How to Record and Transcribe Calls?

Let Audio to Text Converter Apps Take Notes for your Phone Calls

Calls are an important part of any business. They are often the only way to stay in touch with customers, partners, and executives. The problem is that these calls can go on for hours and unless you’re great at taking notes, you will most likely forget what was discussed at some point. It can be difficult to recall all the information that was discussed. You may not even know what information is important and what is not. What about turning the audio recording of your phone call into text?

How to Record and Transcribe an Important Phone Call

We have to deal with a few constraints that come with the recording process through our phones. First of all, most phone speakers are not really good and produce appropriate audio for an interview. Second of which, we don’t want to record this whole event while on the job.

Fortunately, there are solutions to this problem: end-to-end solutions for interviews. With these solutions, the interviewee uses a small microphone that records both their voice and the surrounding audio, then sends it to the interviewer’s recording device for download later. It gets added right into your video editing software on your computer.

There are many benefits of using a call recording solution when capturing an interview as opposed to handling it old school (with someone holding up a laptop). Not only would you save on time costs and expertise, but this system also offers better quality sound.

Transcription tools that have been released to the public this year may make recording interviews easier than ever before. From handheld devices with easy record connectors such as tablets, people will be able better suit their interview needs.

How to Find the Tools to Record and Transcribe Calls?

Firstly, you have to record your audio . Recording a phone call is a good way to keep a record of the conversation. It might be good to do this for conversations that involve critical information. A lot of the time, these conversations are quite lengthy and it can be difficult to remember all the specifics.

Thankfully, there are tools that can help with this problem.

The use of your phone for audio recording is a great way to control and record all your in-person and telephone conversations.

There are many different apps available on both Google Play and the App Store. In order to help you make a decision, we can recommend three apps: Voice Record Pro, TapeACall, and Call Recorder (for iPhone). Try one of these and see if it works fine for you.

How Important Is Recording Quality?

In conjunction with high-quality video, audio is one of the aspects that can make or break the experience of an interview. But what has to be done in order to have clear audio?

There’s a scientific explanation for this. As you move farther away from the microphone all the noise will become more evident in the sound wave. All that extra sound noise reaches and stresses the recording device — and your ears as well.

What Should I do to Get the Best out of Recordings

When you are transcribing calls, it’s important that they are high quality to make the most of the free call transcription tasks that you’re using. The sound quality of the call recording files can have an effect on how well they are transcribed. If your audio is unclear, full of background noise or contains various accents, the free audio to text transcription will be more complex and take up more time.

If you are using an external microphone to record your audio, it is best to get one with a high-quality recording. This will be able to pick up more details in the sound and will provide better context for the transcriber

There are specific tips and techniques that you can use to make better recordings. In this article, we will discuss some of the best practice tips.

The quality of your podcast or recording-especially when it’s acoustically sound-can makes the difference between grabbing a listener’s attention or not. What to say and how you say it is important, but if your listeners can’t even hear what you are saying, then all your carefully planned content is moot.

All podcasts and recordings eventually have sound problems such as popping from open and closed microphones, low volume, and ambient noise from other sources in the area. Headphones drastically improve these kinds of environmental issues. If you have to amplify your speaker microphone with software to obtain desired levels use – don’t overdo it

Be Aware of Surroundings.

Most people underestimate how intrusive background noise maybe for their podcast. To avoid the use of any external devices, it’s very important to ask your host or participant enough questions. By this, you can adjust the mic according to their voice setting

Proper recording involves having great audio quality without any kind of interference in the form of background noise or bad mic placements. Recording at home will create a clean source with no unwanted vibrations or variations in sound waves.

Decrease the Distance Between the Speaker and the Recorder

High-quality recording starts with high-quality audio, so make sure your audio volume is loud enough. The same goes for your voice- make sure it’s clear and loud enough. It can be distracting if you’re straining to hear what the person on the other end is saying. It can also be bad if they sound like they’re shouting at you. Furthermore, if you want to get high-quality recordings, try holding your recorder in front of the speaker if possible. The closer your recorder is to the speaker’s mouth, the better quality audio you will get.

Eliminate The Background Noise for Better Call Transcription

It’s frustrating when you can’t understand the speeches in an audio recording because of background noise. That’s why it’s important to make sure the recording is free of any background noise before you send it off for call transcription. This will result in a more accurate audio transcript which will make the editing process easier.

Background noise on your recordings can come from a lot of different sources. Make sure you turn off your phone’s ringer and put on some earbuds or headphones during the recording session. If you’re outside, you’ll want to stay away from public areas with loud traffic and other people who might interrupt your recording.

Improve Your Mic Quality

The better the mic the better the audio quality.

One of the most common mistakes that people make is to use their laptop microphone for voice recording.

These laptops are not designed to have high-quality microphones. They are meant for everyday use, not for highly sensitive tasks like recording audio and then doing free call transcription.

This means that you risk hearing a lot of background noise, or worse – your voice sounds distorted and muffled because it’s not picking up enough sound waves. That can be really frustrating if you’re doing any kind of interview or video recording. You need to make sure that your microphone is clear and of high quality. It could be expensive to buy one, but it will make a big difference in the quality of your recordings!

Oftentimes, however, people are unaware of how to pick a quality microphone for their needs. The first step is to research your available options. The second step is to decide what you want to use the microphone for. If you are only doing voice memos or conference calls then there are cheaper options that will do just fine, but if you want something more professional then you should invest in a high-quality microphone with a clip so that it stays steady while recording.

Enhance Your Recording Settings

Apple’s Voice Memos app is great, it is just not automatically optimized to deliver the best possible audio quality. Knowing these settings can have a big impact on capturing conversations in various high-volume environments.

