How to transcribe a recording with poor audio start with the original file.
Upload the original file as it is, use the first 20 free minutes on its worst stretch, and only clean it up if the voices are buried; a poor recording still takes files up to 10 hours or 5 GB (2 GB before your first pack) and comes back in about 2 minutes per audio hour. Bad sound costs nothing extra: a muffled 2-hour meeting is 120 minutes on the $6 pack of 500.
A plan for rough recordings
Four steps, in order, and most files never need the third.
1. Find the best copy
If two devices recorded the same event, pick the one that sat closest to the people talking. Use the file straight off the recorder or the phone rather than one that has been shared through a messaging app, which often shrinks the audio further. Converting to a lower bitrate never adds clarity.
2. Test where it is worst
The first 20 minutes of your first recording are free. If the bad part is in the middle, trim a copy so it starts there and upload that; you will see in minutes whether the full file is worth sending. The box here takes up to 500 MB, and a bigger file continues on the main upload page.
3. Fix only what blocks the voice
A recording that is simply too quiet often improves when you raise its volume in any audio editor. If one stereo channel is empty or full of hiss, export the good channel alone. Heavy noise reduction can smear consonants, so keep it light, and compare against the original.
4. Check the hard passages
Every passage carries its timestamp, so a sentence that looks wrong can be heard again in seconds. The brief, chapters and the list of names and numbers said give you the shape of the recording even where a few words were lost. A word nobody could hear cannot be transcribed, so mark those spots for a colleague who was in the room.
Rescuing a rough file
Most damage to bad audio happens after it was recorded.
✗ What makes it worse
Well-meant steps that cost clarity.
- Re-encoding to a small MP3 to save space
- Strong noise removal that smears speech
- Sending the copy from a chat app
- Choosing the device across the room
- Paying for the whole file before a test
- Cutting the file into many short pieces
✓ What helps
Small, reversible choices.
- The original file from the device
- The closest microphone's recording
- Volume raised if it is simply quiet
- The good channel when one is dead
- The worst stretch tested free
- Doubtful lines checked by timestamp
Sample
A distant, echoing room, as text.
Illustrative lines written for this page, not from a real recording.
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
Poor recordings: the follow-up questions.
How do I transcribe a recording with poor audio?
Upload the original file, test its worst part in the first 20 free minutes, and only adjust it if the voices are buried. Files up to 10 hours or 5 GB are accepted, at about 2 minutes per audio hour.
Should I clean the audio before uploading?
Usually not. Try the original first. If it is very quiet, raising the volume can help; aggressive filtering often removes parts of words along with the hiss. Keep the untouched file in case the cleaned one reads worse.
What about a distorted or clipped recording?
Distortion from a microphone that was too close or too loud cannot be undone afterwards. The passages that are still intelligible will come through; plan to check the distorted ones against the audio.
I only have an old cassette or MiniDisc.
Digitise it first with whatever player and audio input you have, then upload the file. A recording from a tape is often noisy but perfectly usable. We do not offer a digitising service.
Does a poor recording cost more or take longer?
Neither. The price depends only on running time and the speed stays at about 2 minutes per audio hour. A four-hour recording from a back-of-hall phone uses 240 of the 500 minutes in the $6 pack, leaving room for a second attempt with a better copy if you find one.
Which exports do I get, and is the recording private?
TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT and JSON, all with timestamps. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and never used for training.
Related
Related pages on difficult audio.
A rough recording? Find out in 20 free minutes.
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