Generally speaking, all audio transcription other than medical transcription and legal transcription is general transcription. So general transcription includes interview transcription, focus group transcription, video transcription, webinar transcription, conference call transcription, etc.
Here at TranscriptionPro, general transcription is one of our specialties. The other being legal transcription. In general transcription, our patronage includes video production houses, media houses, marketing firms, foundations, tech and scientific societies, and individuals. By individuals, I mean bloggers, podcast producers, journalists, Youtubers and the like.
General Transcription – affordable, quick and accurate
Our general transcription customers need affordable, quick and accurate transcription service. They then usually repurpose their transcripts into other contents. A blogger may, for example, interview an expert and this interview is then transcribed by us. The blogger may use the transcript to product an article for his blog. Marketers, on the other hand, will transcribe numerous market research interviews with customers or target customers, to collect and collate data about their market. The transcripts we produce for them allow them to quickly and effortlessly do these functions.
Start with the end result in mind
For best results, record your interviews and calls with the end result in mind. If you plan on transcribing your interview recordings, for example, it is wise to be cognizant of a few things as part of your preparation and housekeeping.
- Conduct your interview in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed during the interview
- Give some thought as to how you will conduct the interview. This may include questions you want to ask and where and how you will put your recording equipment, where you and your subject will be sat, etc.
- Make sure your recording equipment is working and there is enough power in your camera or audio recorder.
- Do not interrupt each other. Perhaps setting some ground rules before you begin the interview will do the trick.
- If there are multiple participants (or speakers), it may be wise to let them introduce themselves before they speak. This will allow us to identify each speaker as and when they speak.
- Back up your recordings when done. It is always wise to back up your interviews on to Cloud.
To outsource or not
If the thought of transcribing your interviews is a bit daunting for you, it may be wise to invest in a good and reliable transcription service. However, if you can transcribe yourself and have the time for it, you may get better results. However, most businesses we work with don’t have the time or the expertise to transcribe. It is better for most people to outsource their transcription requirements as general transcription rates are very affordable.
Can you afford outsourcing general transcription?
The quick answer is yes. Most businesses can afford to outsource their general transcription needs. Most transcription services will charge around $1-$5 per audio minute depending on a few factors. Your transcription rates will be higher if you have multiple participants (speakers) in the recording. Or, you ask for a rush turnaround and delivery. Or, your subject matter (discussion) is very technical or scientific. It is a good practice to provide your transcription service with a good quality recording and usually in MP3. Videos tend to have bigger sizes and so that may hamper file transfer and sharing.
How do we transcribe general transcription?
Unless you have specific needs, general transcription is generally transcribed in ‘clean read’ fashion. In other words, it is transcribed in such a way that it is easy to read and ready for print. We do our best to remove stutters and verbal ticks and emphasize on producing sentences that make sense! Some customers may need regular interval timestamps especially to edit videos or quickly find important data in their interviews or other recordings. Also, we do our best to identify the speakers and participants. This may be provided to us upfront.
Generally speaking, any transcription work is a time-consuming and sometimes mind-numbing work. So any and all help you can provide us in the form of good quality recording, names of participants, how you want your content to be laid out, and sufficient time to type out and edit your transcripts will go a long way in allowing us to produce excellent transcripts.
If you have any questions about our general transcription service, please write to us or comment below. We will get back to as soon as possible with our replies. We are in Covid-19 lockdown when writing this article. Please do your best to stay safe and help others who are in need however you can.
