Category: Quality Transcription

9 Transcription Productivity Tips from Scribie Professionals

Allan CaegLeave a comment
9 Transcription Productivity Tips from Scribie Professionals

At Scribie, we believe in the importance of quality transcription. This is why we developed our signature 4-step process.

Let me note that our quality transcripts are made possible by our network of talented transcriptionists. We asked some of our pros to share some tips that help produce consistent, high-quality transcripts. Scribie pros, Martin, Danijela, Betty, and Sarah, share insights for how to be a transcriptionist and produce excellent transcripts at Scribie.

You may be a rookie transcriptionist or an experienced pro. Either way, you’ll benefit from these insider transcription hacks from Scribie pros themselves.

How To Begin Your Transcription Journey

1. Focus On What You’re Hearing

Betty suggests that you focus on the content.

Looking back I can see that I was hyper focused on punctuation and capitalization. I spent a lot of unnecessary time on those aspects. After a couple of years doing this it seems like those aspects are now much more intuitive and I focus more on what I am actually hearing.

2. Start Slowly

Sarah advises beginning Scribie transcribers to take their time to avoid mistakes and missing important key guidelines. She says,

Learn everything you can about the guidelines and how the process works. Study the changes made to your work by the QC and learn how to improve. Starting out slowly will likely help with gaining experience and enable a better and easier path to promotion.

3. Quality Over Quantity

If you’re planning a long-term career with Scribie, Danijela and Martin also recommend taking your time focusing on producing quality content.

Danijela:

It can get tempting to start producing quantity over quality in order to make some extra money fast, but in the long term, it really doesn’t pay off. Take the time to get familiar with the program, check for words you’re unsure about online, and make sure you’re submitting your best work.

Martin:

Do not compromise the accuracy of a file for speed, there is usually more than enough time to work on a file. Double-check the file if you have to. If you can’t catch a word or a phrase at first, listen to it again, or come back to it later once you’ve reached the end of the file.

Pro tip: Martin adds, if a word feels incorrect, it probably is. Identify that which you’ll consider background conversation because transcribing this is unnecessary and almost impossible.

4. Bookmark the “Guidelines” Page

If you’re constantly referring to the “Transcription Guidelines” page, you’re not alone. Betty shares,

I was constantly referring to the guidelines on the Scribie web page which were a big help.

Ways to Select Your File for Transcription

What are some tips and tricks for choosing a file in Scribie’s transcription portal? Check out our transcribers’ responses below.

5. Assess Your Time and Energy

Betty assesses the time she has available, her schedule for the day, energy level, and file difficulty.

I have made the mistake of underestimating the time it would take me to finish a file. After hours of work I have had to cancel a file because of other obligations. I now have a pretty good idea of what I can attempt on low energy days vs. higher energy days.

6. Sort Files by Date or Length First

When Sarah gets ready to work on files at Scribie she usually sorts and samples them by date first to check for more urgent files.

Sarah:

I try to get an idea of how long the file is and how much time I have to devote to it right then. If everything sounds good, then I select it based on that criteria. If I don’t find any of the more urgent files to be a good fit for me right then, I change the sort order to length so I can try to work on something that better fits my available time, and then repeat the process of sampling before selecting the file I’ll be working on.

Transcription Tactics

These transcription tips based on what Scribie’s transcribers have learned make the process faster and easier.

7. Google for Context

Knowing the context of a recording makes it easier. Danijela suggests that you do a quick search on Google to help identify words you don’t recognize.

Martin says,

Learn to recognize the context of a conversation and the background of the speakers, which helps identify words that sound foreign.

8. Find What Works for You

Many transcribers have their own style when working on a file. While Scribie provides you with built-in tools to make it easier, it’s important that you find a process that works for you.

Once you’ve landed on something that consistently produces good quality transcripts, which you’re comfortable with, you’re free to do your own thing!

Martin:

I understand that [the built-in editor] has many tools to help transcribers, I personally do not use most of them

In other words, you’ll want to personalize your workflow and use the right tools depending on what you’re currently comfortable with.

9. Keep at It, You’ll Get Better

Many aspiring transcriptionists struggle in the beginning. This was also the case for Danijela, Martin, Betty, and Sarah. Eventually, you’ll improve and even learn new skills.

Martin:

Now, as a QC, I know what to expect from a file just by listening to snippets of it (a feature I greatly appreciate), and can therefore pick and complete a project, even from transcription all the way to QC, without much hassle.

Danijela:

Even after working at Scribie for more than a year, I am still learning so much, whether it be new expressions, dialects, or simply an interesting new topic being discussed on the recordings.

We’re a Bunch of Friendly People

Danijela wants to urge fellow transcribers to not be afraid to ask questions, while Betty finds Scribie’s live chat feature “invaluable”. Danijela says,

Ask questions. Join the Slack community or write emails to the staff. If you’re unsure about anything, it’s much better to ask than to try and make sense of something on your own and risk making some major mistakes. Trust me, nobody will laugh at you for asking questions on Slack. I like to believe we’re a bunch of friendly people. Don’t forget, we were all rookies at one point!

She continues,

I’ve learned a lot in this year, but I love the fact that I’m still learning and that the Slack community is constantly updating us with various tips and tricks on how to become even better.

