How to Transcribe a Speech
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Transcribing a speech to text manually is an exceptionally tedious and time-consuming process.
Perhaps you’ve made an audio recording of an academic speech or lecture that you need for research and reference purposes. Or maybe you’ve downloaded a webinar, attended a multi-speaker conference, or need a written record of an inspiring speech from a CEO, political figure, or celebrity you’ve found online for quick future reference. You or a colleague might have delivered a speech or hosted a meeting and need a text transcript of what was said for employees to take away with them. Or maybe you need to transcribe a podcast or YouTube video to boost search rankings and organic traffic to your content.
No matter the project, transcribing a speech to text yourself with a pen and paper or laptop will soak up many hours of your time in a long, energy-draining effort.
It takes the average person four hours to transcribe just one hour of audio. This time can greatly increase, however, depending on audio quality, background noise, or speakers with thick, hard-to-decipher, regional accents.
Thankfully, transcribing a recorded speech to text efficiently and accurately is no longer as arduous as it used to be. In fact, using professional transcription services and technology, you can get perfect, word-for-word speech-to-text transcriptions quickly and affordably.
Here’s how to transcribe a speech to text.
Transcribing a Speech to Text – A Step-by-Step Guide
1. Choose a Recording Method
The first step is to choose a device to record the speech. Traditional tape recorders can be used. However, the audio quality will likely be poor, and it may be difficult to create a digital file of the recording if you want to use an app to transcribe the speech or send it off for professional transcription.
A better option is to use a digital recorder. You can purchase a digital voice recorder device or simply use your smartphone’s built-in recording function. This way, you can upload audio files directly to your computer to play back or send off.
By far the best way to record a live speech is with a dedicated voice recorder app from a professional transcription services provider like Rev. Voice recorder apps come with superior sound quality compared to the standard functionality on your smartphone. They also make it easy to edit and organize your recordings. And with the Rev Voice Recorder app, you can order a transcript of the recording directly from the application with a single tap.
2. Record the Speech
The better your recording, the better your transcription will be. If you can’t understand what’s being said, chances are a human transcriptionist or speech recognition app that transcribes audio to text won’t be able to either.
There are a few steps you can take to create the best recording possible for high-quality transcriptions.
3. Choose a Transcription Method
You have two options here – human-based transcription or software-based transcription.
For the best accuracy and super-fast turnaround time, a human-based transcription service is the better option. Rev has a team of 50,000 human professionals who transcribe audio to text – and start the transcription as soon as you submit your order.
Our human professional transcription services guarantee 99% accuracy or better and will return a 30-minute file in 12 hours or less. For a one-hour file, you can expect to receive your transcript in 24 hours or less.
Check out the Rev Transcript Library for examples of human transcribed speeches by Rev.
Rev’s human transcription service is the ideal solution for various types of transcription, including audio and video. As well as audio files you have recorded yourself – either with your own device or the Rev Voice Recorder app – you can also share a link to a public web address. This option allows you to simply copy and paste a URL from sites such as YouTube, Vimeo or Facebook if you want to transcribe a speech already on the internet.
Rev’s automatic transcription using artificial intelligence speech recognition technology is by far the quickest way to turn your recorded speech into written text. This is the most useful method if you need immediate, low-cost results. Rev’s Automated Speech to Text Transcription service will transcribe your file in near real time with around 80% accuracy. Simply upload your audio files to the Rev transcription service page to start the transcription. You can then use our web-based editor to review and make edits to your transcript, including text edits, speaker changes and highlights.
Rev also has the most accurate automated transcription AI in the world, in addition to the most accurate human transcription service.
Win back your time with Rev. We have all the transcription tools you need to transcribe a speech quickly, accurately and affordably. Click here to learn more about our expert transcription services.