Category: Video Transcription

Google I/O Announcements: What This Means for Podcasters, Video Producers, and Businesses

Allan CaegLeave a comment
Android Live Captions - Google I/O 2019

Wondering what Google I/O’s 2019 announcements could mean for your business?

We follow the variety of developments from major technology players like Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon. We monitor trends to stay on top of the latest and greatest, making sure that we’re in the position to deliver the best transcription service offering.

Recently, the latest installment of Google I/O concluded. This annual developer conference showcases developments around hardware, software, services, and other updates. On stage during the main keynote, Google mentioned the following notable features:

  • Live Captions, which can automatically create captions for audio and videos. The feature can be used offline.
  • Podcast episodes will now show up in Google searches.

When enabled, Android Q’s Live Captions feature adds real-time captions to any audio or video playing on your phone.

Source: The Verge

At Google’s I/O developer conference, the company also quickly mentioned that Google Search would begin indexing podcasts. If you’re a podcaster, your episodes appear as playable and actionable entries within relevant search results.

If you’re wondering what that looks like, check this out:

Source: NiemanLab

Implications of the Emerging Tech

While it’s evident that it’ll be easier for folks to find podcasts online, it’s unclear what this means for the podcasting community. Google shared little about this announcement.

Definitely, though, this is solid proof that captions and accessibility are becoming a cornerstone in modern society. For instance, more successful video streaming sites and social video posts now noticeably include captions.

Why do captions matter? Captions and transcripts are critical for reaching a wider audience (including hard-of-hearing, non-native English speakers, and those who prefer watching without sound). In fact, 85 percent of social videos are watched with the sound off.

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.

The Reality of Live Captions

If you’ve seen YouTube’s auto CC feature in action, you can guess the accuracy level of live captions.

The University of Minnesota Duluth shares,

“YouTube automatic captions typically provides about 60-70% accuracy, which means that 1 in 3 words can be wrong. This accuracy rate will be improved with good audio quality and simple content, but worsens when there is background noise, accents, or multi-syllable words.”

Should you use an automated transcription service such as Google’s Live Captions?

For producers, this means that your productions could display captions with embarrassing or crucial errors.

Source: Imgur

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, capitalization, quotations, and more. Live Captions’ capabilities are also pared down to accommodate your phone’s memory. (Speaking of which, this feature will be available on select devices only).

Privacy and control are concerns as well. Whenever one uses free (gratis) services, there’s a question of how the operation is funded. For example, you can use TikTok as a free video sharing platform, but agreeing to their terms means giving them permission to use your videos for their online ads.

Another thing, your live captions and automated transcriptions cannot be downloaded and saved for later review. They also can’t be edited. The Verge mentions in a Live Captions report,

“They’re there when the content is playing and gone when it’s done.”

There also seem to be no plans to let Live Captions support transcriptions.

The Cost of Low-Quality Transcriptions

While there are reasonable use cases for free, automated transcripts, it’s not for everyone. You’ll easily end up paying far more for the cost of errors.

Brands would lean towards 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 and need to have a human review and type out the correct findings. Manual transcription is also crucial for court transcripts, depositions, and other legal documents.

Who are manual transcripts for?

If you’re still on the fence between human vs. machine closed caption and transcription services, this summary may help:

Manual transcription services are ideal for enterprises and established brands, as well as the following industries:

  • Research
  • Media
  • Education
  • Marketing
  • Legal

Despite the cost of manual vs. free automatic transcription, a skilled transcription specialist can save you money. Mistakes by automated transcription software can be costly. A missing punctuation mark once caused a NASA rocket’s engine failure and ended up costing $620 million. Yikes!

Setting Your Work Apart

Your audience can distinguish auto-generated transcriptions and give it generic, baseline treatment. Accurate and well-written captions or transcripts are a mark of quality productions, created mindfully with empathy towards audiences.

Live Captions, as mentioned earlier, also can’t be downloaded as a copy for repurposing or post-production editing.

As an editor, you might also miss the time-codes and timestamps feature provided by transcription services.

Although Live Captions does improve accessibility, it doesn’t help your SEO. Google knows if you didn’t invest in transcription, giving higher-quality productions higher SERP ranking treatment.

Human Parity

Speech and voice recognition software is advancing, but human transcribers are better at discerning the context of a webinar, podcast, or any type of video content.

There's a technical term used in AI called human parity. It measures how close AI is to humans in terms of performance. Automatic transcripts may be quick, but they eventually need intervention by hand for an error-free copy.

