• Before you start the event, a sound check (where you record a few words from each
  subject and then listen to make sure the result is clear) is helpful. When doing a
  sound check, make sure to speak at the distance from the microphone that you will
  be at during the entire interview and be sure to check all participants.
• Try to minimize background noise.
• Some common sources of background noise include:
  
  • Traffic, construction and other street noise coming through open (or even
    closed) windows.
  • Noise from adjacent rooms or hallways.
  • Machinery running in the background, e.g. fans or air conditioners.
  • TV sets and radios.
  • People making noise in the background.
  • Pets or other animals.
  • Clocks with audible tones.
  • Doors shutting.
  • Coughs, sneezes, etc.
• If anyone is leaving or entering the room during the conversation, encourage them to
  close the door softly and encourage speakers to pause while the door is being
  opened.
• Place the microphone(s) as close to the speaker(s) as possible and have the
  microphone(s) pointing directly toward the speaker(s).
• If in an interview with only one microphone, direct the microphone towards the
  interviewee. Typically, it is less of a concern to miss out on the transcription of the
  questions than the answers.
• If you are using lapel microphones, make sure they will not brush up against a piece
  of clothing and that they are able to record the speaker's voice when his or her head
  is turned.
• If it is important to correctly reference people, places, web sites, organizations, etc.
  that the layperson might not know or be able to easily distinguish, it is ideal to repeat
  them clearly or spell them out.
• Alternatively, if your project involves many references to technical terminology,
  consider sending Landmark a list of terms likely to have been used. The more
  context the we have, the more accurate we can make the finished product for you.
• If you are concerned about sound quality of a recorded interview, please consider
  having the interviewer(s) repeat important responses.
• If an interviewer(s) is using a standard list of questions, please consider providing
  that list with the recorded interview.

Additional Tips for Multiple Speaker Situations

• It is very important to have a microphone for each speaker. This is commonly done
  in conferences, but often overlooked in focus groups, group interviews or other
  smaller settings. Having a speaker a material distance from a microphone almost
  guarantees that their contributions will be obscured by background noise.
• If you have multiple speakers, it is ideal to be able to identify each speaker each time
  she or he speaks. The speaker or the facilitator can do this; having identification
  makes it possible for Landmark to label each speaker individually in the transcript. At
  the very least, it is preferable for the speakers to introduce themselves at the
  beginning in their own voice for this identification purpose.
• An active facilitator is very important when recording focus groups. These groups
  often devolve into overlapping conversation and the result can be the of lost
  information in the transcription. In addition, parsing multiple speakers apart adds to
  the cost of the transcript. Repeated requests to speak one at a time usually result in a
  much more complete and useable transcript.
• If you have an audience asking questions and are not using a separate microphone
  for them, you can ask your speakers to repeat the question that has been asked,
  before answering it.