We at ScriptoSphere make sure to have a team of professionals who display a broad and varied field of capabilities, whether it’s about the number of speakers in the audio file that needs to be transcribed, the language, the different accents or when it’s about the client’s specific requirements regarding the output file formats.

Let’s take them one by one:

1. File indexing: This feature is very useful for lawyers and their records.  Legal transcription tackles the conversion of voice to text of legal depositions for the court of law. The way legal files are transcribed, it means lawyers are able to research specific terms (or keywords) due to reference points placed in the documents, instead of going back and forth through the audio recording.  This is very helpful for summarizing and for synchronizing text to a video.  We are constantly on the lookout for professionals who can do all this effortlessly, and also training our in-house transcribers to become experts in delivering top-notch quality transcripts.

2. Time stamps or time coding: Our transcribers can place time stamps if the client asks for it, or as some would call it “time coding” in the transcripts to have a reference point – helpful in synchronizing text and audio, to get the exact time where there was a speaker change in an interview.

3. Legal use transcripts: As we mentioned in our previous posts, our transcription team is qualified to cover the following fields in legal transcription:

• Recorded Depositions
• Official Hearings
• Court of Law Proceedings
• Witness Interrogation

4. Special formats we process:

• Webcasts
• Analog or digital recordings
• CD/DVDs

5. Audio Transcription AND translations for:

• English
• Hindi
• French
• Romanian

Rates for Transcription

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Have you recently landed a job with a transcription service provider or are working as a freelancer with many contractors?  Does it all seem a bit too tough and you find yourself getting impatient very often?  While all of it may seem overwhelming to many people new to this business, it’s all a matter of the old saying ‘practice makes perfect’.  To be an expert transcriber, while it may take months or in some cases years, it’s all about honing your skills, training your ear and hands to work in unison, in perfect harmony, otherwise it can become a brain numbing job.

First of all, when working on urgent files, such as in the case of business transcription (season at its peak right now), you have to really pay a LOT of attention to what you’re listening and typing.  The audio quality is not perfect, and the turnaround time is sharp, and I’ve seen many transcribers getting utterly frustrated, throwing their hands up when they can’t grasp many words.  Many new transcribers can be arrogant or maybe just overconfident, and type what they hear without thinking what it means in the context of the whole sentence, and thus we have some really silly blunders sometimes.

To avoid these silly mistakes, it’s very vital that a transcriber pays full attention to what is spoken during the conference or the interview or even just a dictation.  The mind cannot wander outside thinking about what you’re going to cook for dinner this weekend, it HAS to stay on the subject matter.

Sometimes words sound similar, and it’s the transcriber’s job to ascertain whether that word fits in that sentence or not, and that maybe another similar sounding word does.  It’s all trial and error until you get to a place where all your tools are working as they should, and then it makes the process of converting voice to text OR what is called audio transcription seem like a breeze of cool air.

Fee for Transcription

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This one deals with stress.

Yesterday, we talked about how long hours of desk jobs can create problems for your back.  Continuing in the same theme, let’s talk about stress and fatigue in the field of audio transcription today.  Transcribers, especially freelancers can work for extremely long hours to make some extra money.  Not only this, salaried transcribers who work for a company may also work over their limit to make some extra dough through overtime.

While, working hard is always an admirable quality that any transcription service would seek, we don’t want you to play with your health.  People who work this hard and long can have stress problems, especially keeping in mind the fact that it takes a few hours to unwind after a full day’s work.

Often we have seen that transcribers, when taking a break, remain at their computers, either surfing the net or playing maybe a little game.  This is not really the best way to go about taking a break.  Your body and your mind needs a break from the computer, and that’s why it’s best to get up and walk around, leave the computer area, maybe go to a balcony if you have one and get some fresh air.

A lot of people smoke like chimneys in their breaks.  While nicotine gives you the sense of relief, especially if you’re addicted to it, it does a lot of harm to your body over a short-term and long-term period, so it’s better to be off it.  It’s better to drink some water or some juice, or a herbal tea, green tea is also good.  You can also do some basic stretches to feel rejuvenated when you come back to your desk.

Also, it’s always good to finish your work ASAP, so that you have then more time to rest later, and you’re not in a big hurry to finish your work.  This always works.

