphone off and proceeds to tell dirty jokes to the guy next to him while the next speaker, who forgot to turn his microphone on, tries to give a presentation.

Now I know most of you reading this aren't really ever in charge of recording a meeting or an interview for transcription, but if you ever find yourselves in that position, remember my words, heed them, and do a Google search for my tips.

Okay, I'm done. Thanks for letting me rant for a bit. I needed that.