There is nothing worse in journalism than having to transcribe your own interviews. But is there another way? Or are we all just flippity flippity fucked?
This has worked for me... I open a blank Google Doc and I play my audio file (usually recorded on a Zoom H5) on my desktop. I activate Google Docs' voice typing (under "tools," make sure you have the mic permission "on" for whatever browser you're using), the .wav file plays through my Mac and transcribes the audio to the blank Doc. It's not perfect at getting everything and it has to be gone over, but it saves me a lot of time.
It really depends what the transcription is for. If it's a more open ended convo and you are trying to figure out what to write, it is essential to listen to it again IMHO. But I'v ebeen using a great young journalist to do transcriptions more and more. Because not only am I lazy about it and do I hate it in all the ways described, but I've been doing profiles of great musicians in the Wall street Journal the last 3-4 years: David Crosby, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt, Billy Strings... and a lot of times I do lengthy interviews but can only use 3-4 quotes. So I was making notes, noting the time of quotes I'd want and getting them... but I realized that I really should have precise transcriptions for my files and records, and I just couldn't do it all the time.
I've written two extensive oral histories, on the Allman Brothers and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and for hte first one, I was so overwhelmed I literally could NOT transcribe everything, so I just made sure to get the quotes I needed and knew I might use... but really regretted not having full transcriptions of all of them, so I've been spending money and getting them done more and more.
I agree with you on transcribing. It's the absolute worst, but it's a necessity for producing good work. And I'm saying this as someone who tops out at 400-word, three-source articles. Could not imagine the headache transcribing is for you or Wright Thompson or whoever.
This has worked for me... I open a blank Google Doc and I play my audio file (usually recorded on a Zoom H5) on my desktop. I activate Google Docs' voice typing (under "tools," make sure you have the mic permission "on" for whatever browser you're using), the .wav file plays through my Mac and transcribes the audio to the blank Doc. It's not perfect at getting everything and it has to be gone over, but it saves me a lot of time.
It really depends what the transcription is for. If it's a more open ended convo and you are trying to figure out what to write, it is essential to listen to it again IMHO. But I'v ebeen using a great young journalist to do transcriptions more and more. Because not only am I lazy about it and do I hate it in all the ways described, but I've been doing profiles of great musicians in the Wall street Journal the last 3-4 years: David Crosby, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt, Billy Strings... and a lot of times I do lengthy interviews but can only use 3-4 quotes. So I was making notes, noting the time of quotes I'd want and getting them... but I realized that I really should have precise transcriptions for my files and records, and I just couldn't do it all the time.
I've written two extensive oral histories, on the Allman Brothers and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and for hte first one, I was so overwhelmed I literally could NOT transcribe everything, so I just made sure to get the quotes I needed and knew I might use... but really regretted not having full transcriptions of all of them, so I've been spending money and getting them done more and more.
I agree with you on transcribing. It's the absolute worst, but it's a necessity for producing good work. And I'm saying this as someone who tops out at 400-word, three-source articles. Could not imagine the headache transcribing is for you or Wright Thompson or whoever.