Interested in a freelance transcription job online? Join our community of Scribie pros!

Industries That Need Accurate Transcription Services

Allan CaegLeave a comment

In competitive industries, mistakes can be costly. This is true for video and audio transcription. And if you come from certain high-stakes environments, the emphasis on quality and accuracy is exponentially higher.

There have been many breakthroughs in accessibility, discoverability, AI, and speech recognition software. Having said that, despite the advancements, it’s unlikely that automation will reach Human Parity (a technical term describing how close AI is to humans in terms of performance) anytime soon.

For Scribie’s manual transcription services, we’ve developed a process for highly-accurate transcriptions and preciseness using a “Super-Human Parity” system.

Discover more about Scribie’s efficient and effective process, who automated transcription is for, and how errors in transcription can affect your industry. Learn the importance of precision, and get inspired by these examples for your transcription use cases, and beyond.

When Automated Transcription Doesn’t Cut It

Automated transcription is an option. However, not every business can take care of editing and quality assurance on their own.

Free, automated transcriptions from other providers typically produce an accuracy rate of 60-80%, resulting in 1 out of 3 incorrect words. Unlike manual transcripts, the machines can’t make corrections based on context, punctuate correctly, add paragraph breaks, or identify individual speakers. This is why you may need human discernment for accurate, error-free transcription.

Scribie developed a Four-Step Process, a strict and thorough manual transcription and QA process. This meritocratic QA system, aka super-human parity system, ensures that nothing gets through the cracks, with each subsequent step accomplished by a more skilled transcriber. As a Scribie customer, you’re guaranteed 99% accuracy or higher, speedy delivery, and more privacy.

Scribie is the only video and audio transcription service provider using the Four-Step Process. Get guaranteed accurate transcripts today!

High-stakes & competitive industries that rely on accurate transcripts

Learn about these scenarios that require the most reliable transcription services. Get inspired by how these examples demonstrate the value of professionalism.

1. Podcasters, YouTubers, and Marketers

It’s a good time for podcasters. Both Google I/O 2019 and Apple recently announced enhancements in podcast search features. Your podcast transcripts play a bigger role in Google Search.

When you come up with your own transcripts (and they’re of superior quality), you enjoy SEO benefits and rank higher on search engine results pages.

Source: NiemanLab

In addition to podcast transcription helping your discoverability and SEO, your audio transcript improves listeners’ experience and shareability. Your audience can easily find sections of your podcast and share snippets of their favorite segments. Podcast transcripts also let you add backlinks and repurpose your content into blog posts.

The same principles are true for YouTube and other forms of marketing.

In other words, if you need marketing visibility, you’ll need superior transcripts to get ahead.

2. Academics

The academic community is a high-stakes industry that requires the utmost accuracy in transcription services. As you carefully execute the scientific method to avoid compromising results, you don’t want a simple typo to ruin your entire study.

Academics use voice recordings to preserve notes, observations, and interviews for scientific papers.

The smallest typo during transcription can be disastrous. Researchers can accidentally publish the wrong findings and propagate misinformation. It can result in grave errors in future published studies, misguided applications in healthcare, engineering mishaps, and more.

Source: Gizmodo

Not to mention, typos can be expensive. NASA, for example, recently experienced the high cost of inaccurate transcription which led to a catastrophic rocket explosion.

Six Degrees shares,

“Some reports attributed the rocket failure to a misplaced decimal point, an extra semicolon or a comma that was entered in place of a period in the coded mathematical instructions that guided the steering systems on board the spacecraft.”

3. Healthcare

Precise and accurate medical transcription services is a leading priority in Healthcare.

Mistakes made during medical transcription can cost medical practices, time, energy, and money. The patient’s medical care and health is put on the line.

Crucial errors include incorrect diagnoses, demographics, terminology, dosage, lab results, operation dates, and omissions.

4. Enterprises/Businesses/Brands

Transcription errors cost businesses millions of dollars each year and compromise relationships with your clients, customers, or partners.

Pricing errors are among the most frequent mistakes in business transcription services. The wrong or missing digit and misplaced decimal point can be an expensive mistake that can be perceived as fraudulent on your part.

Your business could be at legal liability for administering or publishing inaccurate and false information.

Spelling mistakes can influence search engine optimization. One famous example cited by Six Degrees is an eBay auction listing one of the rarest bottles of beer in the world. The typo in the listing cost the brewing company $500,000. The rare beverage ended up selling for only $304 because the seller mistyped the name “Allsopp”.

When it comes to branding and marketing, transcription errors can negatively impact consumer perceptions, as Six Degrees also cites:

“ [Errors] create a lasting impression of carelessness. They can sabotage a first impression, reduce credibility, compromise brand positioning and diminish reputations. They undermine the clarity of branded messaging, create confusion, suggest poor communication skills and convey a lack of attention to detail.”

5. Legal and Government

When drafting legal language, such as contracts or depositions, it is essential to be precise in communication, spelling, grammar, and punctuation. There should be no ambiguity and room for interpretation.

Source: CNN

For instance, a professor found that the Declaration of Independence was actually inscribed with a comma. This punctuation “typo” has resulted in hundreds of years of confusion over the role of government in individual rights.

