What Will My Transcript Look Like?

When first investigating transcription services, most people realize that they aren’t quite sure exactly what their investment in a transcript will deliver.

Following a little bit of investigation, people often become even more confused after seeing the wide variation in pricing. There are many different transcription companies and different transcription services, so it’s important to know what you’re paying for.

You are likely to wonder, do these price points reflect serious differences in outcome? Will an expensive transcript look different from one that comes at little or no cost?

The quick answer is yes. The price variations reflect differences in the presentation of your transcript as well as the content. Fundamentally, your transcript will be a text-based reflection of your audio recording. However, there’s a lot of variety when it comes to transcripts. You could receive anything from a document that resembles the script of a play, replete with timestamps, notes on tone, laughter and pauses, to a string of barely legible gibberish.

The reality is that your transcript can be adapted to your requirements, it just comes down to cost. It’s up to you to determine the best transcription solution for your needs. Here are some tips to help you choose the transcript that’s right for you.

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) Software

The real divide in audio and video transcription services is between those that rely on human transcribers and those that solely use automated speech recognition (ASR). Speech-to-text software has come a long way in recent years. As a result, ASR is a viable budget-friendly option for some use cases, particularly when speed is a priority. However, ASR is unable to deliver the same level of quality, consistency, or reliability that human-based transcription services offer.

What you get when using ASR programs is also highly dependent on the quality of your audio recording. A high-quality recording of someone speaking slowly and clearly without background noise is likely to produce relatively clean results. Even in those cases, ASR alone can’t achieve the level of accuracy necessary for most industries including legal, education and market research. ASR will offer you accurate time-stamping and sometimes has speaker identification features. You’ll be able to go back through and clean up the transcript, but this process is very time-consuming.

ASR services are cheap and some are even free. However, paid services generally deliver better results and offer more security features like encrypted storage. It is, therefore, worth investigating the options available based on your specific project requirements.

Customized Options with Human Transcription Services

Human and hybrid transcription services are more expensive as they offer greater levels of accuracy and overall quality. If you are willing to wait for long turnaround times and don’t require optional extras like time-stamping or the identification of speakers you are likely to get a reduced rate. Also, you’ll find variable pricing models based on audio quality and other complicating factors.

If looking for a low-cost human transcription service, audio quality matters almost as much as it does with ASR. The difference, however, is that with human transcription service, poor audio quality will simply drive up costs, not result in poor outcomes.

Human and hybrid services offer a variety of transcription types and customization options. You will often be able to include specific notes about formatting, important segments of the recording, how you would like speakers identified and anything else you can think of. However, there are two main categories of formatting and level of detail delivered by human transcription services: Verbatim and Intelligent Verbatim.

Verbatim Transcripts

Verbatim transcripts include every detail. These transcripts are the accurate version of what software-based services attempt to deliver. With verbatim transcripts, you get a word-for-word, exact account of an audio file. Standard verbatim transcripts remove redundancies, ‘umms’, ‘errs’ and other quirks of speech that are difficult to read. Transcribers can create a smooth reading experience that still retains a high level of detail and authenticity.

Intelligent Verbatim Transcripts

Intelligent Verbatim transcripts undergo an increased level of editing to provide a cleaner output that’s quicker and easy to review. This format is particularly helpful for market research projects or sessions where you have a chair or leader. Transcribers will summarize the questions and moderator input and remove all off-topic small talk. However, the participants’ responses are recorded word for word. The resulting transcript provides all the detail you need without any irrelevant information. You are often able to provide notes on the type of information that is most important or opt to have segments transcribed with more detail. For instance, you might want to highlight specific quotes or subject matters.

Examples of What Your Transcript Might Look Like

Verbatim Transcript

(00:01)

Reader: That is great. But, what I really need is an example. I am a visual learner. Abstract explanations are just not nearly as good at conveying meaning as simply being able to see something in action.

Thomas: No problem, I can perfectly understand. Full-verbatim transcripts deliver everything that is said, in exact detail.

Reader: And speaker identification will cost more?

Thomas: Yeah. And so do the annotations  — but, what matters is what is important to the end result.

(00:05)

Reader: I understand, it would be more time-consuming to produce.

Thomas: As you can see, full-verbatim transcripts include the complexities of speech and annotations on pauses represented by full stops. With simple verbatim, that wouldn’t be there. And a detailed notes transcript would be quite different. The frequency of timestamps and the presence of speaker identification are optional.

Intelligent Verbatim Transcript

(00:01)

Reader: Requests to see examples to better understand

Thomas: No problem, I can perfectly understand. Full-verbatim transcripts deliver everything that is said, in exact detail.

Reader: Speaker identification costs more?

Thomas: Yeah. And so do the annotations  — but, what matters is what is important to the end result. As you can see, full-verbatim transcripts include the complexities of speech and annotations on pauses represented by full stops. With simple verbatim, that wouldn’t be there. And a detailed notes transcript would be quite different. The frequency of timestamps and the presence of speaker identification are optional.

ASR (medium audio quality)

(00:01)

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B: yeah and so do the annotations but it just matters on what is important to the end result it wood,

(00:05)

A: It understand it would be more time-consuming to produce.

B: As you can as you can see, with full-verbatim, full-verbatim transcripts include the complexities of speech and annotations on pauses represented clearly by full stops. With smile verbatim, that wouldn’t be there with verbatim. And a detailed notes transcript would be quite different. Tree present of times and speaking identical are operational.

Summary: Your Transcript Can Be Customized

Fundamentally, there is a lot of variability in what quality transcription services deliver.

The first decision you need to make is whether or not you can use ASR services and cope with errors or have someone make corrections. There is a huge cost differential, and your willingness to spend time editing can save you a lot of money while still getting accurate transcriptions. With human transcription services, you’ll receive a transcript that’s ready to use straight away. Here at Verbit Go, we have the experience and expertise to consistently deliver accuracy levels of 99%+. Double proofreading is also available when accuracy is paramount and you need levels of 99.9%.

A good professional transcription service not only delivers quality but also offers options. You can choose levels of detail, getting anything from an annotated verbatim transcript to an edited transcript that solely focuses on the important information. Other choices include optional extras and special requests. Customization options like timestamps and speaker identification aren’t always included in the base rate. They may be completely unimportant to you or critical to the outcome you need. For specific needs, there are more nuanced choices like the interval length between timestamps. Additionally, some services will allow you to provide names for speaker identification while others simply identify speakers using generic letters.

Verbit offers a range of transcription services to suit your requirements, all with the same great service. In addition to more traditional transcription options, you can also opt for meeting minutes to provide an impartial, third-person account of your important meetings. Plus, if you’re unable to record your sessions, look for our live notetaking services where a transcriber will join your session as it happens. Get started by getting an instant online quote.