| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Time it takes for: 1 minute of audio Thread poster: David Jessop
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Hello...
Perhaps this is a question addressed before but I cannot find many resources on it. In your experience, how much time does it take you to transcribe 1 minute of audio? Of course this is a general question depending on several factors. I recently transcribed a hard to hear highly specialized audio tape and had to do some research on the side. Therefore, my time is significantly greater than had I understood everything completely. I want to be sure I am charging an appropriat... See more Hello...
Perhaps this is a question addressed before but I cannot find many resources on it. In your experience, how much time does it take you to transcribe 1 minute of audio? Of course this is a general question depending on several factors. I recently transcribed a hard to hear highly specialized audio tape and had to do some research on the side. Therefore, my time is significantly greater than had I understood everything completely. I want to be sure I am charging an appropriate amount of hours...just looking for a ballpark idea or range!
Thanks.
Best,
David ▲ Collapse
| | | | | | | Anywhere between 4 and 8 | Apr 24, 2009 |
Depending on the quality of the recording and of the person's speech (they mumble, they have a big accent, etc.)., it can take anywhere between 4 and 8 minutes. I use 6 minutes to establish a rough estimate.
| | | | Kitty Maerz 
Germany
Local time: 12:46
English to German
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It takes me about 6 minutes to transcribe 1 minute of fairly good quality audio. Add on a bit of extra time to read through the transcription once more, check spelling and do some research (spelling of names, specific technical terms etc.). So I guess between 4 and 8 is a pretty good estimate - with the higher limit more likely if you don't do a lot of this kind of work and/or the subject matter is more difficult.
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NMR (X)
France
Local time: 12:46
French to Dutch
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Transcription of conferences (average difficulty): 1 hr of recording = 7 hrs of transcription. This will give about 28 pages of 250 words.
But it depends of the quality of the audio of course.
If it is a conference, ask for a list of participants and a small description of the subject.
| | | | | So how fast can you all type? | Apr 26, 2009 |
I don't do transcription so I don't have my own data to add. I'm just wondering where these figures are coming from, because they seem high to me. I mean, if we take research and proofing out of the equation like Kitty Maerz said, I would expect the raw transcription times to be much lower.
So, what sort of wpm do you guys churn out? If you haven't measured it, and you have 2 minutes ... See more I don't do transcription so I don't have my own data to add. I'm just wondering where these figures are coming from, because they seem high to me. I mean, if we take research and proofing out of the equation like Kitty Maerz said, I would expect the raw transcription times to be much lower.
So, what sort of wpm do you guys churn out? If you haven't measured it, and you have 2 minutes for this, take this online test: http://play.typeracer.com/
You don't need to register, just click cancel and then practice or race against others. Do a couple of tests, not just one. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Αlban SHPΑTΑ
United States
Member (2008)
English to Albanian
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Usually 6x, but once it took me about 10 minutes of work per minute of audio.
| | | | David Jessop
Laos
Member
Spanish to English
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TOPIC STARTER | my typing speed | Apr 26, 2009 |
FarkasAndras wrote: I don't do transcription so I don't have my own data to add. I'm just wondering where these figures are coming from, because they seem high to me. I mean, if we take research and proofing out of the equation like Kitty Maerz said, I would expect the raw transcription times to be much lower. So, what sort of wpm do you guys churn out? If you haven't measured it, and you have 2 minutes for this, take this online test: http://play.typeracer.com/ You don't need to register, just click cancel and then practice or race against others. Do a couple of tests, not just one.
I type around 85 WPM, up to 100 with a bit of caffeine .
David
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NMR (X)
France
Local time: 12:46
French to Dutch
+ ...
| Transcription | Apr 26, 2009 |
FarkasAndras wrote:
I don't do transcription
I'm just wondering where these figures are coming from, because they seem high to me.
Four years of transcription of audio conferences in a translation agency which was also specialized in audio typing.
Medical texts take more time (the typist needs a dictionary).
Typing of texts someone dictates is a bit quicker - 1 hr = about 6 hrs of typing.
English is faster than other languages.
Typing of video tapes can sometimes be done fast, especially documentary films. Bilingual people type the translation directly, without doing the transcription.
NB typing speed about 75 wpm
[Bijgewerkt op 2009-04-26 22:38 GMT]
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David Jessop wrote: FarkasAndras wrote: I don't do transcription so I don't have my own data to add. I'm just wondering where these figures are coming from, because they seem high to me. I mean, if we take research and proofing out of the equation like Kitty Maerz said, I would expect the raw transcription times to be much lower. So, what sort of wpm do you guys churn out? If you haven't measured it, and you have 2 minutes for this, take this online test: http://play.typeracer.com/ You don't need to register, just click cancel and then practice or race against others. Do a couple of tests, not just one. I type around 85 WPM, up to 100 with a bit of caffeine . David
85 is pretty impressive. You can't quite keep up with speech, but you're not too far off.
