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So, are microphones essential when recording? The simple answer is ‘yes’ but that would make for a very short article! To ensure that you capture a clearly audible recording, particularly for events such as interviews or conferences, it’s essential to use a microphone. If you need your recording to be transcribed, the only way to ensure a clearly audible recording is to use equipment that’s fit for purpose. Why waste time, effort and money arranging an event, only to blow it at the recording stage? Microphones cost peanuts in comparison with what you’ll spend organising an event, so why ruin the recording for the sake of a few extra pounds?

So which microphone should you use? It may be tempting to think that the recorder’s internal microphone will be up to the task of recording any situation, particularly in the new digital recorders, which give a superior quality of recording. But if you use an internal microphone for anything other than dictation, you’ll run the risk of producing a poor recording. This will lead to a transcript with queries and increased transcription costs – the cost of which could have paid for a decent external microphone.

Built-in microphones in most portable recorders are of poor quality with limited control over volume levels. They’re designed to be used for one voice, typically in a dictation situation where the recorder is held close to the mouth. They’ll pick up sound from the nearest source, which can be the recorder itself. If, for example, you use a Dictaphone with an internal microphone to record an interview and put the recorder down on the table several feet from your interviewee, you may not pick up their voice clearly, especially if they speak softly. It’s worth remembering that for every foot of distance the microphone is from the source of the sound, the recorded volume level decreases by half and the background noise doubles. If you have to use an internal microphone for an interview, ensure that the recorder is placed as close as possible to the interviewee and that the recording is done in a quiet environment. However, if you try to use an internal microphone to record focus groups or meetings, you’re asking the microphone to function in an environment for which it was never designed – it simply won’t work.

Using a good quality external microphone will greatly enhance the clarity of the recording, leading to a subsequent reduction in transcription time and costs. Let’s look at some of the recording situations for which microphones can be used and the different types of microphone available.

Interviews: there are a variety of what can be termed individual microphones which are suitable for interview situations. Lapel (also known as lavalier microphones) or tie clip microphones can be fastened to the interviewee’s clothing, but can also pick up any rustling noises from it. If you have a stereo recorder with two microphone sockets, you can use two microphones to capture both the interviewer’s and interviewee’s comments. Or use a microphone splitter to enable two microphones to be plugged into one microphone socket. Another option is to use a noise cancelling microphone which will cut down on a certain amount of ambient background noise. Omni-directional microphones can be used in interview situations but they do need a quiet environment. A directional microphone will pick up sound from the direction in which it’s pointed which is, hopefully, at the interviewee! Handheld directional microphones are ideal for street interview recording situations, such as vox pops, where you can hold the mic right up to your interviewee’s mouth.

For indoor interviews, it may be tempting for the interviewer to sit close to the recorder to check it’s working, but if the interviewee is too far from any table top microphone, then the clarity of the recording will suffer. All too often, transcribers receive recordings where the interviewer’s is the clearest voice and the interviewee’s virtually inaudible. Since the answers are almost always more important than the questions, the microphone needs to be as close as possible to the interviewee,or at least centrally placed between the two.

Focus groups, conferences or meetings: as these events are likely to involve many participants, you need to ensure that there is a sufficient number of microphones around the room to pick up ALL the participants clearly. We recommend using omni-directional microphones or a conference mixer system which links several microphones to one central unit. The only disadvantage with omni-directional microphones is that they pick up every sound – so be careful to minimise background noise and brief your participants thoroughly. Another option is to use a noise cancelling microphone which cuts down on a certain amount of background noise.

For any type of group recording, don’t try and cope with one microphone in the middle of a large table and push it towards each person as they speak. You’ll only record the scraping noise as you do so! We recommend using a minimum of one microphone for every two people placed evenly between the speakers. For multiple microphones, you’ll need a mixer to connect all the microphones to the recorder.

Another option would be to choose table top boundary microphones that use the table to resonate sound. These produce a good quality sound but also pick up every sound made ON the table, such as tapping pens, clattering of cups, people banging the table to make a point, etc. This is when briefing the participants beforehand coupled with effective and firm moderation during the recording comes into its own. Ask participants not to speak all at once, not to interrupt each other and to minimise extraneous noise; otherwise, their valuable contributions to your meeting or focus group will be lost.

