Does your post-production team use audio transcription services? If not, you could be saving a lot of time on your post-production process by leveraging transcription, closed-captioning, and subtitling services. Having your audio-video material transcribed can:

• Increase your editing efficiency
• Help you comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act
• Extend your audience to non-English-speaking markets

Why Your Post-production Team Needs Audio Transcription Services

A wide variety of benefits make transcription a useful tool for post-production teams. The advantages of outsourcing transcription work range from optimizing workflow efficiency to increasing deaf accessibility to expanding multi-lingual outreach.

1. Accelerate Your Editing Workflow

Using editing software on film and television footage or social media videos can be a tedious process. For instance, finding just the right spot in an interview in order to time a scene transition can be time-consuming.

Having a searchable written transcript in order to sync your audio-video sequences can save hours of rewinding and pausing. It can also save you money and hassles by preventing the need for expensive changes after picture lock.

2. Retrieve Soundbytes and Clips Instantly

When you’re putting a presentation together from a raw recording, you often need to pull soundbites and clips. You may also need to combine tracks in a sound mixer or filter out background noise.

Searching your original recording to find the right spots can waste hours. If you have a transcript with timestamps, you can simply search your text to find the right spot instantly.

3. Produce As-broadcast Scripts Quickly

Television networks typically require post-production companies to deliver scripts of transmitted broadcasts. As-broadcast scripts may be needed for legal compliance or other purposes such as captioning or translation. Commissioning transcription work can be the quickest way to create ad-broadcast scripts.

4. Create Captions Rapidly

If you’re trying to meet FCC requirements for closed captioning, you need captions. You may also desire captions to create a more interactive video. Hiring a transcription service offers you a fast, easy way to create the captions you need.

5. Comply with Regulations

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires federal agencies and programs to provide captioning for the deaf and hearing-impaired. The Americans with Disabilities Act imposes similar requirements on state and local agencies, public accommodations, and commercial facilities. If you fall into these categories, a daily transcription service can help ensure you stay in compliance.

6. Improve Accessibility for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Even if you aren’t legally required to do so, providing captions makes good marketing sense. Approximately 15% of Americans 18 and over have some trouble hearing. If you’re not using captioning, you could be losing over one in seven potential customers.

7. Add Subtitles for Better Communication

For both hearing and non-hearing audiences, transcription can help you get your company’s message across. Over 100 studies show that captioning videos improves comprehension and memory recall. If you want audiences to get your brand’s message, use subtitles from an audio transcription service.

8. Reach Audiences in Multiple Languages

Research reveals that captioning especially assists the comprehension of those watching videos that are not in their native language. If your target audience includes English as a second language speakers, you need audio video transcription. Captions can also help you reach foreign language markets.

What Transcription Service Providers Can Do for Your Production Process

What services do transcription providers offer to post-production crews? Several types of services can be particularly helpful to your post-production workflow.

1. Transcribing Audio for Timestamped Transcripts

Converting your audio to a timestamped script forms a critical role in editing feature films and television. Listening to snips of the soundtrack, pausing to transcribe it, and rewinding for accuracy consumes many valuable hours. Outsource this tedious process to a daily transcription service to save your team enormous time.

2. Transcribing Interviews

Raw interview footage frequently needs transcription for film and television projects such as documentaries and news. Having a transcript also allows you to distribute your interview in text form online, opening up new distribution opportunities. Hiring professional transcriptionists offers the most efficient way to create interview transcripts.

3. Producing As-broadcast Scripts on Schedule

If your workflow requires you to create as-broadcast scripts, a transcription service can help you streamline this function. Building daily transcription into your workflow can ensure that your scripts get delivered on time.

4. Providing Closed Captions

Enhancing film and television shows with closed captions involve the same process as transcription. Playing, pausing, and stopping to add your own closed captions can take countless hours. Handing this off to a professional transcription service makes the process painless.

5. Adding Foreign Subtitles and Translating Documents

Foreign subtitles and translations call for a skill set that goes beyond simple transcription. For subtitles, in addition to understanding the original words, you need to know how to render them into another language. Translating documents requires you to perform a similar process with written source material.

Many in-house teams lack the language skills to handle foreign subtitles and translations. Even if you have the know-how, outsourcing this process can still save you time.

How to Select Audio Transcription Services

When shopping transcription services, it helps to have some criteria so you know what to look for. Several issues stand out as priorities when comparing providers.

Accuracy

Inaccurate rendering defeats the purpose of transcription work. Check if your provider guarantees accuracy. Typically, services that offer accuracy express this guarantee as a percentage. For instance, Rev guarantees 99 percent accuracy for polished transcripts reviewed and edited by our professionals.

Automated vs. Manual Transcription

How your transcription service uses technology can directly affect your accuracy. Machine-generated audio to text transcription can get you a transcript quicker, but the tradeoff is lower accuracy. For example, Rev offers speech-to-text transcription with a five-minute turnaround time and accuracy over 80 percent.

If you want a human editor to polish your transcript, you can get 99% accuracy with a 12-hour turnaround time. Due to the additional labor involved in ensuring this higher accuracy, manual editing also costs more than automated transcription. Choose the option that best suits your needs and your budget.

Language Selection

If you need foreign captions or translation, language selection also factors into your decision. Check to see that your provider offers the languages you need.

Some languages such as Spanish are more widely available. Others such as Japanese may be harder to find and cost more per minute. Rev currently offers foreign subtitles in over 15 languages, with others available upon request.

Talk to a Post-Production Transcription Expert