Interview recording can be approached from two perspectives; as an employer who wants to analyze the interview later or as an interviewee who wants to maintain a record of what was said during the interview process.
As an employer the number of interviews conducted in any given period of time can be overwhelming. It may be hard to keep track of candidates interviewed and give each an equal chance to get employment in your organization. An interviewee on the other hand needs a record of what information they provide during television show interviews. There are cases where TV shows have misrepresented information given by an interviewee and a recording comes in handy to dispel false facts. Whether you are an employer or employee seeking to record an interview session for documentation purposes; here are tips to help you through the process.
Creating a check list for the interview is an important task done before the material day. The checklist should include the questions to be asked during the interview session and the list of required recording equipment. Cables, headphones, labeling pens, tapes or discs, sound recorder, batteries and a camera should all be included in the check list. The equipment list is determined by the recording method chosen as well as the recording equipment selected. As an interviewee it is important to ask for the list of interview questions if it is not provided before hand. This will help you to adequately prepare for the interview especially in the case of a TV show.
Get the help of an equipment expert; an expert will operate the equipment proficiently than you would and leave you with the task of concentrating your efforts on the interview. In the case of a TV show they may use their equipment to record the session; you can however request to bring in your own equipment expert to record the interview for your personal archives.
Walk through the interview process with the equipment expert and let them know exactly what you want recorded during the process. Make sure that you insist on the highest audio quality which is an important part of the transcription process. Make sure that they record the sound in a format which can be digitized and compressed.
Last but not least; get the recorded material transcribed. If the show carrying out the interview recorded the session; you can ask for copies of the interview transcripts. However if you carried out the recording personally or through an equipment expert; simply contract the services of a transcription company and have them convert the audio to text for archiving. More on interview transcription