For conferences, we recommend that all speakers and members of any panels have individual microphones, either a lectern microphone or an individual lapel or tie-clip mic. While the speaker is giving their presentation, make sure all the other panel members’ microphones are turned off so you don’t capture all those off the cuff comments!If you’re in the audience of a lecture or conference and need to record the presentation, balancing a Dictaphone on your knee will not pick up the voices from the platform. All that will be recorded is the noise nearest the recorder. You may be able to hear a speaker clearly from the middle of an audience, but your recorder will pick up other noises – you scribbling down notes, your neighbour coughing, or the person three rows back having a sneezing fit. None of that will produce a recording that’s possible to transcribe. It may be best to contact the organisers for a transcript afterwards, but if time doesn’t allow for that option, the only way you’ll have a chance of recording anything is to put a microphone on or near the podium. Even then, there will be issues over feedback from the sound system and distance from the speakers, even with digital equipment. Be prepared for a less than clear recording and therefore an incomplete transcript.

It may be useful to run through a few general tips which are common to the use of all microphones in most recording situations. Microphones are not as selective as the human ear. We can filter out extraneous background ‘babble’ such as traffic, other voices or equipment noise. A microphone will hear the lot, from all directions and give equal ‘weight’ to every sound on the recording. Whichever microphone you use, don’t place it near the recorder itself while recording. Particularly when using analogue recorders, the microphone will pick up noise from the machine itself. This is less of an issue with digital equipment, but you should still ensure that the microphone and recorder are placed as far apart as the lead will allow.

Try and minimise background noise, which includes not having crockery near the microphones. It’s tempting to have refreshments to relax your interviewee or focus group participants but if you have this on the table where the recorder also sits, the clattering of the crockery will be the loudest sound on the recording, and you’ll deafen the transcriber! Similarly, ask people not to shuffle papers near the microphone. This may seem an insignificant noise to our ears but as it may be the sound nearest to the recorder, that’s what the microphone will hear and it will drown out whatever is being said. Try and avoid writing near the microphone. We’ve often heard recordings where the scribbling of a pen is the loudest sound heard throughout the recording.

Before you purchase any microphone, check that it’s compatible with your recorder and, indeed, that your recorder has a microphone socket (advice on the features to look for in a recorder are covered in another article). It’s worth remembering that buying a cheap microphone for your expensive recorder is like putting a Reliant Robin’s engine in a Jag! Good quality microphones are not that expensive. Most of the microphones mentioned above can be obtained from suppliers such as Ndeva, Voice Power, SpeakIt and DictateIT. You can also buy them from electronic retailers like Maplins and Cybermarket.

A final thought – you can invest in very expensive recording equipment but still scupper your chances of making a good recording by not using a microphone. Simply using a good quality recorder on its own is not enough. A microphone will make the biggest difference to whether your recording is clearly audible and swiftly transcribed, or barely audible and impossible to decipher.

Hosting an audio conference is a great way to gain exposure and expert status for an online business owner. The challenge becomes how to set up an audio conference once the decision has been made.

Audio conferencing solutions are available online to allow you to host, record, stream and even replay your conference calls.

Here are some of the features available with most conferencing solutions available today:

1. Phone Number – When you sign up for your chosen call host you will get a phone number for your guest to call into. This phone number is often a US number as many of the companies are based in the US. You can also get international numbers if you have guests that may not be in the United States. Typically you get a phone in number, a host code and guest pass code.

2. Control Panels – Many audio conference solutions allow you more than just over the phone control. You can often log onto a website and get details of the call like the number of visitors on the line, where they are located and even their names if you have previously entered that information in.

3. Recording – You will be able to record you call. This is obviously very convenient for most calls as you often have people who can not make it to a call but could benefit from the replay.

4. Streaming Audio – Some programs also will host the audio recording that is created and allow it to be ’streamed’ online. This is sometimes a paid feature as it does cost to host and play audio files online.

When choosing you own solutions you’ll want to always first consider the needs of your call and of the attendees.

Ask yourself questions like:

- Will they want a recording?
- Are they internet savvy enough to just get a download or do they want streaming audio?
- Do I need to know who’s on the line?
- Am I willing to consider paid solutions if they offer higher quality?