6. Mass Communication

If you’re a media professional, working in video production, filmmaking, or journalism your work can be misinterpreted by your audience. Communication is powerful and the wrong message can rile up entire communities. Imagine, the captions and translations of your work will be based on your transcripts.

You want to showcase your production with captioning and transcription that accurately reflect your intent.

Over to You

Critical transcripts should be handled by professional transcription specialists, reliable for accuracy and quality. Receive error-free transcripts in different file formats, with a 99% or higher accuracy rate.

Scribie’s video and audio transcription services include a stringent QA system by experts, which involves processing your transcript in four separate stages. Scribie’s trademark Four-Step Process ensures quality, accuracy, and privacy for any business, enterprise, or industry professional.

Get transcription services that fit your standard of excellence. Order transcripts from Scribie today!

Rev vs. Scribie: Which Transcription Service is Right for You?

Allan CaegLeave a comment

Choosing your transcription service provider can be challenging.

Undoubtedly, you have a few key considerations in mind. In this breakdown, we list and compare major pricing and features between Scribie and Rev, to help you select the best choice.

Many transcription providers aren’t upfront with all of their rates and unclear on inclusive features. Some have hidden charges, You’ll often have to hunt for all of the additional costs scattered around their webpages, making it difficult to compute your total transcription cost. On Scribie, however, you’ll be able to see the pricing, complete list of inclusive features (plus, all of the add-ons) in a single table on the pricing page. Our rates are simple and transparent.

Pricing is a considerable factor in selecting a transcription service. You’ll probably notice that Scribie’s costs are very competitive. Scribie has also fine-tuned the most thorough and efficient QA process. (Learn more about Scribie’s four-step process.)

See how else Scribie compares to Rev in key areas for your transcription needs.

Accuracy and Turnaround

Scribie is the only transcription service that uses a thorough Four-Step Process to transcribe your files. This unique formula ensures that accuracy is 99% or more. Your transcript’s quality will be vetted multiple times by different Scribie specialists.

When different transcribers work on a single file, your transcript quality is assured. Additionally, the turn-around time tends to be fast.

Scribie’s turn-around time is expected to be under 36 hours (depending on file length). Customers typically get their order within 12 hours. Short files are often delivered within the hour.

Scribie: Four-Step QA Process (1 hr – 36 hrs turnaround)

Rev: Single-step transcription process (<24 hrs turnaround)

Pricing

Transcription services usually charge a flat fee per audio minute. See the pricing structure of Rev vs. Scribie below:

Scribie: $0.80/min.

Rev: $1.00/min.

Considering Rev vs. Scribie’s price per minute, Scribie rates are lower at only $0.80/min. The lower pricing makes a big difference in transcription charges as rates add up. Rev’s transcription rates are not as upfront, making it challenging to compute total costs. You’ll have to do a bit of research to find the hidden additional costs.

Scribie provides predictable, simple and transparent pricing. All of the rates for services can easily be found and understood on Scribie’s pricing page, with no hidden charges.

Considering Scribie and Rev pricing, you might wonder, “Which service provides more?”.

Scribie offers all the same features as Rev. However, with Rev you’ll have to pay extra for some features that Scribie offers for free.

Time Coding

Time Coding is one such free feature offered by Scribie (which you’ll have to pay extra for on Rev).

Timestamps are an essential feature aligning your transcript text to the recording. They’re inserted at specific intervals to sync your captions to the video or help with post-production editing.

Scribie: Free

Rev: + $0.25/min (for timestamps every 30 seconds)

With Rev, timestamps or time-coding are an add-on service. Rev charges an extra $0.25 per minute for timestamps every 30 seconds.

Scribie, on the other hand, offers time coding for free as part of the $0.80/min transcription rate.

Speaker Tracking

Another missing feature by Rev is Speaker Tracking. Speaker tracking helps identify multiple voices in your recording and detects changes or turns in speakers.

Scribie: Identifies speakers by name

Rev: Identifies speakers as “Speaker 1, 2, etc.”

Rev only transcribes multi-speaker files by indicating “speaker 1”, “speaker 2″,”male” or “female”.

Scribie, in comparison, identifies and marks each speaker with their initials if names are provided or available. Speaker Tracking by Scribie is free.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Both Scribie and Rev require transcriptionists to sign strict NDAs for confidentiality.

Unlike Rev, however, Scribie’s Four-Step Process breaks up your files into segments. No single person views or accesses the complete contents and context of your file. This ensures that you enjoy more privacy.

Integrations

Both Scribie and Rev provide numerous integrations for fast and easy transcription.

You can upload your audio or video files from your computer, enter a publicly accessible link, or import from Dropbox, Vimeo, Google Drive, and more.

Scribie: Add captions directly to your published YouTube video from Scribie’s platform.

Rev: Add the captions yourself on the YouTube platform.

Scribie lets you directly add captions to your published YouTube video–from Scribie–without ever leaving the site. This is a great, free feature designed for YouTube creators.

Billing

Whether you anticipate ordering a high-volume of transcripts or need a single transcript for a project, Scribie is a more flexible option.

Scribie: Pay-as-you-go, billing account, team billing

Rev: Pay-as-you-go

Rev has no subscription model for payments and charges for every order.