Since the iPhone 7, there have been many improvements to built-in microphones which make for better sound quality. You can change this in the settings by selecting “Voice Memos” and then changing the quality from Compressed to Lossless. This will improve your audio quality immensely and you’ll have more space, especially on the new larger iPhones like Xs Max and Xs.

It can vastly improve audio clarity when recording video, as well as reduce background noise.

Mind Where The Mic Is

Most cell phone microphones can be found on the bottom of your handset to boost the power and recording quality. As phones get thinner, putting the mic at or near the bottom is a better option to do all these tasks without unnecessary interference.

Now that it’s been identified, what’s next? Well, we should take the initiative in keeping our microphones clean and unclogged to prevent distortion in the sound.

Avoid Blocking Your Mic

We should not touch our microphone in order to avoid any interference with voice signals. As this action may cause our sound quality to go downhill and audio files may stop uploading entirely.

Recording yourself and playing it back isn’t enough to assess how you are doing. Simply obstructed your microphone by having a hand in front of it. It coats the microphone with too many layers of clothing or finger smudging makes recording hard.

This causes a bloated sound, fuzzy audio, as well as unwanted booms and hissing sounds in the project.

Get the Mic in the Direction of the Source

Pointing the microphone toward the sound source is an efficient move on recording quality. A tested technique is to have a reserve microphone at hand. You may also switch between in case one picks up too much ambient noise from fans, air conditioners, or engines. Experimentation also benefits these recordings. Usually, office spaces are more accommodating to an interviewee’s needs for privacy. However on-the-go interviews may not offer this option. Then it becomes difficult for a journalist to find open space before their opportunity passes them by. Or backgrounds take over their recording with unwanted noise.

Sound fidelity can be improved by attuning oneself to the mic.

Minimize The Distance Between The Mic And The Source

To maximize the quality of audio recording you need to get close as possible

When it comes to sound recording, there is one very important factor that accelerates the process—affinity. This does not mean we should up and grab our phones in the middle of a lecture. The affinity is achieved when you position your microphone close enough to the sound source.

But getting close to the sound requires that not too many people are present in the area. Meaning they may need to choose to only film when there is nothing happening around. But often this is not possible.

Don’t get too close to the sound source

Regardless of the type of microphone, keep it at least a couple of inches from the person speaking.

A few reasons for this are, that if you place it too close to the mic and not in a professional sound booth-like setting, you will probably get sound reflections (which lead to distortion) amongst other issues that arise. Backing under the mic will not only distort your sound but also the “plosives” will cause an unpleasant popping sound. Plus there is a risk of all background noise being picked up on the recording.

Avoid Background Noise

It is very important to consider the environment a speaker could be working in. Especially if they are regularly using their audio equipment to record speeches and recordings of meetings. It is difficult to be prepared for every possible circumstance. Often the recording takes place in an office and there is little that can be done to minimize external noise. However, it is still wise to do the best that you can at minimizing environmental noise.

There are some simple steps one can follow: face away from the wind, which may otherwise cause distracting rustling sounds; make sure your mic is located in an area of silence; move away from other speakers if possible and try not to stand close to doors that might open unexpectedly.

Avoid Shakiness of the Mic

When recording voice memos, the sounds recorded often have defects. This can happen because of unsteady hand movements, headphones disconnecting the microphone, and low volume.

So what can people do to get a clean and stable sounding sound? Apple employees would suggest a different way to decrease the chance of getting spotty sound. In fact, Apple recommends that users place their phones near their chin level for best performance.

Sometimes it is necessary for those who are using voice memos for work purposes to be mobile with the recordings. However, following this advice will minimize any mistakes or disruptions in sound quality.

Turn on Do Not Disturb

When you are interviewing candidates, sometimes it can be easy to get sidetracked by your phone.

Turn on Do Not Disturb. As well as turning on the blink too so your phone will be impossible to miss. Even if it is hiding under some papers.

Remember to turn off all vibration settings. As response triggers can be catchy and distractive when talking to someone and not wanting to miss anything.

What are the Best Apps to Record and Transcribe Calls?

The quality of the recording is always a pressing concern with interviews. Many people starting out are often deterred by that large voice recorder that only at best sometimes works well. This small recording can prove to be an even bigger problem. The good news is that you don’t need a new recorder to get the audio that you want.

Besides VoiceRecordIt, many other transcription apps can also record calls. There are various apps for both Android and iOS devices, like RecMyCalls and Rev Voice Recorder. These let the user record their own interview with the same phone they are talking on, and with good quality.

What is the Text Quality Like on a Call Transcription App?

Again, this completely depends on the app you choose. Some won’t have any text function, meaning they’re just voice recording apps. Others will have varying degrees of quality depending on what the developers use.

For example, an AI-based platform will usually have the most success. If the AI is trained to understand language, it should do a good job of converting even difficult words into text.

That said, AI will struggle with ambiguous words. These could be words that sound the same (hear and here) or words with more than one meaning. Because of this, you should always read through the text file after it’s finished converting.

How to Avoid Mistakes when Transcribing Calls?

While it’s not possible to completely avoid written mistakes when using a call transcription app, there are some ways to reduce the chances. Perhaps the best is to use an audio conversion platform that’s trustworthy.

The benefit of doing this, rather than using a call transcription app, is that the conversion software focuses solely on audio-to-text. It means it should have much better AI and less chance of making mistakes.

So, if you’re planning on recording and transcribing calls, make sure you use Transkriptor for the next stage in the process. It uses state-of-the-art AI to ensure an accuracy rate of 80-99% depending on the audio quality.

You can then easily edit your text files and add timestamps with its online editing tool. This makes the final stage of your transcription convenient, so you can focus on other things.

Frequently Asked Questions about Transcribing Calls