Dictation, the mumbles, and you!

[Sterling13]

For anyone considering dictation software of some sort or another, I thought I'd post my experiences from these past 3 weeks.

I'm one of those lucky travelers with a 30+ minute drive to/from work every day. With free time for writing at a minimum, I decided to make use of that hour a day – I bought myself a digital voice recorder ($30-$40 at Walmart) and dictation software (Dragon Naturally Speaking). The goal, obviously, was to dictate into the recorder during the drive, then use the dictation software when I got home. Seemed simple enough…

Dictation attempt #1 was an absolute mess. Nearly an hour of recorded speech was translated into unusable gibberish. An excerpt, if I may:

'Do, no matter what, there will faces aboard. The announcers and doctors links on insert disease. Watch in God somewhere in the back, on, they wanted her son, came close from the lake early 22nd century, rose from their seats. There goes like, Tim said this bird. The passengers, pretended not to notice me, since they could feel the guilt, stay on the subway the cell. As the 2 pounds M. into the subway station closed in spaces from the And I'll put.'

Lovely, isn't it? And this is one of the better parts. The rest I deleted outright.

Reasons for the above:
1) The obvious one: I wasn't speaking clearly enough. Dictation software is unforgiving concerning mumbles.

2) I tended to slip into the character's voices. This is a bit of a tricky habit to get rid of, at least for me, as speaking dialog in the voice of the character, especially a heavy accented character, can really throw the software off.

3) I bought the wrong software (sort of). It turns out, for the particular software I purchased (Dragon Naturally Speaking), there is a pretty significant difference between the home edition and the premium edition. That difference is this: the premium edition can take digital sound files (mp3s, etc) and translate them directly. Meaning, I could plug my digital recorder into my computer, download the files, and just have it do its thing. The home edition (the one I bought), however, does not have this feature. This left me the fun option of setting my digital recorder next to my computer's microphone, pressing play, and closing the door behind me (so I don't have to listen to the lovely sound of my dictation). Not only does this create yet another 'layer' to the process, but means I have to be very careful with how far away I have the speaker on the recorder from the mic (I had it far too close on my initial attempts).

After that initial debacle, the process did seem to go smoother. It is, however, far from perfect – I'd place the dictated product somewhere in the 'rough-rough' draft stage. Which, for me, is actually alright, as my rough drafts are a complete mess to begin with (no, really, they're nearly unreadable).

On the plus side, I have 10k+ written of a novel that I otherwise wouldn't have. Not a bad chunk.

If anybody is thinking about doing dictation:

1) Definitely pony up the extra cash for software that can go direct from a sound file to a document (be that Dragon software or something else)

2) Don't try it if your rough drafts are 'clean', or otherwise relatively close to your final drafts. I know a few guys in my writing group that write like this, and I could see the product of the dictation driving them nuts.

3) I'd test your voice with free dictation software first to see how well it works. I know of Dragon Dictation, which is a free app for iPhone/iPad (though it does have its limitations, like dictation length limitations, and only working if you're connected to the internet… which sucks if you have an iPad, refuse to pay for their data plan, and are driving). I'm sure there are others out there.

I plan to update this thread once I actually get into editing the thing (I'm going to plow... or saunter... through the entire 90k-110k novel first before I touch anything). At the worst case I have some bits and pieces of usable text and an overall scene/story outline. Best case is that I'm only 2-4 edits away from a completed novel.

In addition, I'm curious if anyone else has experience with dictation software, and how it turned out for you. Or any tricks I'm missing, etc...

 

[Window Bar]

Hey Sterling--

What a nightmare scenario! For some of us (my hand goes up), even written first drafts are more or less gibberish, but at least I know what the words mean.

On a related subject: Have you worked enough with a simple digital recorder to know whether or not the mp3 files are sufficiently clean to use for an audio version of a book?

Best -- WB

 

[RocketBoy]

30min drive back-and-forth five times a week? The gas cost must be killing your pocketbook.