Scribie lets you pay-as-you-go and offers a subscription model for recurring customers. You can set up a billing account and add funds to your account, share them with your team members, and more.

What Scribie Customers Say

The transcripts are very accurate. I like the pricing options based on turnaround time and the ability to track progress prior to completion. They have always met their deadlines. – Charles Senteio, University of Michigan School of Information

Customer service is excellent. The support team has communicated very promptly whenever I have had questions. Your staff graciously compiled individual transcriptions into a single document for me. I have already recommended Scribie to other members of an e-learning community. Thank you very much for offering high quality transcription at a very reasonable price.
– Derek Frankhouser, Manhattan Prep

Over to You

With Scribie’s Four-Step Transcription Process, we are the most thorough, accurate, and discreet transcription service provider. Scribie offers the lowest transcription prices, giving you more for less, with all the essential features (and more) for your transcription service needs.

Whether you’re a one-time customer or a company needing a steady stream of high-quality transcription services, choose Scribie as a reliable transcription and closed captioning service provider.

In need of a transcript? Try Scribie: upload your audio/video file

4 Ways Modern Filmmakers Use Transcripts to Create Successful Productions

Allan CaegLeave a comment
4 Ways Modern Filmmakers Use Transcripts to Create Successful Productions

For all filmmakers, videographers, and video enthusiasts, it’s the perfect time to reach more people with your artistic vision, discipline, and love for the craft.

The viewing habits of your audiences are changing, along with greater demands for accessibility and compelling storytelling. Videos are moving beyond theaters and TVs and are being consumed in all kinds of environments and on different devices. Captions are now becoming a requirement and indicator of good, quality production.

It’s unsurprising that video streaming sites like Netflix, Hulu, Ustream, and others are gaining popularity as one of the fastest growing industries. That includes the recently announced and highly-anticipated Disney Plus.

Many pop culture references even describe this generation’s competitive workforce as made up of any of these three words: Coffee, Netflix, (and also, tears).

As you make it easier for viewers to enjoy and consume your films, they may not realize that before a movie is created, it has to go under 3 basic process – pre-production, production, post-production. They only see the final product, which is the movie.

If we review your process, pre-production involves all the planning from the script, auditions, scouting of locations, and others. Production is when the actual shooting happens. While the most important and longest process is post-production.

Depending on the scale and budget, your film or movie production time can vary from days to years!

Regardless of how small or big a production company is, you can make the life of your post-production team, especially your videographers, easier with the use of post-production transcripts.

These essential transcripts speed up video editing and captioning. Find out how you can maximize the use of transcripts for video production and distribution, as well as useful resources for choosing the right transcription and captioning provider.

What is a post-production transcript?

Post-production transcription is a word-for-word, shot-by-shot, minute-by-minute account of a film, video or documentary – and it’s 100% accurate. Transcription is usually outsourced. Some big scale production companies delegate this task to in-house teams, but due to lack of experience, the quality of work is often affected.

One reason many video producers use transcripts is so that referencing lines or sections from the script becomes easier through written timecodes and timestamps.

Note: To save time and money, you may schedule transcription work after production. Why? Imagine you’re in the middle of production. Big, impromptu script changes were made, and a chunk of dialogue gets deleted. Your original script practically becomes irrelevant in post-production, and a post-production transcript, a lifesaver.

Why Videographers/Film Directors Use Video Transcripts

What are the benefits of a video transcript?

If you’ve seen the 2015 version of Mad Max: Fury Road, it’s surprising that this 120-minute film had up to 480 hours of raw footage! (You’ve probably had your share of drowning in raw footage.)

In this case, the video editor had to condense unedited material into a 120-minute feature film.

Source: VashiVisuals

Working on a film without a transcript to guide your video editing ups the difficulty level past ‘Normal’ and ‘Hard’, to ‘Harder than Hard’.

If you haven’t considered prioritizing transcripts to simplify the post-production process, here are a few benefits:

#1: Translate your film to a different language with ease.

Did you know that English is only the 3rd top language in the world? There is a high likelihood that your work will undergo translation for distribution and accessibility to a wider, international audience. In other parts of the world, they may speak Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, and Arabic as their first language.

A transcript helps your translator quickly and efficiently finalize the translation.

#2: Use timecodes and timestamps to save time.

A timecode (alternatively, time code) is a sequence of numeric codes generated at regular intervals by a timing synchronization system. Timecode is used in video production, show control and other application which require temporal coordination or logging of recording or actions.

Timecodes are used as reference points for video editing. Your editors can work more efficiently with the use of transcriptions, especially if it has timestamps synchronized with the timecodes in the original video.

Through transcription, it saves your editor time from switching between viewing and editing footage.

#3: Skip ahead for revisions.

You don’t have to watch and rewatch scenes to find parts for revision.

Save valuable time and effort looking for the sections that need editing. A transcript on hand allows you to browse through timecodes and dialogue to see exactly when and where you need to skip ahead to perform the needed edits.

It’s also easier to make creative decisions seeing the entire work in text.

#4: Use video transcripts to add captions.

Nowadays, captions and subtitles are a must. They’re pretty much a prerequisite for video streaming sites and determine your video’s success when sharing on most platforms.

