THE AUDIO FILE(S)

Audio

Once I’ve settled with my client, he/she would send me an e-mail that would contain where I could find the file that I would have to transcribe. It usually comes through my e-mail as an attachment or as a file or a link where I could download it from and save it into my computer. The audio file could have the filename extensions such as WAV, MP3, WMA or an MP4.

To play these files I had to download Express Scribe, a transcription tool. It was one of the requirements that a client would also ask of me.

Using Express Scribe (ES) made my life easier if I get those files mentioned above. I learned to transfer the file into ES and then start transcribing. I didn’t need to have a foot pedal since I was used to using the ‘hot keys’ faster since I am a touch typist.

Coming from Windows Media Player (WMP), which I used when I was just starting, that was a 360-degree turn for me. Imagine, if I didn’t use ES, I would have to press pause on WMP, move the slider then play the audio. That was time consuming, I tell you. The slider wouldn’t go right at the spot where you actually stopped the audio. It would but you’d have to try it many times, in my experience.

Video

When I applied as a home-based legal transcriptionist, I was again introduced to another software. But this time, it played videos and it had a transcription pad where you could type in text. It’s called Inqscribe.

My client would send me big files of videos for me to transcribe. Sometimes, it’s one hour or one-and-a-half hours in length. I would download the video first and I would open it in Inqscribe. It already has a player, volume, and a typing pad. Additional features of Inqscribe are putting in time stamps, choosing hot keys for easier play/pause/rewind of the video, and a host of other things.

Tips for Working on Audios:

1.) For starters, use Express Scribe as your first choice for working on audios sent through your e-mail.

2.) For videos, I can suggest using Inqscribe, the free download, but as always, it’s for a limited time only. After two weeks or a month, Inqscribe would remind you to get a new license key for you to use it again.

3.) Ask your client how long the audio is so that when you download it, it’s the number of minutes that your client said it was. Just to make sure.

4.) Once you’ve downloaded the audio, check the audio out by listening to it by segments, if you are going to work on something longer than 15 minutes or so, just to check the quality of the audio.

5.) If the quality of the audio is really bad, you can tell your client that you can’t do it because of poor quality – lots of background noise, the speaker isn’t heard or what have you. That way, your client will know that the audio he/she sent isn’t workable and cancel having it transcribed or give you another audio to work on.

That’s it for THE AUDIO FILE(S). Next up will be using Express Scribe or Inqscribe. Just some tips you could use if you’re a beginner in transcription. Thanks for reading.