ATC Client Spotlight: Carmen Fields

While we’ve had the pleasure of working with many incredible clients throughout our 56 years in business, working with Pulitzer-winning journalist Carmen Fields was definitely a highlight for us. Carmen is a legend in her field, having led a long and storied career in print and broadcast journalism that’s led her to be named one of “Boston’s 100 Most Influential People” by Get Konnected™ and recognized as a “Legend of Roxbury” by Roxbury Community College Foundation for her pioneering work as a black woman in broadcast media. 

But Carmen isn’t only a journalist––she’s also an author. Her soon-to-be-published debut work, “Going Back to T-Town: The Ernie Fields Territory Big Band” is a memoir detailing the career of her father, big-band leader Ernie Fields. At ATC, we had the immense honor of helping her digitize analog cassette tapes and transcribing the contents for use in her upcoming memoir, and while we eagerly await the published book, we thought we’d share one of Carmen’s more recent newsworthy projects here in Greater Boston. 

A multicolor digital painting of journalist Carmen Fields with text below reading "Black Authors Collection Donated by Carmen Fields" and subtext reading "Doctor, Humane Letters '92" by Salem State University.

The Salem State Donation

Last year, Carmen made a groundbreaking donation to the Salem State University Library––her extensive personal collection of books by Black authors which featured several signed, first-edition works by authors including Maya Angelou, Colin Powell, Alice Walker, and Muhummad Ali. The collection also included landmark works by Zora Neale Hurston, Octavia Butler, Toni Morrison, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Barack Obama, and Dr. Martin Luther King, all of which are currently in circulation at the university’s library. 

This exceptional collection from Carmen, generously donated to Salem State, has served to enrich the lives and cultural literacy of the student body, as well as to help introduce students of all backgrounds to critical texts by Black authors that have shaped history. The importance and impact of such a donation cannot be overstated, and is only one of many reasons we are so honored to count Carmen amongst our clientele here at ATC

ATC Client Spotlight: Judith Bishop

For this month’s Client Spotlight blog, we wanted to introduce broadcast producer and reporter Judith Bishop. Currently based in Miami, Judith has worked in broadcast journalism for over 40 years––decades of experience that led her to write her first book “Changing Channels: From Just the Facts to Outrageous Opinions” as well as to begin hosting her podcast “More on the Story.” Since we consider ourselves fans of the truth here at ATC, we’re excited to share more on Judith’s recent work, but first, allow us to offer some background. 

Judith began her career in broadcast reporting in 1975 when she took a position as a television news anchor and reporter at WTVG in New Jersey, where she quickly rose through the ranks covering the latest in the political and business news of the day. During her early career, she covered multiple Democratic National Conventions, and was also responsible for several high-profile interview programs hosted by some of the biggest names in TV news, including Al Roker, Dick Cavett, and Tim Russert. Judith was also responsible for producing many programs at CNBC––thirty of which are now recorded in the permanent archives at The Paley Center. She’s worn a lot of hats throughout her career as a veteran journalist, from helping coordinate the launch of “HARDBALL with Chris Matthews” to producing documentaries and year-end specials, and now she’s adding podcast hosting and writing to her impressive resumé. 

Changing Channels: From Just the Facts to Outrageous Opinions

At ATC, we had the pleasure of helping Judith in the creation process of her debut book, which she wrote as “an examination of television journalism in the age of Trump.” An integral piece of the publication was the inclusion of interview snippets and extensive quotes from industry insiders, including famous TV news anchors, reporters, and more––and that’s where we came in. Working with Judith to provide fast and highly accurate, verbatim transcripts from these sources was both challenging and incredibly fascinating for those members of our team that had the opportunity to contribute the transcription, and we’re thrilled that Judith described us as “a one-stop shop for verbatim transcriptions at rapid speed and a fair price.” 

“Changing Channels” is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and your local bookstore. It’s a captivating exploration of the world of TV news in our modern era, asking––and answering––some of the deepest and most compelling questions about the ways that television news has come under public scrutiny in the time during and after the Trump presidency. We think it’s both a thoughtful and a critical examination of the search for truth in media, and we heartily recommend it to those looking to hear about the world of TV news by those who know it best. Her podcast “More on the Story” is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Client Spotlight – July 2020

Since our founding in 1966, oral history interviews and archival recordings have been a main focus of our transcription service. Each time we partner with an organization it is always amazing to learn the ins and outs of each project. It is with great pleasure that we share these two fascinating projects that we proudly transcribed.

