How to Transcribe an Interview
How to transcribe an interview - the easy way
Whether you're a journalist, a researcher, a student or a podcaster, if you're conducting interviews either as a one off or as a regular part of your job, then chances are you're also going to need an interview transcription to accompany it.
Transcribing interviews has a whole host of benefits. For starters, transcribing audio to text makes it easy to find important quotes to include in reports, articles and essays. It also helps to improve accessibility, as you can share a transcript alongside a podcast recording or add subtitles to a filmed interview to make your content accessible for those that might be deaf or hard of hearing.
In this guide we'll walk you through the fundamentals of transcribing an interview, including how to prepare before the interview has even begun, how to transcribe an interview quickly and easily, and how to edit the transcription.
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What is an interview transcript?
An interview transcript is a written (or typed) record of a conversation that took place during an interview. It captures the dialogue between the interviewer and the interviewee, so that you can easily refer back to the conversation, search for key quotes, or share it alongside the recording for improved accessibility.
How to prepare for an interview that you want to transcribe later
The clearer the recording, the easier it will be to transcribe your interview, so here are some things to consider before you get started with the interview:
- Find a quiet room
Ensure you're conducting the interview in a quiet room where background noise will be minimal. The less background noise there is, the clearer the dialogue will be, which will make it much easier to transcribe.
- Use headsets
Using headsets or a dedicated microphone will mean the quality of your audio recording will be clearer and louder than if you use the microphone built into your laptop.
- Speak slowly and clearly
Speaking slowly and clearly, ensuring that the interviewer and interviewees speak one at a time and don't interrupt one another, will make the transcription process easier.
Find out more about how to conduct a research interview or how to interview someone for an article.
How to transcribe an interview - the easy way
1. Choose your transcription software
The easiest way to transcribe an interview is with transcription software like Transcribe. Our AI-powered transcription software provides you with high quality transcriptions in a matter of minutes, potentially saving you hours of time. And since the process is automated, we can keep costs down and offer you the best possible price.
Depending on the quality of the audio and how many speakers there are, you might need to make small tweaks to the text, but this is easy to do thanks to timestamps that signal exactly where in the recording you need to skip to.
Read our step-by-step guide on how to transcribe audio using Transcribe.
2. Upload your audio or video file
With Transcribe, you can import audio and video files from any app or cloud storage system, including Google Drive and Dropbox. You can also integrate with Zoom for quick and easy transcriptions of Zoom interviews.
Supported file formats include mp3, m4a, wav, m4v, mp4, mov and avi. If your file is in a format that isn't supported, get in touch and we'll help you to convert your file.
3. Transcribe the interview recording
Once you've uploaded your interview recording, all you have to do is wait a few seconds, and you'll have a complete transcript!
4. Add speaker designation and time stamps
Transcribe will automatically separate the text based on who said what. Simply click on the speakers in the interview transcript to rename them. Your changes will be applied to the entire transcript.
5. Proofread and amend the transcript where needed
With Transcribe, you can edit the interview directly in the app or online editor, or you can export your transcript in a variety of formats, including TXT, DOCX, PDF, JPG and SRT. When you export it, you can choose to include speakers and timestamps in the transcript.
Edits might include adding the date and time and the names of the interviewer and interviewee, as well as cutting out certain irrelevant bits of dialogue.
Let's take a look at the editing process in more detail.
How to edit an interview transcription
When it comes to editing your interview transcript, there are several different levels of detail you can choose to go into. The type of interview and what the transcript is being used for will determine exactly how precise the transcript needs to be. If you're transcribing manually or using a human transcription service, then you should decide this before you start the transcription process to save time.
- Full verbatim
Full verbatim transcripts capture every single sound, including false starts, repetitions, 'ums' and 'ahs' and interruptions. This level of detail is much more difficult to capture, and isn't often necessary.
- Verbatim
Often called 'intelligent verbatim' or 'clean verbatim', the false starts, 'ums' and 'ahs' are removed to make the transcript easier to read. This is often considered the industry standard and what you would receive from a professional transcription service unless you request otherwise.
- Other
If you don't need quite as much detail from your transcript, then perhaps detailed notes or a summary would be better instead. Detailed notes go a step further than verbatim and remove any conversation that is off-topic, while a summary includes simply the main points from the interview.
Other ways to transcribe an interview
So we've seen that the best and easiest way to transcribe an interview is with the help of transcription software. But there are other ways too. The route you choose to go down will depend on a variety of factors, including the length of the interview, how much time you have to spare, and your budget.
The other options for getting an interview transcript are:
- Type it out manually
Manually transcribing the interview yourself is the cheapest option, however the process will be time-consuming. A one hour interview recording will take upwards of four hours to transcribe - that's how long it takes professionals!
Without specific transcription software, you'll also have to flick continuously between your word processing tool and your audio every time you need to pause and press play, which can really test your patience!
- Use an agency or freelancer
Another option is to pay a professional interview transcriber to transcribe your interview for you. These skilled professionals will provide you with highly accurate audio transcriptions, however these services can be costly and you might have to wait a matter of days - or even longer - for your transcript.
Example of an interview transcript
So now you know the different options available to you, and what the process of transcribing an interview looks like, let's take a look at an example of an interview transcript.
Who might benefit from an interview transcription?
Conducting interviews as part of a big project? With a transcription you can quickly and easily skim read and search for key themes and quotes to include in your essay, dissertation or thesis.
Interviews are a key component of qualitative research, and a verbatim transcript of your interviews makes it easy for you to search for key quotes to include in your reports.
Learn more about the benefits of academic transcription.
A transcription of your interviews will enable you to skim for soundbites and important quotes to add to your stories, and if the interview is being filmed and shared online, then you can use the transcript to create subtitles too.
Publishing a written transcript alongside your podcast will boost your SEO, which will help you to reach a wider audience, generate more traffic and grow your listening base. It also makes your content more accessible for audience members that might be deaf or hard of hearing.
As well as making it easy for you to share minutes and meeting summaries, transcriptions can be repurposed and used for reports and articles to support your marketing activity. They can also be turned into subtitles to accompany recordings of important interviews for accessibility purposes.
Final thoughts
Ready to transcribe an interview? Transcribe is the quick and easy way to convert your interview to text. You'll receive your transcript in a matter of minutes, which you can then search, amend, condense and export. Download the Transcribe app or launch the online editor to get started.
How to Transcribe Audio
From doing it yourself to using Word, Google Docs or, best of all, the Transcribe App or online editor, learn how to transcribe audio with our helpful guide.