How to transcribe audio

If you work with audio often, you’ve most likely encountered a scenario where transcription needs to happen. Whether it’s transcribing a podcast, voice over, or otherwise, transcription is an important feature that allows for greater accessibility, accurate documentation, and verbal audio analysis. Notetracks Pro is a comprehensive cloud-based audio workspace with a robust transcription feature, automatically deciphering speech and recording it in a notes-style format with time stamps.

To begin, open Notetracks, click the ‘New Project’ button, select ‘Audio’ as your file type, and then give your project a name.

Next, you have two options: you can either record the audio you want to transcribe using Notetracks, or you can upload an audio file that’s already recorded.

To record audio using Notetracks, navigate to the bottom of the middle of the workspace. You’ll notice a row of playback controls, including pause, fast forward, reverse, stop, and record. ‘Record’ is the circular red button.

When you’re ready to record, press the red circle and record the audio you’d like to transcribe. Your waveform will be blue while you record and turn orange once it’s complete. Once you’re finished, click the red circle again.

However, if you’re looking to add a pre-recorded track in a wav, mp3 or any other audio format, navigate to the left-hand side of the workspace and click either of the two ‘Add Track’ buttons.

Additionally, you can also drag and drop the file or import via Google Drive or Dropbox.

To begin transcribing, navigate to the right-hand side of the workstation and click the Transcription icon (circled below).

Your transcription may have been auto-transcribed already, but if it hasn’t, or if you’re seeing ‘No Transcription Available’, click the yellow ‘Transcribe’ button.

Notetracks will then give you the option of what language to pick and how many speakers are involved. Set accordingly and press confirm.

Your transcription will now be shown as ‘Requested’ or ‘Processing’ for a short amount of time.

Once complete, your transcription will appear in the Transcription pane, along with accurate time stamps. You can copy the entire transcription for later use.

Audio transcription is crucial because it converts spoken words into written text, making content accessible to a broader audience, improving searchability, aiding comprehension, and facilitating content repurposing. It serves essential roles in accessibility for the hearing-impaired, content optimization for search engines, legal documentation, research analysis, and efficient content creation, making it a vital tool for effective communication, documentation, and information management across various industries and contexts.

If you’re looking to share your transcription or work alongside other audio creators and notetakers, Notetracks’ fully collaborative capabilities, annotation features, and editing suite make creating – and transcribing audio files – quick, easy, and seamless.

Find out more about Notetracks today.