Lynda Kachurek, Head of Rare Books & Special Collections at the Boatwright Memorial Library at the University of Richmond shared these comments with us about two of her projects.

This two-part oral history with Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker and his wife, Theresa Ann Edwards Walker, was conducted by the University of Richmond in 2016 and is believed to be the last interview Dr. Walker recorded before his passing in 2018. The excellent transcription completed by the Audio Transcription Center assists with accessibility online, as well as allowing greater subject analysis and research access for the material.

The Birmingham Tapes are a set of 10 mass meetings that span the duration of Project C, the SCLC’s (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) work during the 1963 Birmingham Campaign. They are believed to be the only publicly available recordings of these meetings, presenting a significant and unique perspective on the detailed planning and management of the Birmingham Campaign. The transcriptions done by the Audio Transcription Center not only assist with accessibility but they allow for a deeper research potential, greater subject analysis, and wider availability to these materials.

ATC Client Spotlight

May 31, 2020
ATC’s Client Spotlight is on the Hatfield Historical Society


As we wrap up the month of May we wanted to share a fascinating oral history project that our client, the Hatfield Historical Society, has just published on their Hatfield Vietnam Stories website. These oral histories capture the untold stories of Hatfield veterans from the Vietnam War. These captivating oral histories are full of memories with raw emotions, and they intertwine their amazing recollections from their lives and experiences during the war.

It was an honor to be a part of this project, and our team was so moved by the veterans’ responses.

These interviews help us better understand not only the experiences of these veterans from the Vietnam War, but the oral histories also give a greater sense of our nation’s history from that era.

5 Love Stories That Started in the Most Unexpected Ways

Every year, it becomes more and more common to find one’s significant other online, using a dating website or app. So how did single people find their match before the World Wide Web brought us all together? As the song says, “Love comes from the most unexpected places,” and to prove it, five couples tell StoryCorps how their love stories started:

Continue reading “5 Love Stories That Started in the Most Unexpected Ways”

StoryCorps – Eat, Drink, Be Merry, and Record?

Eat drink be merry and record - Audio Transcription Center Blog

Holidays offer a perfect time for family to reminisce, and possibly to pass those rather embarrassing family stories around the holiday table along with helpings of stuffing and mashed potatoes.  This year though, make sure to grab a recording device (digital recorder, iPhone, video camera — there are so many options), ask questions you’ve always wondered about the answers to, and listen to the stories while you have the chance.

Continue reading “StoryCorps – Eat, Drink, Be Merry, and Record?”

StoryCorps’s National Day of Listening

Story Corps National Day of Listening - Audio Transcription Center Blog

Thanksgiving is around the proverbial corner, and this holiday is typically a wonderful opportunity for friends and families to reconnect.  People being together offers a perfect time for stories to be passed around the holiday table along with helpings of stuffing and mashed potatoes. The potential for these stories to be handed and passed from generation to generation is at a peak while everyone is together.  What better way to collect, share, and save these stories from potentially being forgotten than by recording, archiving, and transcribing them for posterity?

We believe that StoryCorps’s The National Day of Listening is the perfect excuse to talk, listen, record, and transcribe.

We live in a special time when we’re not just able to orally pass stories down the line, but we’re also able ensure their archival longevity through the recording and transcribing of these personal and oral histories.

Take the time to find a quiet space, and set up your digital recorder.  Test the device to make sure you are recording properly.  Then, hit the record button and listen to and record the story.  It’s that simple, and it will be a gift  to read and listen to for generations.  This year, StoryCorps suggests honoring a veteran, and offers suggested conversation starters right on their website.

Don’t lose out on your family history and question yourself after it is too late.  We speak from our own missed opportunities.

Wishing you a peaceful Thanksgiving, and the opportunity to listen to, record and transcribe a new story never heard before.

In full disclosure, the Audio Transcription Center has partnered with StoryCorps on transcription of their audio recordings for their published books, Listening is an Act of Love, All There Is, and Mom , that we are humbled and proud to have participated in. 