Scribie, a professional transcription and closed captioning service, has a unique defining feature that helps guarantee 99% accuracy: Scribie’s Four-Step Process. (Usually, other transcription services only offer a single or two-step process that leave room for errors.)

Sribie’s quality assurance system is meritocratic, meaning each subsequent step is accomplished by a more skilled transcriber. This is why Scribie’s system can be described as a super-human parity system.

Fun fact: Each second of the audio is played an average of 8 times before being delivered to the customer.

On top of those, as a Scribie customer, you’ll be able to edit your transcript in our online editor, save your transcribed file in various formats, and/or upload them directly to your content-sharing platform.

See the difference for yourself. Upload your audio/video file.

Making Game of Thrones: Why The Last Season Feels Different [No Spoilers]

Allan Caeg1 Comment
Making Game of Thrones: Why The Last Season Feels Different [No Spoilers]

If you’re like many GoT fans, you feel like there is something off about the last season.

Game of Thrones season 8 feels different in comparison to previous installments, and Daniel Silvermint took note of this in a trending thread on Twitter:

Whether you’re a writer, filmmaker, video producer, media professional, or GoT enthusiast, you’ll be interested in hearing why this is so, and his take on plotters vs. pantsers.

He goes on to explain the behind-the-scenes process in the making of Game of Thrones,

If you’re not familiar with the [plotters vs. pantsers] distinction, plotters create a fairly detailed outline before they commit a single word to the page.

Pantsers, on the other hand, according to Daniel,

discover the story as they write it, often treating the first draft like one big elaborate outline.” It seems that neither approach is the absolute correct one.

Both George R.R Martin and the Game of Thrones showrunners seem to be epic pantsers. They write like cultivating a garden, planting character seeds and carefully letting them grow and grow. That’s why we feel utterly connected to these characters.

Pantsers have an easier time writing realistic characters because they generate the plot by asking themselves what this fully-realized person would do or think next in the dramatic situation the writer has dropped them in.

As creators or video producers, you often have to fly by the seat of your pants (thus, the term “pantsers”) during shooting because of constraints.

Discover how the Game of Thrones showrunners are able to juggle a million details and pull off this huge production while filming across multiple simultaneous geographic shooting locations.

Plus, why and how you can use post-production transcripts as a producer’s secret weapon.

Video Production and Editing

Scripts are rarely final. During film production, changes and tweaks to the script are often made last-minute on the set or a short while before the shoot. So, the original script becomes obsolete.

Also, GoT scripts self-destruct like Mission Impossible. Post-production transcripts created after filming help showrunners keep track of what made it on film.

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 to help production houses focus on video production.

As you can imagine, the post-production transcript deviates from the original script depending on how much the actors and rest of the crew improvise. This is necessary for an accurate record.

The Benefits of a Post-Production Transcript

  1. Translate your film to a different language with ease.
  2. Use timecodes and timestamps to save time.
  3. Skip ahead for revisions.
  4. Use video transcripts to add captions.

During post-production and video editing, a transcript (which usually contains timestamps) serves as a copy of their work. With hundreds of hours of raw footage, it helps simplify and make the post-production process more efficient.

Multi-Geographic Locations: On The Set While Filming

While the main Game Of Thrones headquarters is at Paint Hall studios in Belfast, Northern Ireland; the better part of filming Game of Thrones takes place in other locations including: Croatia, Canada, and other European countries.

As producers shoot simultaneously in different locations across the world, they need to constantly update each other on any changes made to the story and script. This is to ensure that there is continuity in the story and plot.

Transcripts and notes allow production members to update each other on progress and stay in sync.

The film crew member in charge of continuity is the script supervisor. As the plot progresses and evolves, unsourced material is challenged and removed, the script supervisor (aka continuity supervisor) oversees the continuity of the motion picture including wardrobe, props, set dressing, hair, makeup and the actions of the actors during a scene.

Transcripts give script supervisors an updated account of what went on in previous scenes to help inform the next scenes. They then send the transcripts to the film crew shooting in another location.

Interestingly, Game of Thrones has had a few continuity goofs besides that coffee cup, including a Jaime Lannister rubber sword, jeans and laptop cord cameo, as well as a moving scar.

Writing Game of Thrones

As a fan of the series, you know that the creators love planting Easter eggs, subtle clues, and callbacks to throwaway lines from previous seasons.

The writers have often had to make a choice about what to incorporate into the TV Series. With such rich source material from GRRM, plus the tweaks made in the show, how do the writers keep track?

