It goes without saying that you should always test your recording device before beginning an interview, and also ensure that you have spare batteries to hand. Some other things to keep in mind include:

• Digital Dictaphones are incredibly sensitive. Avoid rustling papers or drumming fingers near the recording device or moving it once it is turned on.
• Keep an eye on your recording device during the interview to ensure it is continuing to record.
• Don’t leave mobile phones near a digital Dictaphone. Even on silent, these will interfere with the recording to the point where you may not be able to hear what’s been said. Likewise watch for any other electronic equipment near the Dictaphone such as laptops or portable music devices.
• Try to minimise background noise where at all possible (not an easy task sometimes!). If you have control over the environment, watch out for things such as open windows, noisy air conditioners, radios or music playing, jugs boiling, washing machines running etc.
• Learn where the pause button is located for your particular Dictaphone model - there’s bound to be interruptions that you don’t want recorded!
• Turn off the voice activation feature if your Dictaphone has one. This is notorious for missing precious seconds of what participants have said.
• Consider the room layout and Dictaphone/microphone position when interviewing groups of people. Inevitably the person with the quietest voice will sit the furthest away from the Dictaphone!
• Likewise, in individual interview situations, ensure that the Dictaphone is nearer your participant than yourself – it’s more important to record what they’re saying!
• Try to avoid recording outside - the recorder picks up the breeze or air movement as well as all background noise such as traffic, birds etc.
• If possible, you may like to have two Dictaphones recording the interview just in case one fails.
• If you don’t think the recorder will pick up something that a participant has been said (either because it has been said quietly or drowned out by something else) then paraphrase it at the time this occurs. That way you have something recorded, and it gives the participant a chance to add or correct anything they wish.
• Once the recorder is turned on, it's usually a bad idea to move it as it makes quite a loud noise that obliterates what's being said if people are talking. If it needs to be moved, where possible, pause the recording and then move it.