Michael Sesling                                                           Sandy Poritzky
Director                                                                           Owner/President
michael@audiotranscriptioncenter.com                      sandy@audiotranscriptioncenter.com
(617) 423-2151                                                              (617) 423-2151

Improve audio & save money: the experts speak

Improve audio & save money: the experts speak - ATC Blog

Practice.  Study your recorder and your microphone and learn how they “listen” and record.  Then, understand how to optimize the quality of your recording so you can adapt to any recording situation.” Doug Boyd PhD, Director, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries

 I lead in with a quote from Doug Boyd, as evidence that this is not just a self-serving transcription service telling you what to do with your recording and interview techniques, but one of the pre-eminent scholars in the oral history world (and in full disclosure one of our clients who agreed to offer his two cents on interviewing and recording techniques) who spends his professional life making sure he’s able to capture high-quality interviews for archival purposes – while aggressively monitoring the overall dollars he spends on his projects.  Our motives, quite frankly, are a bit selfish.  By having the best audio to work with, our reputation as a high quality transcription service is enhanced.  But equally important is helping you find ways to record archival quality audio/video, and at the same time conserving your all- important budget dollars.  Additionally, on a more personal level for us, we want to save our transcriptionists’ ears and their sanity as well.
The key in all of this –
You or whoever is conducting your interviews needs to help us
in this improvement and financial conservation process.
We guestimate that 30%of the audio we receive each year is recorded as if the people talking are standing at the bottom of a well, and then are conversing with one another through the technological wonders of tin cans and string.  Maybe we exaggerate things (just slightly), but it is to prove a point.  If it wasn’t for those darn confidentiality agreements we’d be more than happy to share examples of this poor quality audio, ergo transcripts, with you as well.
Instead, we’ll do our best to offer some (what we think are) common sense tips, and as backup to our points, some key thoughts from experts in the art of recording and interviewing, answering the question of, If you only had one thing you could tell someone to help them improve their interviews to get the best interview recording possible, what would it be?”  You’ll see the challenge in their replies is that not many of them were able to keep their list to one thing.  In full disclosure, the quotes are not just from people who are experts in their field, but from people who are also our clients.  Who better to learn from than the people who are recording and interviewing in the best manner possible. 
But first, here’s our bullet point take on it.
·         Above all else: Use Common Sense (If only everyone would use some common sense)
  •   Test out the recording device and all of its features before using it.
  •    Place the recorder closer to the interviewee than to the interviewer.
  •    Check the batteries (if there’s no power chord), and bring extra batteries!
  •    Bring an extra memory card
  •    Don’t talk over the interviewee – let them complete their thought, and then follow-up.
  •    Pay attention to the place of the recording
  •   Is there ambient noise to be concerned with?
    •          Is the location in a quiet room, but under an air conditioner?
    •          Is the location a noisy coffee shop (chatter, dishes, etc.)?
    •          Will external conversations be picked up by the recording device?
  •  Be prepared with questions to keep your interview as cohesive as possible
  •  Don’t forget to bring and use a backup recorder (if possible).
See, we believe all these aforementioned bullet points are common sense, and we don’t know how else to classify them.  Our clients/the experts also offer some excellent points to implement in the interview and recording process, and we know you’ll find them helpful as well.
  lucky_budd_circle-300x300   The most important thing to keep in mind when interviewing is that capturing the interviewee’s testimony is the primary goal.  A recorder should therefore be placed 2 feet from the interviewee, pointed at their mouth.” –Robert Budd, Memories to Memoirs (He got his Master’s Degree in the field!)
    
    “I have told people before in oral history workshops to go ahead and spend the extra money and get two separate microphonesone for the interviewer and one for the interviewee – and make sure they are both the best quality that you can afford.”  –Anonymous (do to the aforementioned confidentiality concerns, this client/expert prefers to remain anonymous, but did want their thoughts to be included.)
      “Even on days where you’re most excited to get the interview started, be sure to spend the additional time it takes to test all of your audio equipment – in that specific setting, with that particular individual – before you dive into your conversations.” —Samuel J. Redman, Academic Specialist and Lead Interviewer for the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front Oral History Project, Regional Oral History Office, UC Berkeley
    “Do as much research as time and money allow to avoid superficial questions and answers and probable frustration of the interviewee.” –Sally Smith Hughes, Academic Specialist, Science and Technology, Regional Oral History Office, UC Berkeley
      Know your recording equipment so well that you can be 99 percent focused on the interview and 1 percent focused on the equipment.”–David Dunham Project Manager, WWII Home Front Oral History Project  – Regional Oral History Office, UC Berkeley Web/Video Director
Take the time to implement these helpful ideas, and you’ll find in the long term you’ll have better quality recordings and more accurate transcripts that save you time, money, and our transcriptionists’ headaches.