A transcript allows showrunners to keep track of lines, (changing relationships and character development) that have made it into the series to incorporate into later episodes.

Daniel says:

That’s why every plot point and fair-in-hindsight surprise landed with such devastating weight: everything that happened to these characters happened because of their past choices. But it’s also the reason why the narrative momentum of the books slowed over time.

Over to You

Post-production transcription services help keep massive productions like Game of Thrones running. As a video producer or media professional, transcripts are essential for creative writing and video production — even marketing. (Transcripts can be re-purposed into marketing content and copy).

You can also use the text copy of your video as the source material for your translations and captions, which is a more a powerful consumption method. More people prefer watching with captions. Think of how many shows thrive on Netflix versus other platforms.

For more information on how you can use transcripts as a filmmaking hack, see the 4 Ways Modern Filmmakers Use Transcripts to Create Successful Productions.

Are you searching for a transcription partner? Order a transcript from Scribie today!

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.

The Key Element of a Perfect Social Video (For Mobile Audiences)

Allan CaegLeave a comment
The Key Elements of a Perfect Social Video (For Mobile Audiences)

You invest in quality video content and believe that you have every key ingredient for the perfect video covered. You may be right.

Except that you could be forgetting about a very important audience: mobile viewers. As a mobile-savvy creator, you may have already optimized your content for this audience, but it’s also smart to check in with changing mobile viewing behavior.

Remember the last time you saw your analytics page for the total no. of views? Studies reveal that 51% of all videos are being played on mobile. For Twitter, that goes up to 93 percent! Imagine, over half of those views would be coming from a mobile device.

How do you set apart your vlog, trailer, promo video, or product reviews from other online marketers, 87% of them, who also invest in video content the same way? If you’re sharing your videos on social accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter, you’ll need to know how you can capture a mobile audience.

The Perfect Social Video

Let’s begin with a recap to cover some general rules for creating and sharing social videos with your mobile viewership in mind.

First, be conscious of the platform. Before creating your content, consider what type of content engages a platform’s particular audience. Facebook tends to have a more diverse audience, for example.

Then, you should optimize your video for your channels’ recommended specs. You can use a 1 : 1 aspect ratio to save time. Square videos generally work well with most platforms and tend to appear larger, taking up 78% more social media feed real estate.

Also, most platforms like it when you upload directly to their channel, and you’ll be rewarded for posting natively. Your video appears more prominent and you enjoy up to 10x more organic shares.

The Rise of Silent Watching

There are a number of compelling reasons why someone would watch with the sound off. They may be in an environment, like in an office or a noisy public space, where it’s not possible to have the sound on. Perhaps, the deluge of noise coming from one video after another in the feed drives them to turn the sound off.

“Sound is still an option [on Facebook], but it’s not required,” said Rye Clifton, director of experience at GSD&M. “If you can make something compelling without needing people to turn the audio on, you’re ahead of people who are not thinking that way.”

Facebook only counts a view after three seconds, so you’ll need to grab mobile users’ attention during the first few seconds. This means, even if it’s without sound.

Although “silent watching” may have become the de facto standard, that doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to get your point across anymore.

According to MEC North America, around 85-90% of their clients’ video views are silent. Yet, that doesn’t equate to less engagement. Internal studies by the agency revealed that KPIs, including brand lift and intent to purchase, remained unaffected by on or off sound.

Case Studies

For inspiration, check out some of these social pages and how they approach video creation and publishing. Many of these examples are from this article by Digiday UK.

Feel-good site LittleThings averages 150 million monthly views on Facebook and 85% watch without turning on the sound. See this great example.

LittleThings uses fun graphics that help capture mobile viewers’ attention, and they add subtitles to become more accessible. Since some of their videos are unscripted they transcribe them after it has been produced.

Another successful case study is the millennial news site Mic. They average 150 million monthly views, with 85% of its 30-second views are also without sound.

Reshma Saujani reveals why women should stop sending perfect emails

The way men send emails vs. women reveals a lot about sexism in America.Reshma Saujani explains why this needs to change. Buy her book here: https://amzn.to/2IlSAoK

Posted by Mic on Friday, April 5, 2019

Source: Mic

PopSugar shares that their silent video views are between 50 to 80%. Check out how their video below can be understood without dialogue or audio.

7 Hidden Surprises You'll Uncover When You're Tidying Up Your Home

Keeping up with the everyday messes with Swiffer can make the big cleaning days a lot easier — trust us!

Posted by PopSugar on Thursday, April 4, 2019

Source: PopSugar

NowThis is another page with posts that have gone viral. The news source also utilizes captions to relay news and become accessible to a wider audience.

