How To Make Money Transcribing Audio in 2024

For a while after 2020, it seemed that working from home would become the new normal. After all, having proved that most jobs could be done remotely, who would ever want to go back to the office again?

And yet somehow, it’s getting harder and harder to find remote roles, especially with the wild proliferation of online scams promising easy work for high pay, which means jobseekers are having to be much more careful about vetting job ads.

There are still good roles out there, though, for some types of work in particular. If you’re keen to work from home, either by starting a side hustle or as a full time job, you might have thought about audio transcription.

If you’re interested in audio transcription, but feel in need of more information before taking the plunge, you’re in the right place. We’ve broken down everything you need to know before you get started, so you can make an informed decision before diving in.

Why Are Transcribers Still Needed?

With the proliferation of AI, you could be forgiven for wondering why transcribers are even needed these days. Can’t a computer programme produce a transcript automatically?

Well, yes, it can, but not always reliably. At the very least, a proofreader will need to check over an AI’s work for errors, and that’s a best case scenario. With multiple people speaking at once, an unusual accent, or poor quality audio, even the best AI will be stumped.

Which is where professional transcribers, or transcriptionists, come in. Human brains can make sense of confusing situations with multiple speakers, and recognise mumbling or poor quality speech far more accurately than AI can. And even when the recording is perfectly comprehensible, it may contain specialised terminology that an AI can’t be relied on to recognise.

What Will I Be Transcribing?

There are more situations that call for transcription than you might realise. Common projects include:

• Transcribing focus groups, where multiple participants voice their opinions regarding a particular topic or product

• Transcribing an audio or video recording of a medical appointment (more common in the USA, but transcribers often work internationally)

• Transcribing legal proceedings, such as police interviews

• Transcribing recorded business meetings, especially if they’ve taken place via video call

• Transcribing podcasts or YouTube videos

• Transcribing lectures or talks

• Transcribing personal voice notes

Types Of Transcription?

There are two major categories of transcription, in terms of the final product you’ll be asked to provide.

Verbatim Transcription

This includes every single detail, no matter how small, from the audio recording - including every ‘um’, ‘ah’ and pause for thought. This is required in situations where all those small details can be significant, such as psychological studies or legal proceedings.

Clean Or Edited Transcription

The content is far more important than the nitty gritty detail with edited transcription. What’s needed is a record of what was said, not whether somebody fumbled the odd word or overused ‘er’. This is more likely to be requested for business meetings, podcasts or journalistic interviews, for example.

How Much Can I Earn?

It must be said that audio transcription is not your best bet if you’re looking to make your fortune. You’re usually paid per minute of audio, at between roughly 50p and £2, depending on the difficulty of the recording, and the level of expertise required.

This may sound like an excellent rate, but it takes much longer to transcribe a minute of audio than it does to listen to it. As a beginner, you could easily end up spending fifteen minutes working on a single minute’s worth of audio, which ends up bringing down your hourly rate.

As you gain more experience, though, you’ll be able to work more quickly, and you will also be able to specialise in more technical fields that command higher rates of pay.

What Do I Need To Get Started?

Although the barrier to entry for audio transcription is pretty low, you will still need some skills and equipment to get started.

Skills

• Excellent grasp of the English language. You’ll need to produce grammatically correct transcripts for your clients, which means knowing from context whether ‘to’, ‘too’ or ‘two’ is the right word, or ‘there’, ‘they’re’ or ‘their’.

• A high typing speed. Some transcription companies will accept people who can hit at least 45 wpm (words per minute), but others require you to type as quickly as 60-75 wpm. It’s also in your own interest to be a fast typist; the faster you can produce a transcript, the higher your rate of pay will be.

• Stellar listening skills. You’ll be spending your time straining your ears to make out what one person mumbled while another was speaking over the top of them - without a good ear, you probably won’t get very far.

• Great research skills. Not infrequently, you’ll have to do some research to work out exactly what was said in a recording, for example if a place name has been mentioned, or an obscure scientific concept. The ability to track down the correct name or term from the information available to you will be invaluable as a professional transcriptionist.

Equipment And Software

The only absolute essentials are a computer and some form of word processing software - you don’t need to spend a fortune on equipment or software to get started. However, you may well find that some or all of the following make your life as an audio transcriptionist much easier.

• A second screen. Having the audio file and/or your research open on one screen, with your transcript on the other, can allow for much greater efficiency as you transcribe.

• Noise cancelling headphones. A good pair of headphones can be absolutely transformative when you’re working with poor quality audio, or people speaking unclearly.

• A foot pedal. This will allow you to pause and unpause the audio as you work, meaning your fingers never have to leave your keyboard to move the mouse. Professional transcribers usually swear by their foot pedal.

