You might be a journalist who is into interviewing various personalities and officials. You might be a student who would like to record lectures to create notes and refer to them at a later date. You have tons of audio recordings that you need to transcribe, paraphrase, and proofread before finalizing the complete text. Transcribing audio files can be an uphill task especially when you are trying to capture the essence of the interviewee and get the context right. You need a lot of patience to listen to every word and jot it down carefully. A half-an-hour or a one-hour audio file can take around 4 to 5 hours to transcribe. This article will guide you about how to transcribe an interview and provide you with an easy way out.
How to Transcribe an Interview?
This segment will deal with the art of manual transcription and how to get it right in a methodical manner.
Segment The Interview Duration Into Small Portions
In case, your interview audio file is of 1 hour or more, it will be beneficial for you to segment the file into small durations. You can divide the audio file into small portions of 10 minutes and focus on transcribing 1 small part at a time. After you are done transcribing and proofreading the first 10-minute segment, you can jump on to the next portion. Handling small portions at a time will reduce errors and improve the quality of the transcription.
Break Into Paragraphs When A New Point Comes Up
During the interview, it is normal for the interviewee to speak in a flow and talk about many ideas. It will be better if you can manage to allot separate paragraphs for major points or new ideas. The interview script will look lucid and neat. There is a possibility that you might not understand certain words due to a lack of audio clarity. So what you can do is understand the entire context and paraphrase those words whose meanings will be closest to what the speaker had meant.
Paraphrasing and Grammatical Error Corrections
Once the transcription is done, read the text and reconstruct the sentences to make them grammatically appropriate. There are certain applications which help in spotting grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Run your transcript through these applications to ensure that your interview text is grammatically sound with correct spellings.
Ensure That The Filler Words Are Removed
In verbal conversation, it is natural for the speaker to put in a lot of filler words like So you know’, I know’;I mean’,;So’,;And’;Um’, and lots more. Please take care to remove these filler words and put in some meaningful conjunctions, prepositions, or pronouns, whichever seems suitable.
It is true that manual transcription can take a lot of time and energy. Sitting and listening to the audio files for hours and then jotting it down can drain the energy out of you. There is an easy way out of this.
You can try automatic transcription using Audext.com.
How To Transcribe An Interview Using Audext.Com?
Audext is a blessing in disguise for all the journalists, students, and corporate houses that need to transcribe tons of audio files for business purposes. This app is equipped with AI that helps in faster conversion of audio to text. What used to take you hours will be completed within a matter of minutes. What’s more? Audext has its own Editor feature that will help you in identifying incorrect words and replace them with the appropriate ones.
Here is a step by step process about how you can transcribe an interview using Audext:
Set-up an Account with Audext.com
You can use Audext either with your Gmail ID or you can set up a separate account in this platform. Every virtual visitor who wants to check its features can have a 30 minutes free trial session.
Insert The Audio File
Audext has a dedicated area where you can simply drop the saved audio file and upload it for the software to do its magic. Make sure you mention the speaker’s name in the given editable box.
Edit the Text As per Suggestions
As soon as you upload the audio file, Audext will convert it into text within minutes. It also has its own built-in Editor that will help in throwing useful suggestions about sentence reconstruction or word replacement. Go through the text carefully and edit wherever required based on the suggestions. You will find that each word corresponds with the portion in the audio file.
Please note that Audext does not do reverse transcribing of text to audio. Make sure that your audio file does not have any serious background noise or music. This software will not be able to transcribe in that case. Also, it cannot convert video files into text.
Audext is an absolute boon for journalists, students, psychologists, to name a few. It can help in the transcription of podcasts, press conferences, lectures, voice memos recorded through phone, and any other compatible audio file. Go give it a try!
