Speech recognition has become remarkably good, but it can only transcribe what it can hear. A clear recording can produce a near-perfect transcript; a muffled, echoey or noisy one produces gaps and guesses. The good news is that small, free changes to how you record make a dramatic difference. This guide collects practical tips for interviews, meetings, lectures and podcasts.
The three things that matter most
- Distance to the speaker. The closer the microphone is to the mouth, the clearer the voice relative to everything else.
- Background noise. Every other sound competes with the voice.
- Overlapping speech. When people talk at once, recognisers struggle to separate them.
Nearly every tip below improves one of these three.
Choosing where to record
- Pick a small, furnished room. Soft furniture, curtains, carpets and books absorb echo. Large, bare rooms with hard floors sound hollow.
- Avoid hum and hiss. Fridges, fans, air conditioning, projectors and computers add constant noise. Switch them off if you can.
- Close windows and doors to reduce traffic and corridor noise.
- Avoid cafés and restaurants for anything important. Clattering cups and background chatter are among the hardest noises for transcription.
Positioning your phone or microphone
- Put it close to the speaker, ideally within an arm's length. For one-to-one interviews, place the phone between you, slightly closer to the interviewee.
- Place it on a soft surface, such as a folded scarf or notebook, to stop table vibrations reaching it.
- Do not hold it in your hand, which creates rumbles and rustles.
- Keep it still. Moving the phone during recording changes the sound and adds noise.
- Point the microphone end towards the speaker. On most phones it is at the bottom edge.
Using better microphones
You do not need professional equipment, but a modest upgrade helps a lot:
- Wired or wireless headsets place a microphone near the mouth and dramatically improve clarity for calls and solo recordings.
- Small clip-on microphones for interviewees are inexpensive and excellent.
- A USB microphone improves podcast and voice-over recordings at a desk.
For meetings around a table, a single good-quality conference microphone in the middle works better than a phone at one end.
Recording settings
- Use your phone's voice recorder app or any app that records in a standard format such as M4A, MP3 or WAV.
- Avoid aggressive "noise cancellation" effects that make voices sound robotic; they can confuse recognition.
- Check levels. If your app shows a level meter, speech should move it clearly without hitting the maximum constantly.
- Do a ten-second test and listen back before an important recording.
Managing the conversation
- Ask people not to talk over each other. In meetings, a chairperson who invites one speaker at a time helps everyone, including the transcript.
- Introduce speakers by name at the start: "This is Ada, and with me is Sam." It helps you identify voices later.
- Repeat key questions if an audience member asked them far from the microphone.
- Spell unusual names and terms aloud once, which helps you correct the transcript later.
- Pause briefly between topics. Natural pauses help paragraph breaks fall in sensible places.
Remote calls
When recording online calls, the best audio usually comes from the call software's own recording feature, which captures each participant's microphone directly. Encourage participants to use headsets and mute when not speaking.
Before you convert
- Trim long silences or music at the start, if you can, so language detection gets speech straight away.
- Choose the spoken language in the converter rather than relying on detection.
- Keep timestamps on so you can check unclear passages against the recording.
After you convert
- Search for names, numbers and technical terms, the most common sources of mistakes.
- Check quotes against the recording using the timestamps before publishing or citing them.
- Keep the original recording until you have finished checking.
Ethics and consent
Always tell people when you are recording and get their agreement. Laws on recording conversations vary between places, and some require everyone's consent. Store recordings and transcripts carefully, especially if they contain personal or sensitive information.
A worked example: a community oral history
Volunteers record older residents' memories of their town. At first they record in a busy community hall and transcripts are patchy. They move to a quiet side room, use an inexpensive clip-on microphone for each speaker, and introduce each session clearly. Transcripts improve dramatically, and volunteers spend far less time correcting them.
A worked example: a weekly podcast
Two hosts record a podcast on laptops in a kitchen. Their transcripts contain gaps whenever the fridge hums or they talk over each other. They move to a carpeted bedroom, use headsets, and agree to leave a beat before responding. The transcripts, which they publish alongside each episode for accessibility, now need only minor corrections.
A five-minute pre-recording checklist
Run through this list before any important recording:
- Battery and storage. Charge your phone and make sure there is enough free space for the full length.
- Do Not Disturb. Silence notifications so calls and alerts do not interrupt or add noise.
- Room check. Switch off fans, close windows and move away from humming equipment.
- Placement. Phone or microphone close to the speaker, on a soft surface, microphone end pointing towards them.
- Test. Record ten seconds, play it back, and adjust if voices sound distant or muffled.
- Introductions. Start by stating the date, the topic and the names of the speakers.
Most recording problems come from skipping one of these steps, and each takes only seconds.
Troubleshooting common problems
Voices sound distant and echoey. Move the microphone closer and choose a smaller, softer room.
Loud rumbles in the recording. The phone was touched or the table was knocked. Place it on something soft and avoid handling it.
One person is much quieter than the other. Position the microphone closer to the quieter speaker, or use a clip-on microphone for them.
The transcript runs sentences together. Encourage short pauses between speakers and topics.
In short
Get close to the speaker, cut background noise, avoid people talking over each other, and keep the microphone still on a soft surface. A headset or clip-on microphone is a cheap upgrade that pays off quickly. Choose the language when converting, keep timestamps, and check names and numbers afterwards. Better recordings make better transcripts, every time.