How to transcribe a video into text – detailed instructions

Transcription is the conversion of spoken speech from audio or video format to text. It helps transform conversations, lectures, interviews, conferences, and videos. Decoding is important for those who are used to taking information from a sheet, rather than listening or viewing it. But it is absolutely necessary for a business that holds dozens of meetings, meetings, meetings every day, where decisions are made and contracts are concluded. All this must be accurately recorded on paper. You can convert speech manually or using special programs. This article is about how to transcribe video into text.

Transcription: principles, types, fields of application

The transformation of oral speech is in demand in many areas:

1. Education. Not all lecturers provide students with summaries of their lectures. More often, they simply present the material, give examples, and answer questions during the lecture. But in order for the student to study the material later, he must either have time to take notes of everything, or make an audio or video recording, and then decode it.
2. Journalism. Text fixation is similar to the student tasks from the previous paragraph. When a journalist is interviewed, attends conferences, participates in various briefings, it is important for him to record everything that was said as accurately as possible, especially the thoughts of the speakers, quotes. Inaccuracies in the presentation can lead to scandals and litigation. Therefore, with the advent of writing technology, journalists use sound recording, and then they disassemble it in the editorial office and write articles.
3. Promotion of services on the Internet. When creating a product description, it is important for the manufacturer or seller that it is unique, otherwise it will not get to the top of the search results. You can learn important information, tips, interesting thoughts from the videos, and choose the appropriate style of presentation. To do this, the video content is transcribed and a description is based on it.
4. Sales. This type of activity is closely related to negotiations with clients, of which there may be several dozen per day. In order not to forget or confuse anything, sellers record conversations, and later translate them into text format.
5. Blogging. Transcription is required by bloggers who shoot content on various video platforms. The transcribed text appears on the screen as subtitles. This technique allows the hearing impaired to watch videos.
6. Business. Transcription is required to translate into text the results of meetings, meetings, meetings, negotiations. The text document records the decisions made, agreements, as well as the tasks set, deadlines, and responsible persons. Keeping text records in business is a guarantee of order and a guarantee of responsibility on the part of team members, partners, contractors.

Depending on the scope of application, different types of transcription are used:

1. Verbatim. Every word is recorded here as accurately as possible, pauses, emotional responses, and nonverbal elements of communication are noted. Such accuracy is required during court proceedings or academic research.
2. Semantic. This type implies the transfer of the meaning of speech: nuances, emotions, small details are not taken into account. The main thing is that the text sells the essence of the conversation (monologue, dialogue) and is easy to read so that it can be used to reconstruct the event. It is used in journalism.
3. Cleansing. It is required to create a summary of a business meeting, meeting, or meeting. The main thing here is to indicate the topics of speeches, the issues raised, the decisions taken, the responsible persons, and the deadlines for the execution of orders. The text should be simple and understandable so that each team member can refer to it at any time and clarify their responsibilities.
4. Subtitles. When making subtitles, it is important to keep the meaning, but put the thought into a short, easy-to-read sentence so that a person has time to read and assimilate the thought while the frame lasts. It is used on television: in news, feature films, as well as Internet videos.

Whatever type of decryption is chosen, the principles of its compilation are always the same:

• accurate information;
• a logical, consistent presentation;
• no mistakes, no slang;
• simple style of presentation;
• preservation (non-proliferation) of personal data;
• timeliness (the relevance of the information depends on it).

The main methods of transcription

Manual

A method involving listening to audio recordings in fragments and fixing the text using a pen or keyboard. In terms of time, it is the longest of all. At the same time, if the quality of the source is not too high, there are extraneous sounds, noises, this will only lengthen the process. 

If there are no other options, then use the following tips:

1. Listen through headphones. This will allow you to perceive low-quality sound more clearly. You can make audio content cleaner by using special programs that filter and suppress noise.
2. If the recording is not very long, listen to it in full. This will help you catch the general meaning. If the video is long, break it down into semantic parts and work with each one separately.
3. Create a draft in which you write down the general meaning of each sentence. This can be edited later.
4. When listening, pause every few seconds and record what you hear. Pay special attention to complex terminology. At this stage (in order not to waste time), you do not have to worry about observing spelling, punctuation, paragraphs.
5. When the draft is completed, turn on the recording and compare what you have heard with what you have written. Add missing terms or important phrases.
6. When you are sure that the essence is conveyed correctly, start cleaning the text: correct errors, highlight paragraphs, make subheadings, format according to the desired style. Try to make the sentences simpler so that it is easier for the reader to get to the bottom of it.
7. Save the document in the desired format.

To simplify the work, you can use assistant programs:

1. Express Scribe Transcription Software is a paid addition to Microsoft Word. The program combines a text editor with a video player, so the user does not have to constantly switch from one window to another.
2. LossPlay is a player with the function of inserting timestamps and global hotkeys. They allow you to stop the sound and rewind without leaving Word.
3. oTranscribe is a free, open source LossPlay analog that supports rewinding, tagging, and auto-save functions and allows you to export to markdown (.md) or rich-text (.docx) formats.