Here’s why captions matter.

“When it comes to watch time, subtitled videos increase view time by more than 12% and are watched an average 91% to completion. In comparison, videos without subtitles are only watched 66% to completion. When subtitles are included, 80% more people watch videos to completion.”

You can request closed captioning services from an established transcription company. With a good transcript in a compatible file format, you can add captions in as little as one step by directly uploading them to your platform. Just see how simple it is to caption videos for any social platform.

What are your options?

Now that you’ve learned the benefits of transcription for your post-production team, you can consider the following options for transcription.

DIY your transcripts.

If your crew has spare time and is confident in their transcription skills, you might consider doing this in-house.

However, this method can be tedious and time-consuming. Most likely, expect DIY transcription to take a long time and the context switching can be quite taxing. You’d rather focus on your core duties.

Depending on the size and expertise of your crew (and if your video transcription needs are low-volume), this is a good option.

Seek to get help if your hours of footage make DIY efforts cumbersome.

Use automated transcription.

Compared to DIY transcripts, using a video/audio software can aid in your transcriptions. Plus, it’s more cost-efficient than ordering text from a professional service.

However, there is a downside. Speech-to-text (STT) software accuracy can be unreliable, and often the output won’t make sense. In the end, you’ll most likely still have to manually correct and edit many errors.

Hire video transcription services.

As in the previously mentioned options, you can create your own online video transcript or use STT software to save money. However, take note that transcription takes time, while software accuracy is unreliable.

There is a fast, low-cost, and easy way to order accurate transcripts online for every video you produce. The process for ordering transcripts from video transcription services is quite seamless, too. With a few clicks on transcription sites, like Scribie, and a few hours after, you get your transcript.

Professional transcriptionists and QA teams with in-depth experience offer you accurate and reliable transcriptioning and closed captioning services.

Over To You

Video transcription can provide unbelievable convenience and value for saving your time and money when producing videos.

If you’re swamped and lack the time or people to transcribe for you, a smart choice is delegating this task to a professional or transcription service. Here are some key considerations for selecting the right service for your filmmaking needs.

Ordering a transcript online is a helpful hack for accurate documentation of your footage. You can use transcripts as a reference during editing and for quickly adding captions to your videos.

Looking for a video transcript now? Contact us and let us do the transcription for you.

How to Select the Best Video Captioning Service: 5 Key Considerations

Allan CaegLeave a comment
5 Things to Consider for Selecting the Best Video Captioning Service

If you’re a video producer, you know how captions can improve your reach and accessibility.

Finding a good closed captioning service to become your production partner, whether in the long run or for a one-time order, needs careful consideration. You may have some top picks in mind. Before you decide, though, see if they’re the right choice for you and your audience.

Wondering about the most important things to look for in closed captioning services? Here are the 5 major things to consider, such as pricing, delivery time, quality, and more. Make sure that you’ve covered everything on the list.

Transparent Pricing

One of the first things you’ll consider is captioning cost. Rates by closed captioning services are typically calculated by audio minute, and different providers charge different rates depending on the packages and add-ons.

Captioning services will usually offer low base rates, but be careful of hidden costs, like service add-ons which usually incur additional charges on top of the regular rate. These can add up to a hefty dent in your wallet.

For example, TranscribeMe’s advertised rate begins at $.79/minute. However, if you need a transcription of technical content with speaker tracking, your rate goes up to $1.50/minute. Some companies charge more depending on your industry, the no. of speakers tracked, and speed of delivery.

Scribie’s Pricing

Our pricing is transparent and simple. We charge $0.80/minute, the lowest base rate in the industry that is most inclusive of features. When you order captions from Scribie, you receive more for less. This is the rate you pay no matter the file format, how many speakers need tracking, or whether your industry includes highly technical terms.

What you see is what you get.

Take note: Turn-around time is typically faster than 36 hours (depending on file length). Expect your order within 12 hours. Short files are often delivered within the hour.

Scribie’s completed transcript and captions are provided in multiple file formats for your uploading needs, such as VTT, SRT, PDF, MS Word, and more. You’ll find the right, compatible file format to upload or add your captions to videos on any platform. You can also use our easy captions editor to perform any edits beforehand.

Get your video captions as soon as within the hour. Order from Scribie today.

Integrations

Choosing a closed captioning service that allows integration to your platform saves you plenty of time and effort.

Integrations let you automate your captioning workflow. An integration helps simplify the importing and uploading process.

Scribie’s Integrations

Scribie lets you import your videos for captioning through a variety of ways, whichever is most convenient for you.

If adding captions to YouTube, our Youtube integration lets you directly upload your captions from our site.

Simply enter your YouTube link or upload a video file, order captions from Scribie, and save to YouTube once your captions are ready.

You can also easily import your video from Vimeo, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, Google Drive, or other publicly accessible links.

Quality Assurance

What level of accuracy can you expect from the closed captioning service?

Automatic captions by software, as you may have experienced, can turn out wildly inaccurate. Manual captioning services by people are your best bet for highly accurate transcriptions. Many closed captioning services provide automatic closed captions (ACC) by software or don’t have a quality assurance process in place.

