Low-cost transcription services.

September 4, 2007 11:28 AM

Anyone have good experiences with any inexpensive transcription services? I am looking to send digital files of interviews out to be transcribed. The material is not too technical, and accuracy needs to be very good, but doesn't need to be legal-document perfect. I am mostly looking for low cost and decent quality. Any thoughts?
posted by blahblahblah to Work & Money (8 answers total)

I used Amazon's Mechanical Turk, but it was not good value for money in the end, because the documents were not proofed, only transcribed. Proofing is just another service, apparently, and requires a different person.

Most colleges have contacts for local transcription services, as do the yellow pages. I used a college-referenced transcription service for an interview I needed a documentation of, and they returned the work, proofed, in 36 hours. That was in Washington, DC though.
posted by parmanparman at 11:41 AM on September 4, 2007

Response by poster: parmanparman - Thanks, I can use a college transcription service, but they are pricey. I am hoping to find something less expensive using the power of the internets.
posted by blahblahblah at 11:51 AM on September 4, 2007

I bookmarked this service when it was recommended in a blog, but the name of the blog escapes me right now.
posted by sharkfu at 12:01 PM on September 4, 2007

A few years ago when I was unable to type, a friend recommended SmartDocs, which is an Australian outfit, to me. I never used it, though, and they don't list pricing on their website -- you have to contact them apparently. (If you find out what they charge I'd like to know it.) Their big selling point was fast turnaround time for the medical and legal industries (by breaking the work up into chunks and using the time difference from the US to do it overnight), but maybe they have lower-cost services for less time-sensitive material.

The only place I could find online that listed prices in a straightforward manner was Production Transcripts, who charges $120 for a 60-minute interview tape and $65 for a 30-minute. Prices increase for multiple-participant interviews. They advertise these as "low, flat-rate prices."
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:21 PM on September 4, 2007

$120 is pretty reasonable for 60-minutes of audio. I did freelance transcription for a while locally for $100 per 2 hours of audio, but I'm not a professional. I got the gig through Craig's List, so you could try something like that. Alternately, I'd be happy to do it for you at that rate :D
posted by booknerd at 4:06 PM on September 4, 2007

Are we allowed to self-link (er, self-suggest) in AskMe? If so, I did a lot of this work when I was writing for a motorsports magazine. (And let me tell you, that was quite an education in interpreting accents.) How many interviews do you have? Email is in the profile.
posted by Liosliath at 6:09 PM on September 4, 2007

Try Rogers Word Service; it's a great small company that's been around doing this kind of thing for over 20 years. They're based in Raleigh but regularly work with major television networks, medical and legal groups, large pharmaceutical companies, etc., as well as smaller folks like you.

I know the owner casually; he's a great guy (and also happens to be one of the best jazz djs I've ever had the pleasure of listening to on overnight radio). Full disclosure: I did a bit of work for the company years ago, but am not affiliated with them now. All I can say is they're honest, sharp and professional people, and are known for keeping rates reasonable. Worth an email for a price quote as you search around.
posted by mediareport at 8:58 PM on September 4, 2007

I don't know if this is low cost - but the service I use for work is Production Transcripts. They have really quick turnarounds when you need them.

http://www.productiontranscripts.com

It seems that Kadin has their link also - I'm just adding my two cents that they do a spot on job, never had any troubles with mis-transcribed words.
posted by Lizc at 4:34 PM on September 5, 2007