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Trans-ylvania

Doing it yourself

There are a number of solutions for doing transcriptions easier than just repeatedly hitting the space bar on Final Cut while typing madly away in Word.

One of the first pieces of software that I was introduced to for this – and wrote about in an earlier column – was called InqScribe.

Check out this PVC article where I first heard about InqScribe:

http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/apple/story/large_scale_final_cut_pro_installations_part_ii/

The genius of InqScribe (http://www.inqscribe.com) is that it allows you to control playback of a .wav or QT movie without leaving the app to type. You can pause and play with a tap of the Tab key. You can jump back 8 seconds – which is a great interval of time when transcribing – with the control-tab key. And you can control the speed of playback in one-tenth increments, so if you can find a speed where you can keep up, you don’t have to pause at all! This obviously depends a lot on the speaker. The other thing is that you can hit a keystroke that automatically inserts the precise timecode from the file into the text without having to type it out!

I am NOT a great typist and I can usually do my own 
transcriptions in about 3 times real time….meaning 3 hours to 
transcribe a one hour interview.

The software is now available for both Mac and Windows and it can even export for closed-caption, or as XML files directly into Final Cut Pro. A few months ago, when it was in version 1, I think it was $30, but now it’s in version 2 and is $99.

Adobe Speech Search in Premiere Pro and SoundBooth

I’ve been working with Premiere’s “Speech Search” function for about a 
year now. Sometimes it’s pretty good, and sometimes it produces 
absolute gibberish. A friend of mine gave it a try on my advice and his comment on his file was that Speech Search “nailed it.”

Check out the PVC Speech Search/ScriptSync article at:

http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/shullfish/story/speech_search_meets_scriptsync/

It seems to depend on the speaker. Having a good 
audio recording is a given, of course. With crappy audio, it’s pointless. But Adobe Premiere Pro CAN create transcriptions automatically. You 
capture or import files into it (it also works with Soundbooth) and 
then you go to the Metadata panel for the clip and hit the Transcribe 
button. It is basically a realtime process to transcribe a clip. It 
puts the transcription in the metadata window and you can copy and 
paste it to Word or anything else that you want. I wrote another article here on PVC about using Adobe’s Speech Search 
capability and then exporting the file to Avid where you can use 
ScriptSync to be able to use the transcribed file as a bin, basically, 
linking the words to the exact point in the video file. Adobe does 
this too (linking the exact transcribed words to the exact part of the 
video where they’re spoken.) It allows you to actually edit dialog by 
using text instead of scrubbing to find a word. The other cool thing about Adobe Speech Search is that the metadata of 
the transcription is embedded in the video permanently so that if you 
edit a video with transcribed clips and export it to an edited, final 
video for the web, you can actually do a web search on words that are 
SPOKEN in the video! This requires a specific Adobe free app to do the 
search now and the video has to be coded, but in the near future it is 
possible that Google and Yahoo will be able to search for spoken words 
in the transcripts of video and audio files just as it searches web 
pages for text now.

If you’re planning on using Avid, there’s really no need for a transcriptionist to put in timecodes, since when you import a transcription into Avid using ScriptSync, it will link the text up directly to the words in the interview so you don’t need timecodes to find them.

Another transcription software is from Videotoolshed. You can check it out here: http://www.videotoolshed.com/?page=products&pID=27

Terry Curren suggested this freeware app that is actually for subtitling, but can create a text file which could be used for transcription:

http://www.urusoft.net/products.php?cat=sw&lang=1

And finally some great additional tools from a post by Tod Hopkins:

His company uses three different tools for different reasons, including the one I already mentioned – Inqscribe. For doing transcription on the same machine as the media is already on – like an FCP system – InqScribe can utilize ANY QT source, allowing you to transcribe directly from the edit media. Another cool feature that Tod points out about InqScribe is that it can match back to the source file when you click on the timecode markers in the transcribed file.

Another software that they use is DittoAV which is only $10 US. It transcribes from QT files
too and can insert timecode, but only at the “end of file” which is where 
it assumes you are. Ditto AV is Mac only.

http://www.softlow.com/mac-os-x/business/word-processing/demo/dittoav.html

ExpressScribe
Free
 also looks like a nice app for Mac, PC or even Linux. There’s a full-featured version and a “lite” free version. It transcribes from audio only, though. In a humorous note, while I was checking out the website, the software can use footpedals for start and stop, like many transcription software allows (like InqScribe), but their system can be rigged to use the foot controllers from game systems! They also offer wiring directions for hacking a $12 Radio Shack foot pedal to work on your PC (sorry, no Mac-hack).

http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/pedals.html

I’d love to know how to hack my old Yamaha synth pedals to function via USB.

And if you want to REALLY get transcribed files back from your transcriptionist in a hurry, the same company that gives you ExpressScribe for free, also has a phone transciption program, so you could just send the audio live through your cell phone directly to your transcriptionist!

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I have used Susan Siegmann on two occasions and she does a great job.

Posted by leeberger  on  10/20  at  04:20 PM

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