An important thing to remember as you search around for the appropriate audio conferencing solution for your call is to plan ahead. Give yourself time to search around for the best solution and then test it out. You’ll want to test out the lines for quality and ease of use to make sure both yourself and your guests don’t have problems on the call due to a poor quality product.

When I do my own calls I always keep a backup no matter which solution I choose. For my backup I use a company called Audio Acrobat. With this program what I do is call into a special phone number and then set my recording. Then I call back to the conference line and continue with my call and recording there. Having a backup allows you to continue with peace of mind that you won’t have any lost information.

Want to record streaming audio for your website but have no idea where to start?

The audacity audio editor might be just what you need.

What can Audacity do?

- Record Audio: All you need is a computer microphone and you can create your own recordings with this program. You can use the records from this program to create information products, to add to your website, to educate your market and more.

- Edit Audio: If you have pre-recorded audios that you’d just like to load up and edit Audacity can do that for you too.

- Convert Audios to mp3 format: If you like to host conference calls you may get some of your calls recorded in a.wav format. This is not the most compatible format to use for many computers and so it’s likely you’ll want to convert that to an mp3. This program can do that for you.

How to Get This Program:

Audacity is available as a free download. Just Google it and you’ll find the page. Installing the program is fairly straightforward. There is a little extra step you do need to take however if you want to make sure your audios are in the most common and compatible format of mp3. You’ll need to download a ‘lame’ file and then when you go to convert your audio to mp3 you’ll need to locate that file in order to use the feature.

Who Is It For?

As I mentioned earlier recording your own audio would be a great way to create your information product. Just record yourself sharing the information you have about your chosen topic using this program and you’ll be on your way to creating a useful product. The audio recording could also be used for many other things like adding useful information to your website, creating a podcast, posting your articles to audio version, recording a book to audio and more.

The program itself is for anyone who is fairly computer literate. It’s not a difficult program to learn. You could be up and running recording your new audio within minutes of installation.

What Are The Disadvantages?

Audacity is a great program for recording audio. The problem then becomes how do you share that audio with others on your website. It is quite possible for you to upload the audio you created to your website hosting and allow people to download it from there. The thing is if you have any number of audios you may end up taking a lot of your hosting space for audios.

A solution to this issue is to use a program like Audio Acrobat to host and stream your audios. Streaming means that the audio will play online without having the visitors to download first and then play.

Overall Audacity is a great program to use. When used in combination with other powerful programs like Audio Acrobat you have a complete solutions to recording, hosting and streaming your audios on the internet.

Taking your business to a step above will require making use of proper promotional techniques.

To earn high profits as well as to achieve prospects it is necessary to promote your business in the most effective manner.

Is Audio Marketing Right For You?

Audio marketing has become a revolution when it comes to online marketing and it is due to its phenomenal success that a lot of webmasters have started using it already.

Through this method you will be able to generate good sales which in turn will help you to gain a lot and so it is always a good idea to include it in your marketing plan.

Inappropriate marketing strategies can no way lead you ahead in your business. It is very necessary to select a correct marketing plan of action in order to attain all the organizational goals of more profits and more leads.

With the introduction of audio promotions in the web promotions many online marketers are initiating with this type to gain lots of prosperity in their business.

This kind of promotion can be of great help in conducting appropriate marketing. There will be heavy traffic generated on your site by using audio promotions thus giving you more of sales.

One cannot achieve success if ineffective strategies are made for the promotions of the product. Wishing to attract more prospects and generate high sales, it is required to do business marketing appropriately. Marketing through audios is one of the unique ways of marketing through web.

Audio Promotions Is A Popular Choice

Today, many experienced professionals from the web world are applying it and using it fullest. You can make more profits and create prospective buyers if you use it in marketing plans and policies.

Without proper marketing strategies, you cannot move ahead in your business successfully. Advertising of different services, products, business and brand with vigor and dedication is important to gain god results. Due to the fact that there are many web promoters, who are using marketing through audios; it is serving out to be very popular element of internet promotions.

This kind of marketing is also helpful in attracting a lot of prospects to your website and ultimately by this you can increase your sales.|In order to gain traffic there are many business firms that are opting for web marketing campaigns these days. If you are looking forward to promoting your business efficiently proper technique of marketing can be fruitful as it will help you to make high sales and at the same time earn good returns from it.