• Transcription software. Voice-to-text transcription software is by no means flawless, but it can be a very good place to start. You’ll have to check for errors, and it won’t cope with the trickiest bits, but you’ll be saved having to type out the straightforward sections yourself.

• Text expander software. This is software that allows you to enter a short command to produce common phrases, which can be customised. For example, to produce the phrase, ‘Thank you so much’, you could enter the command ‘tysm’. As you work, you build up a library of commands, which allows you to drastically increase your productivity.

Should I Take A Course?

It’s probably not essential, but you may find it helpful. It’s certainly possible to learn on the job - there are a good number of companies who are happy to take on transcriptionists without any experience or qualifications - but you may feel more confident if you’ve had some official training.

There are a lot of courses out there, however, and they aren’t all reputable. If you decide you do want to take one, make sure to do your research to ensure you’re getting good value for your money.

You could also consider taking a specialised course, such as Legal Audio Processing from Pitman Training. This would ensure you have the necessary certification to carry out the highest paid transcription projects, so could be an excellent way to kickstart your transcription career.

Should I Specialise?

There are definitely significant benefits to being a specialist transcriptionist. If you’re working as a legal transcriptionist, for example, your earnings will be much higher - though you will have to put in the work to gain certification beforehand. You might also find the work boring, or even, for certain kinds of cases, distressing.

General transcription may well be an easier place to start for a beginner, at least while you gain experience and improve your transcription speed. With many companies, you’ll be able to start earning straight away, and the range of projects you can take on will be much wider.

Should I Work With A Company Or Agency?

It’s certainly easier to find work as a newcomer to transcription if you sign up to work with a company or agency. Transcription companies who take on beginners will usually require you to take a test in English proficiency and a typing test to ensure you’re capable of doing the job, and you’ll then be free to choose as much work as you like.

On the other hand, the company will be taking their cut of the fees charged to the end client, and your earnings may end up being lower than you’d hoped. Transcription companies are often quite poorly thought of by the transcriptionists carrying out the work, especially those that are willing to accept beginners.

Nonetheless, if you accept that your earnings won’t be great at first, you could work with one of these companies to get yourself going and gain experience. Once you know what you’re doing, you can look at moving to a company that only takes on experienced transcriptionists, or even setting up entirely on your own.

How Else Can I Find Work?

• Use your connections. If you know anybody who might be in need of transcription services, see if they’d be willing to give you a chance. You never know if you don’t ask!

• Contact local businesses. Often, businesses will be keen to employ someone from the local community where they can, so it’s worth making yourself known to organisations in your area who might be in need of transcription services.

• Check social media. It’s increasingly common for businesses in search of services or staff to post on social media, so it’s well worth keeping your eye out for opportunities. Scams are rife, however, especially when it comes to work from home positions, so be sceptical if you see something that looks too good to be true.

• Join freelancing services such as Fiverr or Upwork, which will connect you to clients in need of your help.

How Do I Pay Tax?

As a freelancer, you’ll have to submit a yearly tax return if you earn over £1000 a year - which, hopefully, you will be!

It may sound complicated and intimidating, but really it’s fairly straightforward. Make sure to keep a record of all your income from transcription, as well as any business-related expenses - for example, for transcription software - as these are deducted from your taxable income.

If your work really takes off, you may earn enough to justify paying an accountant to handle your tax return for you, of course, in which case you won’t have to worry about it at all.

Advantages Of Audio Transcription

• You can work from home. Probably one of the most important factors for most people considering audio transcription as a side hustle or full time freelancing role.

• You can work to your own schedule. Take on as much work as you like, when you’ve got time for it.

• You don’t have to spend enormous amounts of time and money on courses or equipment before you get started.

• There’s (usually) plenty of work available.

Disadvantages Of Audio Transcription

• Low rates of pay. Unless you specialise, you’re unlikely to earn much more than minimum wage from transcription, and sometimes not even that.

• Tight turnaround times. While you can choose how much work you pick up, and when you take it on, it will normally come with a deadline attached. Clients often require a speedy turnaround, which may be quite stressful for you to meet.

• Unclear recordings. It can be a nightmare to find yourself with a fuzzy recording, full of mumbling people all talking over each other, which might take an enormous amount of time for you to transcribe.

• Isolation. You’ll be working entirely on your own - which might be heaven for some people, but soul-crushingly solitary for others.

• Screen time. You’ll spend long stretches of time sitting down and staring at a screen, which isn’t particularly healthy.

Summary

Audio transcription won’t be for everyone, but it is one of the simplest ways to earn a reasonable wage from the comfort of your own home without having any existing qualifications or equipment. You’re likely to be able to find consistent work, and you can carry out that work around your schedule.

If you’re not sure, though, there are lots of other flexible work from home side hustles out there to boost your income, such as copywriting, tutoring, or perhaps you could learn Matched Betting.