Thanks for sharing. I hate it when life refuses to give me time to write. For me it's work, health and family commitments that sometime hold me back from writing time. I keep telling myself that if I could get 6 straight months of paid off-time, I think I could write all kinds of amazing things.

Or course, there's this guy in my writing group. (We're a group of aspiring writers who meet once a month, our own version of the Inklings.) He's retired and has all kinds of free time. Yet, he is the laziest person in the group. His output is nil. He only seems to write a scant 2,000 words a month – and most of that is re-writing old chapters. He hardly puts any effort into critique of group members work. He does not even comment very much in the group. It's as if all the free time is just rotting his brain. Sad.

 

[Sterling13]

Hey Sterling--

What a nightmare scenario! For some of us (my hand goes up), even written first drafts are more or less gibberish, but at least I know what the words mean.

On a related subject: Have you worked enough with a simple digital recorder to know whether or not the mp3 files are sufficiently clean to use for an audio version of a book?

Best -- WB

My digital recorder (I believe its this guy: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICD-BX800-Memory-Digital-Recorder/dp/tags-on-product/B00387E5AS) is fairly cheap, but even then I find it very clean. However, it does pick up EVERYTHING (I can tell in my recordings when its raining, etc), so it's not something I'd try to record an audio book with while on the go. That said, I have yet to pick up a good mic for the thing (a la http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-145045-ME-15-Microphone/dp/B000815CF4/ref=pd_sim_e_8), so that may improve that aspect.

If doing an audiobook, I'd likely lock myself in my most soundproof room and record there. However, if I'm doing that, I'd be using a mic directly to my laptop... which takes away the need for a digital recorder altogether.

(Also: I'm not pimping for Amazon, just some quick results of a Google search).

(Also not pimping for Google)

(or Sony)

(or the Lexus LS 460L, which Consumer Reports lists as the 2010 Best Car Overall, with an '...exceptionally quiet interior.')

 

[KatG]

Our new car has that Bluetooth thing. So when my husband says "Call Kathy" the computer says "Calling Taxi." And this is yet another reason why intelligent computers will not be taking over the world.

 

[N. E. White]

I think Mathais used voice recognition software and talked directly into his computer's mic. He said it worked great. The idea is tempting.

The thing I can't imagine doing is talking the way I write. Two completely different things.

 

[Wojciehowicz]

Our new car has that Bluetooth thing. So when my husband says "Call Kathy" the computer says "Calling Taxi." And this is yet another reason why intelligent computers will not be taking over the world.

Terminator would not have been about Skynet trying to kill off humanity. It would have been about Skynet hunting for Lou Manatee.

The OP sounds like me. Am I now in more places than one? I felt scattered, so maybe I have been. I too have the little voice recorder from Walmart and the basic Dragon package. I too am disappointed by Dragon's performance. I used a nice USB headset in my office and it was being confused by the sound of my PC's cooling fan. I am also unhappy about having to call out quotes and commas and other punctuation.

Dragon has an upgrade promotion right now for registered users of the Basic version from Walmart, giving a chance for a full upgrade for $50. Not bad, since it will allow use of audio files, but I hold out little hope for its usefulness.

 

[Window Bar]

Our new car has that Bluetooth thing. So when my husband says "Call Kathy" the computer says "Calling Taxi." And this is yet another reason why intelligent computers will not be taking over the world.

"Come, pooters, not beet-aching of Earth, the whirled."

(Note: The preceding message was overheard in the robotic cybersphere by Window Bar, who had no say in the matter.)

 

[FiFace]

I originally tried using the Windows version of NaturallySpeaking, and got soooo frustrated with it that I was harshly insulting my laptop. But, I now have Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium... haha, It's not too bard, I tried it out by reciting from books to begin with. There were stuff ups, but, it's no where near as bad as the windows version. In fact, pretty much straight up I had like eighty percent less issues haha. though there are still a fair few of them. It likes to change my he or his or her, etc, to you. and it's killing me haha. but, i definitely think with practice, and ironing out the wrinkles, it will get easier and actually listen. haha