Barack Obama Pays Tribute to NBA Star Dwyane Wade as He Retires

'Whenever you got knocked down, you always showed us how to get back up.' — Watch Obama's heartfelt tribute to Dwyane Wade as he says goodbye to the NBA

Posted by NowThis Sports on Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Source: NowThis

The Case for Captions

As a great majority of views are happening in silence, your videos on social need subtitling more than ever.

You’ll observe that videos on news feeds showcase subtitles that narrate on-screen dialogue. Although most still retain the background music or audio, subtitles help make your content easier to consume and understand from wherever your viewers may be watching, at home or on-the-go.

How do the subtitled videos compare to video content without them?

Here’s why captions are critical. 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.

Adding Subtitles to Instantly Enhance Social Videos

A deterrent for many video producers and content creators when it comes to adding captions can be the cost for closed captioning services. However subtitle service providers, like Scribe, charge for as low as $.10/min.

You may be worried about finding a good captioning service to become your production partner for a one-time transcription or long-term partnership. See the important things to look for in How to Select the Best Video Captioning Service: 5 Key Considerations.

Another issue for you may be uploading the captions to videos on your platform. You actually don’t have to manually add and edit the captions for each video on every platform. There’s an easy way to directly upload your caption to social, including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and others.

You can streamline the process through these 3 basic steps:

  1. Create a text file in the proper file format (.srt or .vtt)
  2. Upload the file directly to your platform or video editor.
  3. Done! Your video now has captions.

You’ll find more detailed instruction for adding captions to social videos here: How to Caption Videos for Instagram, Facebook and Other Social Platforms.

You’re aware of the importance of a great social media video strategy. But, are you doing what it takes to see positive results considering mobile viewing behavior? It might help to re-evaluate content strategy every now and then to see what you can improve.

Reach more mobile viewers by adding subtitles to your social videos. Get subtitles from Scribie today!

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.

How to Caption Videos for Instagram, Facebook and Other Social Platforms

Allan CaegLeave a comment
watching video together

Whether you’re a social media influencer or marketer, your aim is to see your channels grow and videos go viral.

You’re probably noticing how recently, plenty of Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube videos include captions. With more people viewing videos on their mobile devices, most of them prefer to watch social media without sound. In fact, studies show that 85 percent of social videos are watched with the sound off.

There are also around 466 million people around the world who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Adding captions to your videos on social platforms is one way to connect more meaningfully with your audience. Besides accessibility, your captioned videos rank higher your on search engines and can be repurposed to promote and boost your channel.

Captions are perfect for news, vlogs, memes, tutorials, music videos, brand commercials, and almost any other kind of social video.

For those with little time to manually transcribe videos, you may be surprised at how low-cost, fast, and easy it is to caption your videos. No matter where you intend to post them, you can directly add and upload captions to social media videos, with the help of closed captioning services.

So, we’ve created this all-in-one, beginner-friendly guide for how to add captions for videos on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, or any other social network.

First, Create a Text File with Your Captions

Whenever you add captions to any platform, you have the option to upload captions via a text file in an SRT or VTT file format. This is the easiest way to go if you quickly want to add captions in bulk.

We recommend that you have an SRT or VTT file ready for any time you plan to add subtitles to your videos. The text file will include a transcript of your video with timestamps, such as the one below from ITS.

Source: ITS

Creating a text file before adding captions to your video greatly simplifies the entire process.

You won’t have to manually type in each caption or correct any errors on the platform itself, which is time-consuming and cumbersome. Plus, you’ll own a text copy of your video, which can be handy.

You can order a transcript from closed captioning services, like Scribie, and receive copies in different file formats, including SRT and VTT files for uploading captions.

How to order your captions from Scribie:

It’s fast and easy to get supported formats containing your captions from Scribie. Here’s how in 3 steps:

  1. Import your video file or link.
  2. Pay as little as $0.10 per audio minute.
  3. Download your captions in different file formats.

Once you have your text file, you can upload it to a wide range of social and video editing platforms to automatically add captions to videos.

Order your captions from Scribie today! Get text copies of your video in various file formats.

How to Add Video Captions for Facebook

To add captions to Facebook videos, you’ll first need to enable captions to show up in your video settings. Check your settings by going to the “Video Settings” section. From there, you can customize your Captions Display, including text size, background color, etc.

You can then add captions through your SRT file created outside of Facebook, which can also be used across a variety of mediums. (Creating SRT files can be done in a jiffy. See previous section for an easy how-to guide.)

