NOTATIONS AND FORMATS:
WHAT IS THE APPROXIMATE TIME, A ONE HOUR RECORDING TAKES TO TRANSCRIBE?
It's a general misconception people have, that 30 minutes of recording takes 30 minutes to transcribe. We speak much faster than we can actually write or type. It's generally accepted that we speak four times faster than we can type and seven times faster than we can write.
The industry standard* allows TWO hours to transcribe 30 minutes of clearly recorded speech. It therefore takes a MINIMUM of 4 hours to transcribe a one hour recording depending on a number of factors detailed below. The following timings for transcription of a one hour recording are based on years of experience in the business and relate to transcription time, NOT recorded hours.
Dictation, one-to-one research interviews, lectures, telephone interviews, pod casts, web casts - between 4 to 6 hours.
Focus groups, meetings, conference presentations, group interviews, teleconferences, vox pops - between 6 to 10 hours.
All Video recordings, time stamps added to transcripts, or all participants identified by name for groups - between 7 to 10 hours.
The type of transcript customer requires has an impact on timings. The timings above are based on Intelligent Verbatim transcripts as that is the most cost effective option. If a customer requires a Complete Verbatim transcript, that will add approximately 1 to 3 hours to the transcription time. An Edited Transcript adds between 1 to 2 hours. Poor quality recordings will increase the time even further.
*(Industry standards obtained from the Industry Production Standards Guide (1998), published by OBC, Columbus, OH, USA)
Phone: 714-782-7013
Fax: 714-782-7013