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While the job of converting voice to text has its benefits, it comes with a few problems as well.  For example, a lot of transcribers can suffer from a back pain condition called Sciatica, which can very well happen to anybody if they’re not paying attention.  Sciatica is a set of symptoms including pain that may be caused by general compression or irritation of one of five spinal nerve roots that give rise to each sciatic nerve, or by compression or irritation of the left or right or both sciatic nerves.

The way this can happen is if you neglect taking care of your spine and sit on bad chairs or in an awkward position, and don’t take ample breaks or do proper stretches in those breaks.  For example, people sitting in the C position for too long periods often develop the problem of Sciatica, as the degenerated vertebra compresses the sciatic nerve going into the leg, and that can produce pain, numbness, irritation, tingling or muscle weakness.  Sciatica is a problem which can take a long time to go away, in some cases only after years of medication, stretches and losing weight.

So, to make sure you don’t get such an annoying problem, you have to take care of your spine.  I know audio transcription is a job where sometimes the money depends on how much you can work in a day, and this can be dangerous.  Of course, every transcription service wants its transcribers to be hard working, fast and accurate at the same time, but nobody wants you to play with your health.

Be fast, but consistent, don’t pressure yourself too much.  Take a break every 15-20 minutes, walk around, stretch, and make sure the body doesn’t remain in the same position for too long.  Even if it’s a mega urgent file, you can get up every 20 minutes and just move around your chair.  Nobody asks you to go out every 20 minutes and chat.   Trust me on this, as a Sciatica patient, these little breaks will help your spine a HUGE deal.  Take care of your body, don’t neglect it.  Yes, this job is tough, but you have to be at the peak of your health to tackle it properly.

Audio Transcription Pricing

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An important part of our transcription services is the voice to text conversion of all law related documents, regardless of their recorded form.  In the legal field, depositions have high importance.  They are given under oath in front of the judge and the jury, and represents evidence to be considered every time someone’s guilt has to be ascertained by a court of law.  Depositions are recorded in the presence of attorneys in front or even outside the court.

In this particular case, the transcription team is required not only to have the most trained ear, but also solid, wide and deep knowledge of the legal field, especially specific terms and jargon, and this is the reason why not many audio transcription companies take on legal transcription assignments.  Usually in the case of legal transcription, verbatim transcripts are needed, to make sure that none of the details, shade or nuance in the voice of the person talking in the deposition is omitted, but of course this is not the only format the final output can result in. It depends mostly on the client’s request.

Important aspects to emphasize on, when talking about legal transcription:

• Full confidentiality guaranteed, official confidentiality agreement form signed and stamped by our representatives.
• Final transcript formatting according to client’s needs.
• Legal depositions processed are: page-by-page depositions; topic or chart summary depositions or even customized depositions, as per customer guidelines.

Do contact us for further details on: transcription@scriptosphere.com

Our rates for legal transcription

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This post can be seen as a sort of FAQ page, answering some of the most asked questions we get from new clients.  This is not us advertising about our own transcription service, but only enlightening new clients on how they can get a much more customized transcript according to their need, all they have to do is just inquire or go through a transcription company‘s website thoroughly.  I can only tell you what options we at ScriptoSphere provide, and you can use  that information as you may like.  Below are the types of transcripts that a client can have customized according to his/her needs:

Default Audio Transcription and Proofreading: By default, unless asked specifically by the client, we produce a grammatically correct, clean and concise transcript, which means all the fillers like “uh, umm, ah,  you know” are omitted, and also all the repeated words are omitted to make complete sense out of what’s being said, making the whole transcript more readable, bringing more meaning to it. This means checking the whole transcript thoroughly for punctuation or grammar errors and correcting them where necessary. This takes somewhere between one to two business days

Verbatim Transcription: This is as per client request, and means that we include all the aforementioned fillers, for example “uh, umm, ah, you know, etc.” in the transcript, and we also include each and every word uttered by the speakers, be it repeated words or any nonsensical words too.

Summarization: This means doing further advanced grammar and punctuation checks on the finished transcript, making it more reader friendly, which ultimately can also be used to publish in print or on your blog or website. This is very helpful for those clients who do not want to waste any of their time on making the transcript publish-ready.  The summarization can be completely customized as per the client’s request.

Transcription Service Pricing

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When applying for a transcriber or a proofreader position at a transcription service company, it’s only obvious to attach your resume.  While to be a transcriber, you don’t need any special training or a degree, you still may need comprehensive knowledge of a certain subject matter.  For example, medical transcriptionists usually are required to have at least a bachelors degree in pharmaceuticals, while it’s preferred to have a graduate degree in English for people working on podcast transcription, and solid knowledge of finance and commerce for people working on business transcription files.