When you upload your video, you will see different options for optimizing your post. Select the “Captions” tab, and you can upload your SRT file there as you’ll see in the image below.

Source: Idea Rocket

You can also add captions to a Facebook video that’s already posted. The process for this is very similar to when you upload the video.

On your already published post, there is a bar for the “edit video” setting. Once you access this setting, go to the “captions” section to “upload SRT file”. Then, select your .srt file, and hit upload.

How to Caption Videos for Instagram

Adding captions to Instagram is a bit more complicated.

Unlike Facebook or YouTube which have built-in editors, you won’t be able to upload captions directly from Instagram’s platform. You’ll need to use another software to “burn” your captions into the video first, aka a technique called “open captioning”.

So here’s what you do.

  1. First, create your text copy using Scribie to easily upload captions.
  2. Copy/paste or upload your text file captions into a video editing tool.
  3. Download and publish to Instagram.

You can easily upload your file to add subtitles through a free online video editing tool like Kapwing. You can also edit videos online through Rocketium, or Reevio. You may use multi-purpose desktop apps, such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Windows Movie Make, iMovie, or Final Cut Pro X.

Related: Why Captions are Critical for YouTube [Statistics]

The Simplest Way to Add Captions to YouTube

There is a way you can effortlessly create accurate, high-quality captions and add them to Youtube–all from one platform.

Scribie has a feature that integrates YouTube with the platform.

Here’s how you can import your YouTube videos and directly upload your .srt files to your YouTube video from Scribie.com.

First, you can enter the YouTube link or import a video file.

Afterward, you can hit “order transcript” to receive captions which are downloadable in various file formats, including .doc, PDF, SRT and VTT files. (Scribie’s rates for transcription are among the lowest at $0.10 per audio minute.)

Once the transcribed files are ready for download, click on the “Save to YouTube” button next to the .srt file. A pop up will ask you to enter the YouTube URL of the video.

Hit “Upload”…and Voila! Your captions have now been directly added to your video.

Over to You

Captions help promote your social video, repurpose content, and increase SEO ranking and accessibility to a wider community.

You don’t have to DIY the transcription of your video and painstakingly manually edit to add captions. Focus on other tasks that boost your channel, instead. Delegate this task by ordering transcripts from closed captioning services that simplify the process.

Get your video captions and upload them to socials from Scribie. Order a transcript today!

3 Ways to Add Captions to Your YouTube Videos

Allan Caeg1 Comment
3 Ways to Add Captions to Your YouTube Videos

As a content creator on YouTube, you want to see your channel grow.

Your success on YouTube can be greatly affected by adding captions to your videos.

It can act as a secret weapon to promoting your videos on different channels, repurposing content, ranking higher on search engines, and making your videos accessible to a wider community.

In fact, PLYMedia found that subtitled videos increase view time by more than 12% and are watched an average 91% to completion. On the other hand, videos without subtitles are only watched 66% to completion. When subtitles are included, 80% more people watch videos to completion.

See more interesting stats for why captions matter for YouTube.

You may think that adding captions to your YouTube videos is a huge investment in effort and cost, however, it can be quite easy and reasonably-priced!

Find out how to add captions to YouTube and your videos, whether you like being hands on doing-it-yourself or prefer outsourcing to specialists. Here are 3 different efficient and cost-effective ways for captioning, including numerous methods and tools for each.

Learn more about DIY options, automatic transcription software, and closed caption services for generating your video captions.

Let Scribie do the work. Order transcripts of your YouTube videos or upload subtitles to your videos.

Do-It-Yourself

One way of adding captions is to manually enter them into systems. You can write captions yourself into video editing software, such as YouTube’s video editor, Final Cut Pro X or Compressor.

In Final Cut Pro X, you can create captions for your video right in the timeline, or you can import them into your project through a text file. If you’re adding captions in your video editor, you can adjust, arrange, and edit them in the timeline. You can then share the video with embedded captions and publish on YouTube.

However, the manual method of typing and editing to perfection can be slow-moving and inconvenient. There is also a potential for more errors in your captions.

Another way to DIY captions is to create an SRT or VTT file. You can create these files in a number of different ways, such as in a text editor or through YouTube.

If you’re looking to add captions to your YouTube video, or other platform, they usually require specific file formats, like an SRT or VTT format. These are plain-text files that contain timestamps next to your text to ensure that your subtitles are displayed at the right time in your video.

