Dictating Tips to Reduce Your Transcription Costs

  • Good equipment makes a big difference in playback quality. New and used equipment can be picked up inexpensively on Ebay. If you are hesitant about using Ebay, let us know. We would be happy to help walk you through the process.
  • If you are using tapes, clean your equipment at least after every 30 hours of use.
  • With tapes, make sure they have been erased right back to the beginning so there is no overlap of previous dictation.
  • Consider background noise and interference when you are dictating, such as people talking, phones ringing, radios, and stereos. If appropriate, shut any doors or windows to cut down on such interference.
  • Speak clearly and slowly. Any time you save dictating quickly will only be lost when we have to rewind the tape to understand what is being said.
  • Please take the time to spell out proper names. This includes the obvious and not so obvious such as "Sheryl" versus "Cheryl" and "Jerry" versus "Gerry," for instance.
  • If you are using standard tapes, those specifically designed for voice recording are much clearer than those designed for music recording.
  • Indicating desired punctuation will also help save our time - and your money. This includes periods, quotation marks, parenthesis and new paragraph indicators.

And the best transcription tip we can provide?

  • Consider switching to digital equipment! The sound quality is superior, the turnaround time is quicker, and you save money by not incurring postage or courier costs.

Remember: the more complete we can get your work back to you,
the less time and money needs to be spent on revisions.


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