Give Audio A Chance

There are many business firms that are making use of audio marketing a segment of web marketing. If you as a company opt for this kind of marketing technique then there are guaranteed chances that apart from growing you will also be able to increase you profit rates.

Why do you think many companies of different products concern themselves of having their own jingles in their advertisements? Well, simply because they want to have easy recall of their products. It has become quite a practice among advertisers to have a jingle when they advertise their product on television or on radio. Maybe you have even noticed yourself unconsciously humming the tune of the last song you have heard in the department store. This only goes to show that while you were busy doing your shopping, your brain unconsciously absorbs what it hears. This same theory is being applied by internet marketers when they decide to have streaming audio on their web site.

Courtesy of today’s technology, webmasters enjoy the benefits of having this kind of online media advertising applied to their business on the net. The internet has paved the way of fusing audio, visual, and print advertising in just one medium. Somehow you can conclude that almost everything and anything can be done through and on the internet. Going back, if you want to embed streaming audio on your web site, it is equally important that you are also aware on how to pick out the best streaming audio server. Commonly, webmasters use Flash audio on their sites since Flash is the most widely used format and the most ideal one at that.

Your streaming audio server must have the highest quality of output as much as possible. Remember that producing good quality sounds for your site is essential in getting your message across in a right manner. If you decide to do a canned sales pitch, you need to be particular that this recording is of quality and very audible. The sound must be clear enough so that people who will listen to it will rightfully understand the message you wish to impart. Other affiliate marketers hire a voice talent while others do it themselves. Either way, you need to make sure that your streaming audio server is of high quality and can keep up to the change of times.

Thus, think on a long term basis in choosing a streaming audio server. Next, you need to understand that with quality comes a price. But don’t be discouraged just as yet because there are specific prices that are ideal depending on what you choose to have. For one, you need to decide how much of your budget are you willing to spend for this tool. Remember that if you are doing this for your business, then you have to keep in mind that this media must be able to bring in the target number of customers you need. Even if it means that you will cash out, just think of the benefits of audio streaming to your sales page.

Having a sound being played on your screen while people are navigating your site will surely have a different effect to your customers buying disposition. Not to mean that they will buy right away, but it is more on the product retention through sounds. The next time they want to buy something online, they will be able to remember your product and your site. In choosing a streaming audio server, think of quality first and surely the positive results will get to you after you have done audio advertising efficiently.

Taking your business to an above step will require making use of proper promotional techniques. To earn high profits as well as to achieve prospects it is necessary to promote your business in the most effective manner. When we talk about internet marketing one thing that we come across is the audio marketing as there are many cases wherein it has been proved that this method of marketing is very fruitful.

Adopting web marketing approach will help you to attract more customers towards your organization resulting into increase in sales. An improper promotional strategy will not make you increase your business in any way. By proper marketing of the product brand or the business name, you will be able to earn more yields and create higher number of prospective buyers. A good approach of audio promotions will make you earn higher yields in your business as there will be lots of customers visiting your site. In order to carry out an appropriate business campaign, this kind of audio promotions can serve you of great help.

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Moving ahead your business becomes complex if you are not choosing a correct promotional method of advertising. Promoting you goods, services and business with great enthusiasm is one way in which you can earn good profits. Audio marketing is considered as most successful method of marketing strategy and hence it is being used by many organizations. You have boost up your sales by generating good traffic to your webpage and this is possible with audio marketing.

Today several businesses are going for internet promotion strategies so that they can drive large audiences towards their business. It is very crucial that you select the right marketing method through which you can market your business, product or services which will ultimately lead to more sales and more income. Audio marketing is a subdivision of internet marketing which is being utilized by many businesses. If you as a company opt for this kind of marketing technique then there are guaranteed chances that apart from growing you will also be able to increase you profit rates.

Proper marketing tactics will help your business to be one step ahead from where it is now.

In case you are looking forward to bigger gains and better prospects it is absolutely essential that you are able to market your company, brand, product or services with great conviction.

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Audio marketing will help you to achieve your desired growth of the organization resulting into high profits over a longer period of time.