Scribie’s Accuracy

Our team of specialists offer captions with an accuracy of 99% or higher. We also have an in-house team of quality assurance experts and proofreaders.

Through Scribie’s signature four-step process, you’re assured quality and privacy.

Here’s how it works: Different transcribers work on different sections of your video, and Scribie proofreaders vet your captions’ quality multiple times. Our in-house QA experts analyze your file for accuracy, and then the accuracy of names, acronyms, and other potential errors are verified and fixed at every step.

Speed of Delivery

How fast will you receive your captions? Some closed captioning services charge extra for quick delivery and others can take as long as a week.

If you need your captions within the day, you may have to shell out an extra handful of dollars per minute of audio. Make sure that the provider you choose will be able to deliver your files within your required time.

Scribie’s Turnaround

Scribie delivers your file in as fast as an hour, and we don’t charge for rush delivery. Depending on file length, you can expect your order within 12 hours.

Customer Service

If you’re looking for a captioning partner for your videos, you’ll want a provider that’s communicative and available to address any of your concerns. Many providers offer impersonal services.

Will they be prompt in answering questions? Can they fulfill any custom requests? If you need a custom format or have any specific requests, they should be able to handle the fulfillment of your needed specifications.

Scribie’s Support

We’re flexible enough and care about your needs to personally accommodate requests. Our customer service is available the entire week to provide customer service, with live chat on weekdays and email support during weekends.

Over to You

Everyone has different needs when it comes to closed captioning services, and there are plenty of options to choose from. It helps to list down your needs and expectations beforehand and determine whether you chose the best closed captioning service for you. Watch out for any hidden fees and charges that are bloated with unessential features.

If you’re a video producer, podcaster, YouTuber, or social media influencer, we’ve designed Scribie to be the ideal choice for most of your captioning needs. Our simplified and transparent rates are among the lowest and most inclusive of essential features.

Ready to try Scribie? See why Scribie is the ideal closed captioning partner. Order your video captions now.

A Step-by-Step Guide: How to Write a Transcript Fast

Allan CaegLeave a comment
A Step-by-Step Guide: How to Write a Transcript Fast

So, you’re supposed to transcribe an audio or video file.

Your work may need you to do a steady stream of transcriptions, or you’ve never transcribed a word in your life.

Best practices and guidelines ensure that transcripts adhere to industry standards. How do you keep your transcripts high quality with minimal effort? It helps to establish a process for things to stay organized and smooth.

If you happen to be a seasoned transcriber, there may be transcription tips and tricks that you haven’t considered before. Can you improve your current transcription process?

We’ve created this checklist covering all the essential bases to optimize the transcription process, from start to finish. Check out the necessary steps to get you on your way to completing that transcription task efficiently.

Step 1. Prepare Your Tools and Equipment

Make sure you’ve prepared all the necessary tools and equipment before you begin to transcribe.

A comfortable or ergonomic chair creates a huge difference in keeping your body relaxed during hours of transcription work. It supports your lower back, promotes good posture, and ensures proper blood circulation. Adjust the seat to your preferred position.

Use good quality, noise-canceling headphones. Over-ear headsets are the most comfortable as they encase your entire ear and isolate distracting noise. Human voice frequencies lie between 250 Hz and 2000 Hz, the midrange of sound. We recommend headphones that have a pronounced yet smooth midrange.

Keep your essential every day carry items close. Eyeglasses, a bottle of water, a cup of coffee, or mobile phone should have already been placed on your desk to reduce distractions while doing transcription work.

An online reference such as soft copies of a dictionary or Google helps you quickly search for unfamiliar terms and the context to its meaning.

A foot pedal lets you control dictation playback with your toes. You can play, rewind, and fast forward by tapping sections of the pedal with your foot. You can setup your foot pedal to work with Scribie’s transcription software.

Step 2. Find a Good Transcription Software

There are web-based transcription tools that let you upload and transcribe your entire recordings online. These are your best friends in getting transcripts done–fast.

Scribie’s all-in-one transcription software has built-in tools and shortcuts to make everything easier from start to finish. You can even automatically transcribe your file to cut down time spent on transcription.

Basically, you can transcribe on Scribie in three simple steps:

  1. Upload your file.
  2. Scribie transcribes automatically.
  3. Check and edit the transcript.

Step 3. Amplify Volume and Increase the Audio Quality

Not all recordings are made equal. If you have a difficult file with plenty of background noise, there are ways you can increase its audio quality.

Scribie has a built-in dynamic range compressor that automatically increases the audio quality of your file for transcription. It reduces the volume of unnecessary loud sounds and amplifies sections that are difficult to hear. As we’ve been mastering transcription for about a decade, we continuously optimize tools like these.

Step 4. Familiarize Yourself with the Tools

Make the most out of your transcription software. Buckle up for your transcription journey by getting to know your tools.

Scribie has a timestamped audio player and fully-featured integrated text editor–everything you need for transcription. There are built-in tools, keyboard shortcuts, and a control panel that you can customize to fit your work process.

Scribie’s tools and shortcuts:

The word expander saves time by predicting and expanding the word you’re typing. Frequently used words allow an overview of what words to expect in your recording. This saves you from guessing a vague term.

Spellcheck provides you with suggestions to autocorrect any potential spelling mistakes.