Automatic

There are already enough resources on the web, including free ones, to help automate the transcription process. All of them work on the basis of artificial intelligence capable of recognizing and recognizing speech:

1. Speechpad is a free decryptor program that understands human speech spoken into a microphone. It works through the Google Chrome browser and the mobile app. It can only decrypt high-quality recordings.
2. Dictation is a free software that recognizes “microphone speech”, it does not work with ready–made files. It does simple formatting: highlights paragraphs, creates lists, puts dashes. A special requirement for work is complete silence, a sensitive microphone, and a delivered voice.
3. Voco is a paid Windows–based decryptor. It works with both a microphone and file recordings. An Internet connection is not required, the program is self-learning: in the process of work, it replenishes its own vocabulary, can adapt to complex specific texts. Voco is highly sensitive: it accurately perceives speech within a meter of the microphone.
4. A RealSpeaker specializing in converting spoken language into a written document. It works only with ready-made files (there is no microphone dictation option), supports working with complex and technical texts, and can make subtitles. There are limits on the duration of audio content – 180 minutes.
5. YouTube subtitles. Built-in neural networks allow you not only to make subtitles and edit them for video content, but also to transcribe spoken speech and translate it into foreign languages. The option is widely used by bloggers who seek to expand the audience of subscribers.

Delegation to specialists

If you need to transcribe a large volume of audio or video recordings, and you do not have the skills and special programs, you can contact freelancers who will do this work for you. However, this is not only an expense, it is also a danger of getting a low-quality transcript.

If your job involves the need to constantly decrypt materials from audio or video sources, it is better to master transcription technologies yourself. If you cannot do without the involvement of an outside specialist, then:

• conduct a thorough selection of candidates;
• study their portfolios and reviews;
• send a test audio recording and verify the quality of the finished material.

You can find an artist on the platforms:

• Zapisano;
• YouDo;
• FL;
• Workzilla.

How to choose the appropriate method and tool for transcribing video and audio content

Converting audio and video materials into text manually (even with the use of auxiliary tools) requires certain skills:

• absolute literacy;
• the ability to type quickly;
• good hearing and attentiveness.

But even if you have these skills, decryption will take a long time with low source quality.

The use of free conversion programs, as mentioned above, can facilitate the process, but has many limitations, the main of which is the low quality of speech recognition.

Software that handles the task well is expensive.

All these aspects should be taken into account when choosing a conversion option.

Students can be advised to hone their self-transcribing skills. This will simultaneously increase the speed of printing, literacy, and by translating a lecture recording from a smartphone into a concise form, you can also learn its contents.

Automation is always preferable to manual work in any professional field. Journalists work with large amounts of information coming from various sources, managers work with dozens of clients, meetings, meetings, and flyers are constantly held in companies. At the same time, confidentiality is important for the latter. Such activities require software with an advanced level of AI capable of distinguishing the speech of several people, observing spelling rules, etc.

Overview of FollowUP for Automatic Transcription

Using the AI-secretary service from FollowUp guarantees:

• The transcription accuracy is at least 98%;
• 100% preservation of all important details of negotiations;
• providing analytics for each meeting;
• timely distribution of Sammari to all interested parties;
• 100% confidentiality of information.

In addition, the AI bot:

• He will give useful recommendations to the line employee on improving communication in the department (team);
• the sales manager will be given a detailed assessment of each meeting with the client with recommendations for improvement;
• The HR manager will offer advice on how to improve the approach to interviews;
• the recruiter will highlight the candidate’s weaknesses and give recommendations for deeper verification.

The service works successfully in such industries as:

• trading;
• education;
• designing;
• consulting;
• recruiting;
• marketing;
• management.

If necessary, Follow Up engineers will refine the service to meet the needs of your company, as well as help with its integration or develop a special protocol for the tasks of different departments.

To set up the software, you need to:

1. Connect Follow UP and integrate the Calendar.
2. Set up the type of protocols and assessments for different meetings.
3. View protocols and get an assessment of current communications, paying attention to low ratings.

The introduction of an AI secretary will allow::

1. Employees:

• reduce the time spent on routine tasks;
• do not lose tasks and meet deadlines for their execution;
• go back to previous meetings to clarify information;
• increase loyalty when communicating with customers and clients.

2. Managers:

• receive end-to-end analytics for all meetings and arrangements;
• monitor the quality of communications;
• improve the efficiency of the team.

Conclusion

Transcribing audio or video files into a single coherent text is a difficult, painstaking, long-term work. It is difficult to cope with large volumes of material without special skills and practice, and if we talk about logging hundreds of production meetings, interviews, negotiations, then it is simply impossible. An important role is played by:

• decryption speed;
• timeliness of receipt of decrypted information;
• accuracy;
• completeness;
• readability;
• confidentiality.

Implementing software with advanced AI is the only way to meet all these requirements. How exactly to transcribe a video into text, each user decides for himself, using, among other things, the tips of our article.