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How to Submit Voice Recordings for Pam to Type

Apologies to anyone who already uses voice recorders and for whom this process is already obvious. The purpose of this page, however, is to explain how simple and secure it is to create sound files and submit them to Pam for her to transcribe, edit, and either email back to you, or print or post them to you.

Obtaining a digital voice recorder

Step 1. Firstly, it’s necessary to have, or to obtain, a digital voice recorder. There are several types and costs vary. It is possible to obtain a very adequate model for around GBP 55 or USD 90, but prices can rise to beyond GBP 300 or USD 500. For those who are keen on technical equipment some prefer to have a device that can be paused and backtracked a few seconds and overwritten, in the event that you make a mistake while recording, and want to correct yourself. Alternatively, for those who want something as simple as possible to use and don’t want to struggle with complicated technicalities, Pam is very happy for the dictator to simply say, ‘Correction: scrub that and type this instead...’.

It’s possible to spend time researching the cheapest available prices on the Internet for a recording device, and thereby save a few pounds by buying from Amazon, or similar. Our recommendation, however, is for UK-based clients to obtain their device from Ndeva, as the staff there are experts both at advising people which model to buy, but also with how to use the device after purchase, if it is not obvious. We have heard of people who have purchased fancy expensive devices and never found time to learn how to use them, whereas had they approached someone like Ndeva and said that they didn’t care about extra features and want something as simple as possible to use, Ndeva could have advised a model that would have worked straight out of the box.

Using FTP to transfer large files

Step 2. Once you’ve learned how to use a voice recorder, you need to get your recorded sound files to Pam. There are two ways to do this:

A. If you have recorded a very small sound file, it is possible simply to attach this to an email. We recommend however, that the sound file should not be larger than 7MB, using this method. Sound files that are much larger than this will often be rejected, either by your outgoing mail server, or by Pam’s incoming mail server.

B. By far the more frequent - and incidentally, the more secure method - is for sound files to be uploaded to a secure dedicated folder on our server, from where Pam will be able to download them and begin working with them.

Using FTP means that there is really no limit on how large sound files can be. This means that you can select the highest possible sound quality on your voice recorder. The advantage of doing this is that it will be easier for Pam to hear the recording, which will speed up her work and lower the cost of the job. (See here how this relates to cost savings).

We work with several FTP programmes but recommend AceFTP, as this programme allows us to create FTP connection files that are already loaded with all the settings you need to connect. This means that you just need to save the file we send you - say, on your desktop - and double click on it. Doing this will directly connect you to your folder on our server. To upload the file you will simply browse for it using the window on your left, and drag it across to the window on your right! It’s as simple as that.

To download a trial version of AceFTP from Visicom please click here >>>

Dealing with problems

Step 3... Is not usually necessary, as using a voice recorder is quite straightforward and uploading the sound files is in most cases totally unproblematic, however, in the event that you have any difficulties, we are happy to try to assist you remotely with setting up your FTP transfers. Should you wish to have remote assistance, you will need to download a programme called ‘TeamViewer 6’. Once the programme is installed, you’ll need to open it and tell us your ID and password. This will allow us to come into your computer and demonstrate to you how to set up your FTP transfers. Once you are happy with this, you are free to uninstall the programme or change your password.

To download a free version of TeamViewer please click here >>>

Uploaded sound files are hosted on 1 & 1’s secure servers.