Slow down or speed up audio to catch every word.

Use keyboard shortcuts to pause, skip, forward, or rewind to a certain time in the recording.

Identify mistakes with a blue underline through Scribie’s AI tool.

For recordings with heavy accents, you can dictate and transcribe the file using our voice recognition software.

If you happen to have little idea of your recording’s content, you have the option to automatically transcribe your file. This gives you a nice overview of what to expect and speeds up transcription.

Step 5. During Transcription

Here’s a pro tip: Many transcribers put speech to text by matching the transcript and audio word-for-word. We actually recommend against that. Instead, listen to the entire conversation and use context to interpret and identify the correct words.

During transcription, you may come across unfamiliar content such as technical or medical terms. Do a Google search for context or install soft copies of an online dictionary for a quick definition.

Don’t get hung up on a difficult word, though. There may be certain terms or words that are difficult to catch where you end up pausing and rewinding multiple times. Skip them. Leave a blank in the meantime and get back to those words you missed later to avoid breaking your flow.

Avoid context switching and juggling different tasks at the same time. Alternating between transcribing and editing becomes tiresome. Instead, do one thing at a time.

Begin the task by putting on your transcription hat and focusing on the transcription task ahead. The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. Once you’ve completely transcribed the entire recording, whether manually or automatically, you can pivot your attention to editing and refining the transcript.

Step 6. Edit the Transcript

Re-play the audio, go over your draft, and zoom in on the ff:

  • Areas left blank or missed
  • Misheard words, terms, or expressions
  • Misspelled words
  • Punctuation
  • Formatting

Use Scribie’s spellcheck and AI tool to identify any misspellings or mistakes that may have slipped through.

Over to You

Transcription work can be rewarding for those with an eye for detail and quality content.

Breaking the transcription process down into step-by-step increments makes long hours seem easy and do-able. While a great transcription software saves time and effort.

We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to make transcription as easy as possible for our transcribers.

Scribie offers online transcription jobs for beginners and seasoned professionals. Learn more about how you can join Scribie as a freelancer.

Human vs. Machine: Should You Use a Manual or Automated Transcription Service?

Allan CaegLeave a comment

Speech and voice recognition software is getting better than ever.

In the age of Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, we expect more advanced transcription software. However, are any of the automatic transcription services good enough for your audio or video?

How many times have your automatic transcriptions included potentially grave (and often tragically embarrassing) errors?

Transcribing words is relatively easy for machines, and they’ve gotten really good at it. Just take a look at this chart by Kleiner Perkins.

What’s difficult is to infer what you truly mean by saying these words, which makes it more prone to error. Humans, on the other hand, are much better at discerning and recognizing the context of a conference call, webinar, podcast, or any kind of content.

Transcripts produced automatically are quick and private. Yet, they eventually need intervention by hand for proofreading. Others who are looking for accuracy and convenience think that they might as well order manual transcription services.

If you’re unsure whether automatic or manual transcription is the better solution, we’ll be comparing and discussing the pros and cons of both options in detail.

Find out whether you should purchase a manual or automatic transcription service…Human or machine?

The Benefits of Automated Transcripts

First, let’s go over the benefits and downsides of each option, beginning with automatic transcription services.

Transcription tools like Scribie, AWS Transcribe, or The Cloud Speech API by Google converts speech into text transcription from audio. Sometimes, you don’t even need a recorded file. Scribie, for instance, lets you directly make in-app calls where conversations are recorded for automatic transcription.

Automatically turning your video or voice file into a transcript is fast and easy. The average time it takes Scribie to transcribe a 2-hour file is 30 minutes. You’ll have a fast, first draft of your recording in no time.

Besides speed, it also comes at a lower cost for those whose needs don’t require a perfectly documented version of their audio.

Concerned about privacy and confidentiality? With automatic transcription, no other person would listen to your audio. Although some platforms, like Google and AWS, transfer your data to Google servers or others. Scribie is unique in that we have our own tech for privacy concerns and don’t require 3rd-party platforms to process your recordings.

Is It Good for You?

That depends on how you’ll use the transcript. If you’re simply using it to refer to while listening to the recording, you’ll have an easier time processing the information and content of the recording.

Transcripts of interviews, video content, and raw footage are often used by media outlets and journalists as a first draft. Scribie also provides automated subtitles along with the transcript. Users will be able to download the file, as well as upload it to their YouTube account and add it as a caption.

Researchers whose files may contain highly-technical terms or crucial data might prefer automatic transcriptions. Later, they’ll be able to edit the copy themselves for preciseness and accuracy.

For highly sensitive transcripts, such as psychotherapy sessions, rest assured that no other person would listen to the audio or watch the video.

Many businesses also use automated transcripts as a backup for detail discussed in a meeting. It’s also useful for contact centers who record a high-volume of calls with customers.

Automated transcripts are Ideal for:

  • Journalists
  • Medical
  • Research
  • Businesses
  • Contact Centers
  • Media

Get a fast and easy transcript of your recording. Upload a file on Scribie for automatic transcription now.

The Downsides to Automation

Transcription software doesn’t have language inference systems. Without this tech, the machine won’t be able to make corrections based on context, as well as identify different speakers, appropriate paragraph breaks, punctuation marks, and more.