If I were to do transcription a lot, I would more than likely rig up some system where I can stop and start the audio with a foot pedal. The one can basically keep typing nonstop... start listening and typing, then when you feel your memory buffer is filling up, stop the audio and type until you catch up, then start the audio again. It'd probably involve playing the audio from a different computer than the one I'm typing on. Actually, I just googled and found this: http://www.footpedals.net/html/usb_foot_pedal.html . It even has rewind. But if you're really cheap you could just use some PC and a keyboard you put on the floor. Make the spacebar easy to press and away you go.
I type at 55-60 BTW, so don't take my comments as if I were some master of this.
| | | | juvera
Local time: 11:46
English to Hungarian
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| All fingers and toes on board | Apr 28, 2009 |
FarkasAndras wrote:
I don't do transcription...
We noticed.
FarkasAndras wrote:
...you could just use some PC and a keyboard you put on the floor. Make the spacebar easy to press and away you go.
I type at 55-60 BTW, so don't take my comments as if I were some master of this.
Let's hope, your toes are faster. ;D
Seriously, the given figures are realistic. Try it out, and you will see that x6 is a reasonable average.
I better get back to work, because it reminds me that I still have another 36 hours to go, but in two languages, alternating... sigh.
| | | | ChristineS
China
Local time: 18:46
English to Chinese
+ ...
| More detailed discription needed | Apr 29, 2009 |
David Jessop wrote:
Hello...
Perhaps this is a question addressed before but I cannot find many resources on it. In your experience, how much time does it take you to transcribe 1 minute of audio? Of course this is a general question depending on several factors. I recently transcribed a hard to hear highly specialized audio tape and had to do some research on the side. Therefore, my time is significantly greater than had I understood everything completely. I want to be sure I am charging an appropriate amount of hours...just looking for a ballpark idea or range!
Thanks.
Best,
David
You may give a more detailed discription for the content then we can effectively estimate it with our experiences. o(∩_∩)o...
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ChristineS
China
Local time: 18:46
English to Chinese
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| You are such a humourous guy, LOL | Apr 29, 2009 |
juvera wrote: FarkasAndras wrote:
I don't do transcription... We noticed. FarkasAndras wrote:
...you could just use some PC and a keyboard you put on the floor. Make the spacebar easy to press and away you go.
I type at 55-60 BTW, so don't take my comments as if I were some master of this.
Let's hope, your toes are faster. ;D Seriously, the given figures are realistic. Try it out, and you will see that x6 is a reasonable average. I better get back to work, because it reminds me that I still have another 36 hours to go, but in two languages, alternating... sigh.
I agree: 5-8 times are quite reasonable for a wide range of materials.
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I can get up to a 1:3 ratio for certain things if it's great Class I audio (good sound quality, 1 or 2 speakers, little or no overspeaking, etc., no technical terminology) and the total volume of words per audio hour is less than 7,000. I can't do transcription at that speed for 8 hours a day, though.
I've also done some stuff where the ratio is more like 1:10 for actual segments with audio (undercover police recordings, for example). I'd say 4x is pretty average for me, for decent... See more I can get up to a 1:3 ratio for certain things if it's great Class I audio (good sound quality, 1 or 2 speakers, little or no overspeaking, etc., no technical terminology) and the total volume of words per audio hour is less than 7,000. I can't do transcription at that speed for 8 hours a day, though.
I've also done some stuff where the ratio is more like 1:10 for actual segments with audio (undercover police recordings, for example). I'd say 4x is pretty average for me, for decent audio.
I don't have a footpedal, but I do use transcription software with keyboard commands to control playback. Trying to do transcription without transcription software is sheer madness!
My typing speed is in the 90-100 wpm range when I'm on a roll, and I've done full-time transcription work at a couple of miserable and underpaid junctions of my life. There's a definite learned rhythm to transcription. ▲ Collapse
| | | | RashmiP
United States
Local time: 03:46
| Time it takes for: 1 minute of audio | Jan 17, 2019 |
The industry standard for transcribing one hour of audio is four hours. Some experienced transcriptionists can transcribe files much faster. It’s not unheard for experienced transcriptionists to transcribe 20 to 30 minutes of audio in one hour.
Info source - https://www.gmrtranscription.com/blog/transcribing-an-hour-of-audio
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