In August, a customer sent us four audio recordings covering three court hearing dates, one of those hearings recorded in two parts, a little over eighteen hours of speech in total. He needed a certified verbatim transcript to file with a state superior court. Before anyone prepared a quote, our team paused on a question that had nothing to do with the work itself: would that court take a transcript prepared by a third-party transcription company, or did it require an authorized court reporter? He checked, confirmed in writing, and only then did the project begin. The finished set went out six days ahead of the promised date.<\/p>\n
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The order started in live chat on a Tuesday in August, and our team replied within the hour with a secure upload link. What arrived that afternoon was three compressed archives, one for each hearing date, plus a transcript procedure sheet showing the formatting the filing called for. Explore our court transcription services<\/a> for details.<\/p>\n Archives are not something a transcriptionist can work from, so the recordings were re-sent as individual audio files that afternoon. Four files came across, because one hearing had been recorded in two parts, and they ran roughly 3 hours 37 minutes, 2 hours 52 minutes, 5 hours 1 minute and 6 hours 48 minutes, a shade over eighteen hours together, with the largest around 1.5 GB.<\/p>\n Our intake team graded all four the same way: quality Difficult, six to ten speakers, with the note “audio in english, some voices are in and out and slight speaker overlap.” The request itself was simple to state: a certified verbatim court transcription<\/a> of every hearing, in the legal format his procedure sheet described.<\/p>\n Our consultant read the procedure document and wrote back with a question rather than a quote. Would the superior court require the transcript to be prepared by a state-authorized transcriber or court-appointed reporter, or would a certified transcript from a professional third-party company satisfy the filing requirements? The email said plainly why we asked: “we would not want to misrepresent our services or provide a transcript that may not meet the court’s filing requirements.”<\/p>\n His answer came back under an hour later. He had reviewed the rules himself and confirmed that an audio recorded hearing could be prepared by a certified third-party transcription company, and that the transcript was required by the superior court. Our team then confirmed it would work to his specifications and include our certification with the finished transcript.<\/p>\n Because the first upload came as compressed archives, the audio had to be extracted before anyone could listen to it. Once the four recordings arrived as individual files, the team could log exact running times, grade the audio and confirm the scope. That second upload is the step people underestimate: a multi-gigabyte file takes real time to move.<\/p>\n The quote offered a choice: time codes at each speaker change, at one-minute intervals, or at another interval he preferred. He answered precisely. The only ones he wanted marked where each recording began and where it concluded. A transcript stamped every sixty seconds reads very differently from one that simply anchors each session, and because he said so up front, that instruction was on the order sheet before any transcriptionist opened the first file.<\/p>\n When payment cleared on the Wednesday, our team confirmed the turnaround in writing: eighteen business days, delivered by 5 PM EST on or before September 14, with files to be released on a rolling basis as each transcription was finished. In the end nothing had to go out piecemeal, because the work ran ahead of the schedule it was measured against. The whole job reached him in a single delivery on Tuesday, September 8: four transcripts covering the three hearing dates, the two-part hearing keeping its two files, plus a certificate of transcription.<\/p>\n A certified verbatim transcript of every hearing, prepared to the time-code option he had chosen, delivered as one package with a signed certificate and ahead of the promised date. His reply that afternoon: “I received the transcription and I appreciate your hard work.”<\/p>\n Verbatim means the transcript follows the recording rather than tidying it up. In practice it aims to capture:<\/p>\n The certification is separate from the text: a signed certificate of transcription stating that the transcript is a complete and accurate record of the audio provided. Our certified transcription<\/a> is done by human transcriptionists.<\/p>\n Courtroom audio is rarely recorded under studio conditions. One microphone picks up a podium clearly and a seated speaker faintly, and people talk over one another. In this story, all four recordings were graded Difficult, each with six to ten speakers and the same note about voices fading in and out with slight overlap.<\/p>\n A multi-party hearing with overlapping speech takes replays, careful speaker attribution and a second listen before sign-off, which is why verbatim transcription<\/a> of legal audio is estimated by difficulty as well as running time.<\/p>\n Hearing recordings, depositions, arbitrations and recorded statements all end up needing a written record, usually against a deadline someone else set. Our team works with law firms, solo practitioners and self-filing individuals across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, and with customers in other states.<\/p>\n Everything can be handled online. If you prefer to talk it through in person, our office is at 224 W 35th St #1200-8, New York, NY 10001, on the 12th floor between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The 1, 2, 3, A, C and E trains stop at 34th Street\u2013Penn Station and the B, D, F, M, N, Q, R and W trains at 34th Street\u2013Herald Square. Read more about our New York transcription services<\/a>, or see how we handled an English to Thai legal translation for a New York attorney<\/a>.<\/p>\n It depends on running time, speaker count and audio quality. In this story, about eighteen hours of Difficult multi-speaker courtroom audio was quoted at eighteen business days from payment and finished six days early. A single clean recording is far quicker. Send the files or their running times and our team will confirm a delivery date before you pay.<\/p>\n A certified transcript is human-prepared and delivered with a signed certificate of transcription stating that it is a complete and accurate record of the audio supplied. That certificate is a separate document travelling with the files. It is not the same as notarization, which is a notary witnessing a signature rather than a statement about content.<\/p>\n Yes, and you choose the frequency. Time codes can sit at every speaker change, at fixed intervals such as one minute, or only at the beginning and end of each recording. The customer in this story asked for the start and end of each recording and nothing more. Decide before work begins, because changing the interval later means reformatting every page.<\/p>\n That is a question for the court, and worth asking before you order. Some jurisdictions require an authorized court reporter or a transcriber from their own list; others take a certified transcript from a professional company. We prepare and certify the transcript, and the filing decision belongs to the court. Our team will ask you to confirm the requirement first.<\/p>\n Through the secure upload link our team sends you. Individual audio files work better than compressed archives, which have to be unpacked before anyone can listen or measure running time. Files of a gigabyte or more upload fine, but they take time, so start early and confirm the upload actually finished.<\/p>\n Tell us what you found and where it sits in the audio, and our team will correct it. Revisions are free for 30 days after delivery, and corrections are usually returned within 24 to 48 hours. It helps to give the time stamp and the wording you believe is right, especially for names and technical terms.<\/p>\nHow We Handled It<\/h3>\n
The question that came before the quote<\/h4>\n
Getting eighteen hours of audio across<\/h4>\n
Time codes exactly where he wanted them<\/h4>\n
The schedule in writing, and one complete set<\/h4>\n
The Result<\/h3>\n
What a Certified Verbatim Transcript Contains<\/h3>\n
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Why Hearing Audio Gets Rated Difficult<\/h3>\n
Planning a Long Transcription Order<\/h3>\n
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Court and Legal Transcription in New York City<\/h3>\n
Frequently Asked Questions<\/h3>\n
How long does it take to transcribe several hours of hearing audio?<\/h4>\n
What is a certified transcript, and what comes with it?<\/h4>\n
Can you add time codes to a court transcript?<\/h4>\n
Will a court accept a transcript prepared by a transcription company?<\/h4>\n
How do I send very large audio files?<\/h4>\n
What if I find something wrong in the transcript?<\/h4>\n
Have Hearing Recordings That Need Transcribing?<\/h3>\n