Scribie, however, has a highly-advanced speech recognition engine tuned specifically for transcription of all file types. Unlike others tuned only for conference calls, Scribie can automatically recognize multiple speakers, whether on the other side of the call or sitting right next to each other.

If you find transcription technology that guarantees 100% accuracy, they’re either overshooting claims or over-optimizing for one particular scenario.

Of course, accuracy will also depend on certain factors such as the speaker’s accent or whether the audio is of high quality.

Typical Errors in Automated Transcripts

There are a few usual errors you can expect based on the limitations of today’s transcription automation software.

Artificial intelligence has difficulty detecting speaker turns, especially when there is fast back-and-forth between multiple speakers. All systems have a 20% to 30% failure rate for fast turns. In the most ideal scenario, a system will be able to figure out 90% of the turns. This means paragraphs won’t be broken correctly, words will be missing, and speakers won’t be tracked.

Names of people and places are also often mixed up. There is a village in Wales, for example, called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which will most likely never be recognized by transcription software.

Source: Imgur

You can also rule out an automatic transcript from accurately displaying single or double quotes. A voice recording with “He said,…” will show the start of a quote but can’t determine where to close them.

Punctuations, such as hyphens, quotations, and exclamation marks, as well as proper capitalizations, are often unrecognized by systems. AWS, Google Web Speech, and Speechmatics don’t support quotations.

Fortunately, Scribie has an 80% accuracy rate for punctuations. We support all types of punctuations, including quotes and hyphens. Our speech recognition engine also uses Continual Learning to consistently decrease the word error rate (WER). In five to ten years, we’ll be able to reach a 95% accuracy rate for most audio files with good quality.

Automatic transcription is usually the first step to transcription of data and the first draft is rarely the final one. As Scribie keeps your transcript synced to audio, you’ll have an option to manually edit the transcription afterward through our built-in editor tool.

The Benefits of Manual Transcription Services

Transcription by hand is great for a high-quality text version of your file, with an accuracy rate of anywhere beyond 95%.

Nothing is more convenient than handing over the task of transcription to a specialist. Manual transcription services can be beneficial for large files, fast talkers, speakers with accents, and audio challenges, like background noise or distortion.

Manual transcriptions can also be secure. When you use Scribie, your covered by an NDA. Our transcriber directly works through our editor and won’t be able to download the file.

A time-coding feature for manual transcripts helps you determine when a sentence is spoken, so the subtitle shows up at the right time.

Is It Good for You?

Hire a manual transcriber for a clean and polished copy that is presentable to audiences.

Brands and enterprises might need high-quality transcripts to remain compliant with brand guidelines. TV Show subtitles, for example, can benefit from a transcription by hand.

Some content, such as medical and scientific papers are high stakes. It might be preferable to have a human type out the findings. Manual transcription is also crucial for court transcripts, depositions, and other legal documents.

Despite the higher cost of manual transcription vs. automated, a human with attention to detail can save you money. Mistakes by automated transcription software can be costly. A missing punctuation mark once caused a rocket’s engine failure and ended up costing $620 million.

Manual transcripts are ideal for:

  • Enterprises and Brands
  • Research
  • Media
  • Education
  • Marketing
  • Legal

How Will You Use Your Transcript?

Deciding between a human or machine mostly boils down to the application of your transcript.

The modern tech of transcription software is impressive, with an accuracy rate higher than ever.

If you prefer a low-cost alternative and a more hands-on approach, you can use platforms like Scribie to quickly turn your recordings into written text which you can then edit afterward. Of course, doing-it-yourself may be impractical for large files.

Manual transcription services ensure your transcript is high-quality, convenient, and error-free for public or internal use.

Try Scribie’s manual transcription service by 100% humans. Order transcripts online today.

Why Scribie Is The Top Transcription Service

Becca Thomas2 Comments
Scribie Top Transcription Service

What A Top Transcription Service Offers

If you’ve ever found yourself in need of a transcription service, you know that by doing a Google search, you will see a lot of results. Just because there are many transcription services out there, doesn’t mean that they all match up to each other. Continue reading “Why Scribie Is The Top Transcription Service” →

Adding Subtitles to Your Videos is No Longer Optional

Becca Thomas1 Comment
Scribie Transcription

Transcription and Subtitles in 2017

If you’re reading this, you may be asking yourself why should I bother to add subtitles to my videos? They are just videos after all; a visual aid. It’s simple to just watch the video, get the information or content in that manner and go about your merry way. Well, it isn’t that simple. In this day and age, it’s vital to add subtitles to your videos. Let’s discuss a few reasons why. Continue reading “Adding Subtitles to Your Videos is No Longer Optional” →

How can a small business use transcription services?

Rajiv Poddar1 Comment
Small Business Transcription Services Scribie

Helping Small Businesses Compete

Times are changing… As you’ve noticed, the world is becoming more digital. This is especially apparent in the business world. Instead of software, now a lot of the biggest applications are accessed through websites.

This can be daunting for a business owner who isn’t constantly keeping up with the times. Don’t worry — with the right information, it’s easier than you think to level the playing field. Continue reading “How can a small business use transcription services?” →