Besides YouTube, SRT and VTT files will also work with most platforms and social media sites. All you’ll need is a single SRT or VTT file and you can upload it to your video on multiple platforms.

To create a text file, open your text editor (for Mac) or Notepad (for Windows), start a new document, type out the words, and make a note of timings. See the format here.

You can add SRT file subtitles to your videos with video editing software like Camtasia. This will mean that the subtitles will be hardcoded into your video file. A downside to this is that you won’t enjoy the SEO benefits and engagement that your shared video can otherwise enjoy with other captioning methods.

Automatic Transcriptions

Speech-to-text (STT) apps can automatically transcribe your video audio to text.

Some video editors include STT features for your video’s narration or dialogue.

Youtube also offers automatic transcription services. You can upload your video to YouTube and download the transcript.

However, the chance of automatic transcriptions coming out perfectly accurate is slim. The level of accuracy will vary based on factors like accents, background noise, and distortion. If you do decide to transcribe your video automatically for captions, you’ll have to carefully review and verify accuracy afterwards.

Closely evaluate the costs of errors and additional work required. Also, note that YouTube’s auto transcripts are reportedly not indexed by Google search. So, you won’t be able to take advantage of the SEO benefits of captioning.

If you’re getting captions for your promo video or personal vlog, you might as well add captions that have SEO value.

Manual Transcription Services

You can also completely hand off the task.

Without having to deal with erroneous automated captions or creating and adding captions yourself, you can hire professional transcribers, instead.

Order manual transcription online from Scribie or other similar services. (Scribie has the lowest flat rates, charged per audio minute, with the most feature-packed plans.) On Scribie, you can even download a file copy containing your captions and directly upload your captions to YouTube.

However, other transcription companies, like Rev or GoTranscript, require complicated processes and leave the caption uploading task to you.

Here’s a quick rundown of how you can add captions to YouTube with Scribie:

  1. Easily import your YouTube link or video file.
  2. Order a transcript.
  3. Once transcribed files are ready, hit on the “Save to YouTube” button.

Voilà!

Your captions have now been added to your video.

Ordering captions from transcription services ensure that your caption’s accuracy is 98% and above.

Over to You

Considering the deaf and hard-of-hearing, playing a video with sound isn’t always a possibility, as well. That’s why up to 85 percent of social videos are watched without sound.

If you want to create and directly add captions to your published YouTube videos, Scribie saves you time, money, and effort. Get video captions when you need it, and pay as you go.

Request a transcript and Scribie gives you an SRT or VTT text file version of your video content within a few hours or less. With YouTube integration, you can directly upload files to videos from Scribie.

Ready to try Scribie? Order a transcript or add captions to your YouTube videos today!

Why Captions are Critical for YouTube [Statistics]

Allan CaegLeave a comment
Why Captions Matter to YouTube Creators [Statistics]

You continuously invest in your YouTube channel. You produce great content, invest in distribution, work on SEO, and more. How else might you optimize your channel?

Through statistics, we’ll explore what your YouTube reach looks like. Get a general sense of key YouTube data points, creator statistics, impact of accessibility, and more. We’ll expound on the results that you’d expect if you religiously add captions to your YouTube videos.

Adding captions to a YouTube video provides SEO advantages and increases watch time, as well as boosts engagement and accessibility to a bigger audience. So, the question remains. Why don’t more YouTube creators caption their content?

YouTube Key Data Points Creators Should Know

Although Google has never disclosed the total number of videos hosted on the global network, we know that it’s changed the way we find, consume, and share information.

Youtube attracts a major chunk of internet users. (Up to ⅓ of internet users go on YouTube.) After all, YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine.

With over 50% of YouTube views come from mobile devices, you’ve probably also noticed that half of your YouTube views come from a mobile device. Have you optimized your video content for this mobile audience?

What YouTubers Are Doing

Currently, there are 50 million creators and over 5 billion videos shared on Youtube.

With the astounding number of YouTube creators uploading content, it’s amazing how many of their videos are now being captioned.

Every minute, 400 hours of video are uploaded, and a whopping 1 billion videos now include captions.

Adding captions is a move towards accessibility, as well as a smart business move. Captions help attract a wider community, increase watch time and shares, and boosts your ranking. See how repurposing content can also boost your channel.

Why Accessibility Matters

It’s time to set a universal standard for accessibility. How many people have visited your channel and left without complaining because of its inaccessibility?

Invest in video captions to reach that sizeable audience. Captions are essential to ensuring that your videos are accessible to the wider public.

Source: uscreen

Although more YouTube creators are placing effort into creating more accessible content, many are still turning a blind eye, too.

