How to transcribe a recording with music in the background the voice comes through, the music does not.
Upload the recording as it is: the speech is transcribed and the music, sound effects and crowd noise are not, for files up to 10 hours or 5 GB (2 GB before your first pack) at about 2 minutes per audio hour. Where the music is as loud as the voice, test that stretch in the first 20 free minutes; a 2-hour service with worship songs is 120 minutes on the $6 pack of 500.
Voice over music
How to get clean text from a recording that was never meant to be quiet.
What the transcript contains
Spoken words, with timestamps. Instrumental beds, jingles, applause and songs between talks are not written out. Sung lyrics are music for this purpose, so if you need the words of a hymn or a track, take them from the songbook or the album notes.
Use the voice track if you have one
Podcast and streaming software, mixing desks and video editors can often export the microphone on its own (menus vary by tool). If such a track exists, upload it instead of the final mix: the voice is then the only thing in the file.
Trim the long music breaks
Minutes are counted on running time, songs included. A 3-hour radio show with an hour of tracks uses 180 minutes as it is, or 120 if you cut the music out first. For a weekly show, that difference adds up across a year, and the timestamps still match the cut file you uploaded.
Test the loudest stretch
When the music sits right under the voice, as in a vlog or a wedding speech, the first 20 free minutes tell you how it reads. Trim a copy to start at the hardest part if needed. The box here takes files up to 500 MB; larger ones continue on the main upload page.
Music and speech
The mix that sounds best is not always the one to upload.
✗ What makes it harder
Choices that bury the voice.
- Uploading the final mix when a voice track exists
- Music as loud as the speaker
- Paying for an hour of songs
- Expecting sung lyrics in the text
- A phone recording beside the speakers
- No test on the loudest stretch
✓ What works
A cleaner file and a shorter bill.
- The microphone track on its own
- Speech transcribed, music skipped
- Song breaks trimmed before upload
- Lyrics taken from the source
- A recording from the desk feed
- The busiest part tested free
Sample
A radio segment between tracks, as text.
Illustrative lines written for this page; the show is invented and the music is not shown.
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
Background music: the follow-up questions.
How do I transcribe a recording with music in the background?
Upload it as it is. The speech is transcribed; music, sound effects and crowd noise are left out. Files can run up to 10 hours or 5 GB, at about 2 minutes per audio hour.
Will song lyrics appear in the transcript?
Do not rely on it. Singing is treated as music, and the transcript is for the speech. Take lyrics from the songbook, the setlist or the album notes.
Do I pay for the minutes of music?
Yes, minutes are counted on running time. A weekly 2-hour show is 6,240 minutes a year; with 40 minutes of songs cut from each episode it is 4,160, which fits the $24 pack of 5,000.
What if the music is louder than the voice?
Then some words will be lost, as they would be for a listener. A voice-only track, a recording from the mixing desk, or a copy with the music turned down in an editor all help.
Can I paste a YouTube or Twitch link instead?
Yes. YouTube videos and live replays, Twitch and Kick VODs, Vimeo, Google Drive links and podcast feeds can be pasted. Stream recordings over 6 hours start once a pack is on the account.
Which exports come with it, and is the recording private?
TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT and JSON; the SRT and VTT files work as captions. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and never used for training.
Related
Related pages on difficult audio.
Speech under a soundtrack? Test the loudest part free.
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