How do you cite a recording with timestamps? Find the moment first, then put the time where the page number would go.
Put the time of the quoted passage in the in-text citation where a page number would go, and to find that time quickly, transcribe the recording first: one file can be up to 10 hours or 5 GB (2 GB before your first pack), and a 1-hour recording is searchable in about 2 minutes, with a timestamp on every line. The first 20 minutes are free, and the $6 pack of 500 minutes covers about eight hours of sources.
From source to footnote
The time is the page number of a recording.
Transcribe the source
Upload the lecture, podcast episode, interview or talk, or paste a YouTube, Vimeo or RSS link. The box here takes files up to 500 MB; a larger file moves on to the upload page, still up to 10 hours or 5 GB.
Locate the passage
Search the transcript for a word you remember, or ask the chat where the speaker made the argument you want. Every result comes with its time, so the hunt that used to mean scrubbing a 3-hour recording takes a minute.
Check against the audio
Play the moment and confirm the wording before you quote it. The transcript is an AI draft; the recording is the source you are citing, and the words in quotation marks should match what is heard.
Write the citation
Author-date styles generally put the time where a page number would sit, in hours, minutes and seconds. Reference-list entries for audio and video name the speaker or creator, the date, the title and the format. Check the edition of your style guide for its exact layout.
Citing from memory
Why recordings get cited badly.
✗ No time, or the wrong one
The quote is in the essay, but nobody could find it in the recording.
- A citation with no timestamp at all
- A time copied from a hazy note
- A quote paraphrased inside quotation marks
- Scrubbing a 3-hour lecture for one line
- The free tool that stopped at an hour
- A marker asking where the quote came from
✓ Cited to the second
Every quoted line points to a moment anyone can check.
- About 2 minutes for a 1-hour source
- Search for the remembered phrase
- The exact time beside each line
- Quote checked against the audio
- Chapters for citing a whole section
- The same method for every source
Sample
A passage worth citing, with its time.
Illustrative lines written for this page; not from a real lecture, author or publication.
Export
One transcript. Five clean formats.
Every pack exports all five — no format is held back for a higher tier.
Plain text
De-ummed paragraphs. Ready to paste.
SRT captions
Timed to the speech. Every video editor reads this.
WebVTT
HTML5 player + YouTube uploads.
Show notes
Formatted with chapters and pull-quotes.
Machine-readable
Timestamped text for your own tools.
Pricing
Honest pricing, no surprises.
A pack from $6 (500 minutes) opens the full transcript. After that, no subscription and no auto-renew — every tier is a one-time minute pack, and credits never expire. Buy once, use the minutes whenever you need them.
Casual pack
$6/500 min
8 hours of audio — $0.72 an hour. One-time — credits never expire.
- 500 minutes of audio
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
- Executive summary & key quote
Best value
$12/2,000 min
33 hours of audio — $0.36 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 2,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
Bulk pack
$24/5,000 min
83 hours of audio — $0.29 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 5,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
Citing recordings, answered.
Where exactly does the timestamp go?
In author-date styles it usually sits in the in-text citation, after the year, where a page number would be, written as hours, minutes and seconds. Notes-based styles put it in the footnote. Your style guide's current edition is the final word.
How much would transcribing my thesis sources cost?
Twenty-five sources averaging 70 minutes come to 1,750 minutes, which the $12 pack of 2,000 minutes covers with 250 left. Credits never expire, so the rest waits for the next chapter.
Can I cite the transcript instead of the recording?
Cite the recording you listened to, with the time. The transcript is your working tool for finding and checking passages, not a published source of its own.
The source is an interview I recorded myself.
Many styles treat an unpublished interview differently from a published recording, sometimes as a personal communication. Check your style guide and your ethics approval, and keep the recording and transcript for your supervisor.
What if the recording is longer than 10 hours?
Split it into two files at a natural break. The second file's times start again at zero, so add the offset back when you cite from it.
Is my research recording private?
Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training. Your recording and its transcript stay deletable whenever you choose.
Related
Related research pages
Find the moment. Cite the time. About 2 minutes per audio hour.
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