Media Transcription Service

Transcription is not just converting audio or video recorded dictation to text format but is lot more than that. Transcription or the way the material is transcribed mainly depends on client’s requirement. There are basically 3 types of transcription format which are being used for transcribing audio or video files:

The first kind of transcripts is the verbatim transcripts. This type of transcription is the most difficult, complicated and time-consuming and thus it is expensive too. When a client asks for a verbatim transcript then he means that every single word or line mumbled or spoken needs to be recorded as it were spoken by the speaker in the audio/video file. It should be ensured that each spoken word, every laugh, every emotion, background noise, mumbled or garbled sentences or words is transcribed and time-coded in the written format. Verbatim transcription would require the transcribers to transcribe even those half sentences and phrases that were spoken in the recording by the speakers. While working on a verbatim transcription, the transcribers need to pay close attention to all kind of emotions displayed in the audio/video recorded file. Even those “um..., uh..., uh-huh..., you know, gotta, gonna, wanna” types of words need to be added in the transcripts. Emotions like laughter, fear, excitement, tremors in voice also need to be noted down while working on verbatim type of transcripts. In short, the written format of a verbatim transcription must be an exact replica of the audio or video file as recorded. Verbatim transcripts are mostly done for legal cases where every word plays an important role as a part of evidence as well as in movies, films, videos, commercials, etcetera.

In Reader-Friendly transcripts, the transcribers can neglect or omit parts of the audio or video file while transcribing without changing the meaning, sense and feeling of the recording. It requires a lot of understanding on the part of the transcribers in order to understand what make sense and what does not make any sense and what is important and what is not important in the audio or video file. Even Reader-Friendly transcripts are time consuming, but they are not as time consuming as Verbatim Transcripts as it mainly involves understanding of the content rather than word to word attention. These types of transcription are usually preferred for recordings of seminar, speeches, conferences etcetera.

The third type of transcription is the intelligent transcription. Intelligent Verbatim Transcripts are transcripts that make pure sense and are smart transcription types as they are accurate transcripts. These transcriptions do not need to include the emotions, half-sentences, mumbled or garbled speech in the written format. While working on an Intelligent Verbatim Transcription format the transcribers need not pay attention to those pause which sounds like “Um..., uh..., Uh-huh..., you know" etcetera. As these words add no value to the content, so this needs not to be mentioned while working on an Intelligent Verbatim Transcript format. Intelligent Verbatim Transcripts are usually used while transcribing interviews as it involves conversation type audio/video; hence there are chances that there would be more “Um..., Uh..., Uh-huh..., you know" types of words. Such words act as pauses for the transcribers. Thus in this type of transcription format, the end result is straightforward and the final written product reads intelligently. In comparison to Verbatim and Reader-Friendly Transcription, Intelligent Verbatim transcription takes more time due to the “intelligent” nature of the transcription. It requires a more highly qualified, trained and experienced transcriber to do this kind of work, because they need to have a complete understanding of what the speaker is trying to convey. It is a lot more about editing and less about the transcription itself.