Positive steps when choosing transcription services

Since my last blog I thought it would be useful to list some positive steps in choosing the right transcription services.

Like anything these days one has to be careful when choosing the right transcription services provider for your project. Searching randomly on the internet is a gamble. You could be lucky enough to find a good transcription services provider, in which case treat their details like gold dust and keep them safe OR you could end up with a sub-standard transcription.

Here are some positive steps which may help in your selection process:

Check who will be transcribing your audio
Will it go to more than one transcriber
Is the transcriber a native English speaker
Is there a sample transcript to show an example of work
Check what's included in the price – e.g. some companies charge more for verbatim transcription
Will the completed transcript be proof read against the audio for accuracy

If you find a good transcription services provider, keep the details so you can use them in the future and recommend them to your friends and colleagues.

If you work in a company share details of trusted service providers with your colleagues. Perhaps a database, resource page or a Linked in account could be used for this purpose. My Linked in account is here.

Encourage colleagues to check there first before searching randomly on the internet.

So those are just a few steps. If I can think of anything else I'll add it later. However, if you would like to discuss your transcription project with me please feel free to contact me at King Audio Transcription & Typing Services.

Choose the right transcription services and save money

I was approached by a new client this month who had used a random transcription services provider for interview transcription. He had two interviews to transcribe one of which he had already had transcribed by the provider. Fortunately for the client, the transcription service provider was unable to transcribe his second interview so he came to me at King Audio Transcription & Typing Services.

When I had completed the interview transcription and returned the transcript, the client telephoned me to say he was really pleased with the quality and speed of my transcription. He said he had only just had a chance to look at the transcript provided by the other service provider and there were whole sentences omitted from the transcript with no markers indicating this. He said overall it was of very poor quality and of little use to him with so many omissions so he asked me to transcribe that interview as well.

Unfortunately for for the client he ended up paying twice for one of his interview transcriptions, which obviously is not a good situation for anyone to be in. He could have saved money if he had come across King Audio Transcription & Typing Services in the first instance.

In my opinion the audio was clear and audible and there were no strong accents so it is difficult to understand how the other transcription company missed out so much in their transcript.

At King Audio Transcription & Typing Services the following is standard practice:

I always try to ensure that my transcriptions are as complete as possible and generally, providing the audio and speakers are clear, this can be achieved. However, I don’t want to be unrealistic here, sometimes words can be obscured by background noises for instance a cough or a laugh, so sometimes it is not possible to get every word spoken in which case a marker will be placed in the transcript at that point to indicate this.

I always research names and technical terms on the internet to ensure correct spellings where information is available online.

Quality control is ensured by carefully proof reading transcripts against the original audio.

King Audio Transcription & Typing Services offer competitive rates and all transcription is carried out by me in the UK.

You are welcome to visit the King Audio Transcription & Typing Services website and email or call me for a no obligation quotation. You can also follow me on Twitter at KATTS03.

Interview transcription example

Today I have transcribed an interview that I saw on a CNBC video at The New York Times to give an example of my interview transcription. If you click the link you will be given the option to open or save the transcript, which is in Word 2000 format.

I hope this goes some way to demonstrate the quality of KATTS’ interview transcription. I chose an interview in the public domain as an example as all interview transcription carried out by KATTS is treated with confidentiality.

KATTS offers a range of interview transcription services including:

One-to-one interviews
Multi-speaker interviews
Telephone interviews
Oral history interviews
Research interviews
Television and radio interviews
Recorded conversations

All interview transcription is carried out by me, Sarah King, in the United Kingdom. I ensure that each interview transcript is proof read carefully against the original audio. This is included in the quoted price and not added on as an extra charge.

KATTS offers flexible interview transcription. Speakers can be identified by name or initials or simply I = interviewer and P = participant. An interview template can be supplied by KATTS or alternatively the client can supply their own template for use in the interview transcription.

Interviews can be transcribed verbatim including every utterance like ‘umm’ and ‘err’ at no extra charge. Alternatively these utterances can be omitted from the interview transcript.

For more information about interview transcription visit KATTS’ interview transcription page.

New transcription services website

Towards the end of last year I was busily working on my website at King Audio Transcription & Typing Services and spent hours and hours coding. I’m really pleased with the results. I prefer sites with a clean interface and that’s what I’ve gone for with the KATTS website.

There are now several new pages on the website covering:

Interview transcription
Conference transcription
University transcription
Legal transcription
Focus group transcription

There are also pages covering:

Verbatim transcription
Minutes transcription
Dictation transcription
What’s included in the price
How to procure transcription services