Carterscribe

Below is a guideline to the services that we have available. If what you require is not listed, please ask.

Using Olympus DSS Player, Express Scribe, plus up-to-date digital audio equipment, we can transcribe your work from most format files (DSS, MP3, WAV, WMA, etc). Standard size audio cassette tapes and micro-cassettes can also be transcribed.

A typed transcription can be made of any of the following:

• Articles
• Authors' and writers' dictation
• Business dictation
• Conference calls
• General correspondence
• Interviews and lectures
• Manuscripts and memoirs
• Presentations and reports
• Seminars and workshop recordings

It is worth mentioning that the time it takes to transcribe an audio file or tape is very much dependent on the quality of the recording and the clarity of the speaker or speakers.

The industry standard for transcription work is four times the length of a recording. For example, with a fifteen minute recording, one would need to allow approximately one hour for transcribing, and possibly longer for interviews and conference calls in which more than one person is speaking.

To transcribe your work as efficiently as possible, it would therefore help considerably, when recording, if you could speak clearly and keep background noise to a minimum. Also, use quality tapes, making sure your batteries have plenty of life, and where possible, allow for more than one microphone if there are several speakers.

Where, in the transcription any words or phrases appear ambiguous and are not clear, these will be colour highlighted or placed in brackets, indicating it needs client verification. We will also inform you as soon as possible if your recording is proving difficult, in order to prevent you incurring additional charges.

We can help with the copy typing of letters, printed notes, invoices, or any handwritten material, offering a professional finished document on plain paper, or using your own letterhead. When requested, an addressed envelope is also supplied. A selection of different typefaces can be made available, to choose the lettering you prefer, plus options of colouring and over-colouring of lettering, tabulated formats, etc.

We can edit any existing documents. Your transcription can also, if you wish, be lightly edited into a more taut, easily understood document, in which the speaker’s meaning is clear. This might be appropriate, for example, in an interview or seminar where the spoken English is sometimes heard as repetitive or disjointed, with unnecessary “ums and ahs” and introductory or closing remarks. Abbreviated words as said, such as “don’t”, “can’t”, would be typed as “do not”, “cannot”.

We can proofread any existing documents. We also offer the option for your transcript to be proofread. It is a critical task, during which, with the help of a third party your text can be gone through against the original recording, checking for accuracy and completeness, including research to ensure precision of names and terminology.

For an initial quote, translating English to French and vice versa, please contact us with your requirements.

NOTE: Backup copies of client files, unless otherwise instructed, are kept for a period of six months.