How People Are Watching YouTube Videos

YouTube captions benefit more than those who need them for accessibility.

Of the 7.5 million people in the UK who use closed captions, only 1.5 million were deaf or hard of hearing. This means that viewers use closed captions for reasons other than difficulty hearing.

Turning the sound on isn’t always a possibility. Others, prefer to watch without sound. Captions can help capture this audience segment who watch without sound. In fact, 85 percent of social videos are watched with the sound off.

Over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos are being watched per day, more than Netflix and Facebook video combined. With 500 million of those YouTube views on mobile devices, more YouTube videos can be enjoyed in various settings.

Conveniently generate text to promote and enhance your videos (with Scribie’s native YouTube integration). Get captions for your YouTube video now!

Your viewers may be consuming your content while taking a quick break in the office, out commuting in an environment with heavy background noise, or simply at home beside their sleeping baby.

People are also watching videos longer. The average viewing Session is 40 minutes, which is up 50% year-over-year. However, 20% of YouTube users will leave a video within the first 10 seconds if it hasn’t hooked them in.

The Impact of Captions on Your YouTube Channel

How do the statistics of videos with captions compare to video content without subtitles?

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.

Source: uscreen

In terms of engagement, subtitles also increase social reach and elicit better responses. They boost video shares by 15%. There are also 17% better reactions and 26% more call-to-action click-throughs.

Captions increase engagement and engagement ratio is a key ranking factor for YouTube videos.

In terms of rankings, subtitles also boost your SEO and position in search results or as a suggested video.

YouTuber Leron Amin shares that:

Adding captions to my YouTube video added an additional 1,046 words and 393 indexable search terms. Best of all, my target keyword density increased by 68 terms (Green), and my keyword diversity increased by 12 terms (orange).

Captions also improve comprehension. Subtitles were regarded as “generally very effective in making programmes understood”. Up to 7 in 10 YouTube viewers use the platform for help with their work, studies, or hobbies. This helps viewers absorb your video content’s message better.

Earnings also increase. Adding captions could lead to a 7.32% increase in views. This translates into an increase in earnings of $890.93, from $12.171.29 to $13,062.22.

Over to You

There are plenty of ways you can add captions to your YouTube videos, whether manually or through YouTube’s automatic captions.

Take note: YouTube’s automatic (CC) captions do not get indexed, which is another reason why it is critical to add your own.

According to former YouTube product manager Bob Ellis, “We don’t [index] the automatic captions today. I hope that we will down the road, but it’s a trade-off with the quality. If you upload captions yourself to any YouTube video, we do index that. That is searched.”

Unfortunately, YouTube’s automatic captions are also often filled with numerous errors.

For fast, easy, and accurate captions, Scribie offers transcription services with integrated features that directly upload your captions to YouTube.

Boost your YouTube channel through captions and transcripts. Import your YouTube video now to add captions.

How to Get More Youtube Views by Maximizing Your Existing Videos

Allan CaegLeave a comment
How to Get More Youtube Views by Maximizing Your Existing Videos

As a YouTube creator, you want more subscribers, watch time, views, and clicks to your website.

Ultimately, your success on YouTube either helps you generate ad revenue or promote your brand (whether you’re selling bags, cosmetics, or business tools). Given your goals, how do you grow your YT channel in 2019 and beyond?

I’ll discuss actionable steps and YouTube insider tricks that can help instantly boost your view count.

Discover how you can promote your videos on different channels, repurpose content, and why getting transcripts of your videos are a Youtuber’s secret weapon.

The Value of Text

You trust written content. After all, despite Google’s speech recognition powers, SEO still relies on the written word.

As a result, you strive to write and remix your video content into metadata (title, description, tags, etc)… or you just completely miss out on these optimization and distribution opportunities.

Because you’ve invested so much in producing your videos, you want to make sure that they’re found! If they fall on deaf ears, that ultimately hurts your mission and bottom line.

At the moment, you could be working on YouTube on your own or occasionally getting help. In this article, I’ll expound on the kind of help that you can get from professionals who specialize in areas that you would rather (and should) delegate.

Let Scribie’s professionals do the work. Order transcripts of your YouTube videos or upload subtitles to your videos.

What YouTube Looks like in 2019

We know we’re preaching to the choir. You’ve been publishing regularly (perhaps for more than a year now). In any case, let’s revisit the value of YouTube and what the landscape looks like. These facts, trends, and statistics enable us to review your opportunities.

