(one-on-one interviews, speeches, podcasts, videos, etc)

It takes six to eight hours to transcribe one hour of high quality recorded audio or video. This ratio applies to the transcription of a one-on-one interview or a two-member meeting. This will vary from one transcriptionist to another. The greatest determinants in the turnaround time of any transcription depends on the recording situation and the quality of the audio/video. Obviously it would take longer to transcribe a six-participant disciplinary hearing, than it would take to transcribe a one-on-one interview. There are a number of variables that can affect the turnaround time of a transcription project, these include:

	amount of background noise;
	the transcriptionist's degree of familiarity with the speaker/s voices and the topic of discussion;
	the frequency of unfamiliar words or technical terminology used;
	the pitch and tone of the participant/s voices;
	foreign accents, voice projection and language fluency of the speakers;
	the number of people present in the interview/meeting;
	degree of required verbatim (the transcription of additional "umm's"; "aah's" and "mm-hm's" as well as false sentence starts e.g. Well I think - maybe it was - I believe it could have happened earlier); and
	audio quality.

Pointers on how you can help to speed up turnaround time

	Set-up the interview situation for the maximum quality of sound/visual capture that is possible for the recording device that you have. Read Recording Devices and Audio Quality for tips and advice. and
	Provide a list of technical or unfamiliar terms used during the sessions. This will help to speed up turnaround time by lessening the amount of time the transcriptionist is required to do research to ensure that she has the correct term or spelling.
	Provide a list of acronyms and abbreviations used during the interviews to ensure accuracy of your transcript and also lessening the transcriptionist's research time.
	Specify the type of transcript you require. Transcription of verbatim interviews takes longer to transcribe than those where "umm's" and "aah's" are omitted. See Transcript Types for additional information.
	Ensure that the recording device is NOT set to "voice activation". This setting results in the first couple of words of each input not being recorded.