The most important advice would be to be clear and concise on your resume.  Nobody likes to read through pages and pages of poetry about your skills or your personal life.  Keep it short and simple to let the employers know what you’re good at, and what is the background of your knowledge.  Also remember to spell check and grammar check the resume, because you’re going to be involved in work  that involves a HUGE amount of English knowledge, so it would be a bad start to have your resume grammatically incorrect.

Thirdly, make sure to put your typing speed on your resume, because these days it’s all about getting things done quick and efficiently.  So, if you have solid language skills, and amazing typing speed, you’ll truly be a valuable asset for any professional transcription company.  If you have the aforementioned skills, do not hesitate to send your resume to ScriptoSphere, so that we can consider you for a transcriber/proofreader position, as we’re always looking out for new talent.

Affordable rates for audio transcription

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I know what you might be thinking right now, reading this post, that maybe this post is intended to frighten people about audio transcription, to put them off from converting voice to text on their own, that it’s just a simple job that can be done by just taking an hour out of your daily schedule.  Well, the best way to challenge your assumptions is to actually go ahead and do it.  Yes, if you have an interview, play it and start typing.  Now, you might be very good at typing, and may even have the typing speed somewhere around 70 WPM, but this is a whole different ballgame.  But don’t worry, you’re not alone in this, about at least 70% of the clients that contact us have tried transcribing themselves at one point or another.

It only takes maybe 20 or 30 minutes to realize how difficult it is, when you actually see how much you’ve done and that you have a big headache as a result of it.  An established transcription company such as ScriptoSphere has all the equipments and team of transcribers/proofreaders necessary to perform your task in a jiffy, probably in a tenth of the time it will take you to transcribe your interview.  One of my friends recently tried his hand at transcription, and ended up transcribing a 60 minute audio file over 4 days, something that will take ScriptoSphere 8 hours to finish.  Don’t assume that it’s an easy job, and if you need to get it done quick, contact a transcription service provider.

Audio transcription rates

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We have stressed this in many of our earlier posts, about how important knowledge of a specific field in audio transcription is.  Thanks to new technology and the internet, the process of converting voice to text has branched out to multiple fields, and is not just the old simple journalistic interviews or doctor/lawyer dictations.  Today, an established transcription service will transcribe anything from a famous radio show or a podcast, sermons from a charismatic pastor, quarterly earnings results of a multinational company, focus group research interviews by a PhD candidate, all in a single day.

Having so much to do in a single day means that all the transcribers and proofreaders need to be well equipped if they are to win these battles every day.  We just can’t have the mentality of “We’ll learn it as we go,” because it can bring down the level of accuracy we maintain, and cost us some very important clients.  This is precisely why ScriptoSphere makes sure that we keep our transcribers in-tune with the latest vocabulary, jargons, current affairs, news from around the world, so that if something unexpected comes up, they’re not sitting there clueless.  Someone who is regularly aware of all the happenings in the world right now, has solid general knowledge can and will do good in almost any field of audio transcription.  If you’re a budding transcriber, you will find out as you go along, just how important the power of knowledge is in audio transcription.

Pricing for audio transcription service

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Without proper grammar and punctuation, audio transcription is nothing.  You might as well get a voice to text converter software, and you’re good to go, since it will just type what it hears without making much sense.  While grammar and punctuation is not important in verbatim transcription, it’s probably the most important aspect in all other specialties that a transcription service handles.  It’s a given that to produce a proper, final transcript, you need  to have solid English knowledge, and that’s precisely why ScriptoSphere hires proofreaders and transcribers who are university graduates in English, to eliminate any and all mistakes that could happen.

For budding transcribers, it’s very important to keep in mind all the nitty-gritties of English grammar and punctuation before you can even think of having a good paying transcription job, because if your grammar part is not solid, you’d probably be rejected in almost all the job interviews, at least by transcription companies who have high standards.  To build solid grammar knowledge into your repertoire, you need to get to the basics, learn the English language from its roots, read lots of books, lots of literature, maybe watch lots of English plays and movies, and then implement that knowledge while you transcribe, paying good attention to each sentence,  the words in that sentence etc. and I can almost guarantee you, you’ll have a satisfying, well-paid job as a transcriber or a proofreader.

Transcription Service rates

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