You might know that YouTube is the 2nd(!) most popular search engine. Coincidentally, did you also know that YouTube is the 2nd most popular website on earth (at the time of writing)?

Given its influence, the leading video platform happens to be a lucrative income source (directly or indirectly). How much can YouTubers make? Typically composed of small teams or solo creators, top YouTubers are worth between $10M to $20M. Looking at the other side of the spectrum, businesses like Adobe and Cisco depend on YouTube as a marketing channel.

In other words, YouTube isn’t going down. You’re investing in the right place so you better double down.

How Transcription Services Can Change Your YouTube Game

As mentioned before, you can’t ignore the value of text. As Youtubers, you’ll still need to input text, whether as video captions, in your description and tags, or even when sharing videos on your social accounts.

A transcript of your YouTube video allows you to repurpose content. Why is repurposing content so magical?

First of all, you save time. You get to promote more even when creating less.

According to Buffer, you can repurpose the content in your video to get an SEO boost, reach more audiences, gain authority, and reinforce your message.

All The Ways You Can Repurpose Your YT Video

Through a transcription service that will turn your recordings into text, like Scribie, you can repurpose your video content in a multitude of ways. Awesome, yes?

Adding the (tiresome but essential) metadata like tags and descriptions to your YouTube video becomes easier.

This also lets you distribute your content to a multitude of channels. Use the text version of your video recording to create:

  • new blog posts and articles,
  • a presentation,
  • social media posts,
  • Quora answers,
  • emails,
  • an ebook, and more!

You can also use the text to add subtitles/captions to your videos and become more accessible to a wider audience, as well as boost watch time and your viewer’s experience.

Beef Up YouTube Video Descriptions

Optimizing the metadata or descriptions in your YouTube videos increase the chances of you being found online. Add the right keywords, including LSI keywords, and tags to help your SEO and to rank higher on search results. (LSI keywords are keywords related to your main keyword.)

Here’s how: Plug your transcript into a word cloud (like this) to discover keywords and tags you can use for YouTube SEO.

Check out this interview by Video Influencers which nicely sums up what I’ve been talking about.

Youtuber Daniel suggests these three YouTube hacks to skyrocket your views.

1. LSI Keywords

Besides using your main keywords in your title and such, use LSI keywords in your description. LSI keywords are additional bits of information that relate to your actual content or keyword topic.

For example, if your main keyword is “transcription services”, LSI keywords can include “transcription software”, “human transcription services”, “best transcription services”, etc.

2. Share Function on YouTube

Source: Video Influencers

Don’t stick to one platform.

YouTube is competitive. You’ll need to promote, be social, and push your content out on as many channels and platforms to get the most eyeballs.

Create accounts based on the various platforms available on YouTube’s Share function, and share your video on all of these as it goes live. Use your transcript to create captions or blog posts for sharing. Cherry pick sentences from the transcript to turn into social posts. Turn the transcript into draft points for your blog post.

YouTube loves the backlinking, helping with your views and ranking. Plus, your building communities and exposing more to your content.

3. Suggested Videos

You may want to rank on the first page, but it’s also all about the suggested videos sidebar right now. To get on that sidebar, find the top results for your main keyword on YouTube, get their channel names, and use them as the last two tags of your video. This signals YouTube that your content is similar to theirs.

Cool hacks, right?

How to Upload Your Captions Directly to YouTube

Adding subtitles or captions to your YouTube videos help more viewers enjoy your content. This ultimately boosts watch time and engagement.

With captions, your audience can watch your videos on the bus, in a busy cafe, or wherever they are that may not be as conducive to YouTube watching. It also opens up your content to a more global audience.

Through Scribie, you can directly upload captions to your YouTube video in a few steps:

  1. Add your YouTube URL to import your video on Scribie.
  2. Verify and hit Order Transcript.
  3. Once the transcribed files are ready, click on the “Save to YouTube” button next to the other save options.
  4. Enter the YouTube URL of the video in the pop-up.
  5. Authorize Scribie to upload the captions to your channel.

That’s it! Your captions will then be added to the video on Youtube.

See more detailed instructions and screenshots of the step-by-step process of adding subtitles using Scribie.

Over to You

Start turning your YouTube videos intro transcripts and make it a habit.

You don’t have to do it yourself. Scribie can be your transcription partner for text versions of your video content and for adding captions to your YouTube videos.

After investing in creating a transcript, fuel the discipline of repurposing, promoting your content, and implementing SEO.

Ready to try Scribie? Order a transcript or add captions to your YouTube videos today!

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.