# How to transcribe an interview and check every quote

Record an interview with consent, transcribe it with speaker turns, choose verbatim or clean, and check every quote against the audio before it is published.

Published 2026-11-06. Paxa Labs.

An interview is worth the quotes you can pull from it. Typing an hour of conversation by hand takes far longer than the hour itself. A transcript with speaker turns gets you to the quotes the same day, whether the interview is for a story, a study, a hire, or an oral history.

## Do you need consent to record an interview?

Ask before you record, and record the answer. The law differs between countries, and in the United States between states. [The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press](https://www.rcfp.org/introduction-to-reporters-recording-guide/) explains that under one-party consent, you can record a conversation you take part in. Federal law follows that rule, and about 11 states mainly require the consent of everyone in the conversation.

The same guide calls it best practice to record the subject's verbal consent. Start the recording, say the date and what the interview is for, and ask the person to agree on tape. Outside the United States, check the rules where you and the interviewee are.

## How should you record the interview?

- Give each person a microphone when you can, close to their mouth.
- Choose a quiet room, away from air conditioners, traffic, and music.
- On a video call, record to your computer. Zoom can also save a separate audio file for each participant, as [its list of recording files](https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0064394) describes.
- Upload MP3, M4A, or the WAV file your recorder made.
- Keep the original file. Every quote is checked against it later.

## How do you transcribe an interview, step by step?

1. Upload the recording: Open [the Transcribe tool](https://paxalabs.com/app/transcribe) and drop in the file. The cost shows before you start.
2. Turn on Speakers: Each turn comes back with a speaker number, counted from 0. In a two-person interview, one number is you and the other is the interviewee.
3. Add names and terms to the vocabulary: Enter the interviewee's name, their organization, and the technical terms and places they are likely to say, up to 50 terms.
4. Choose Verbatim or Clean: Verbatim keeps every word and suits quotes and research. Clean reads more easily and suits notes and summaries.
5. Read it beside the audio: Play the recording as you read, and mark the passages you might quote.

> Paxa STT Lite is a research preview. Its transcripts and its options may change between releases.

## Should you use a verbatim or a clean transcript?

|  | Verbatim | Clean |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Keeps | Every word, with fillers, repeats, and false starts | The words that carry the meaning |
| Reads like | Speech as it was spoken | Lightly edited prose |
| Use it for | Direct quotes, research analysis, and records | Notes, summaries, and articles that paraphrase |

Clean follows the recording less exactly. Quote from a verbatim transcript, or check a clean one against the audio first.

## How do you check a quote before you publish it?

1. Play the passage: Find the quote in the transcript and play that stretch of audio.
2. Compare word for word: Correct the transcript wherever it differs from what you hear.
3. Confirm the speaker: Check that the speaker number belongs to the person you are quoting.
4. Read around it: Read the sentences before and after. A quote cut from its context can say the opposite of what was meant.
5. Check the facts in it: Confirm names, figures, and dates against a second source.

Paxa publishes no accuracy figure. The transcript is a working draft, and the recording stays the record of what was said.

## What does it cost to transcribe an interview?

Transcription is priced by the length of the recording. Paxa STT Lite costs 8.33 credits per minute, and an hour is 500 credits, or $0.50.

| Interview | Length | Credits | Cost |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Phone interview | 20 minutes | 166.67 | $0.17 |
| Research interview | 45 minutes | 375 | $0.38 |
| Oral history session | 90 minutes | 750 | $0.75 |

A new account's 100 free credits cover about 12 minutes of audio, with no card. They are for personal use and evaluation. Buy any plan or credit pack, and the account's transcripts are yours to use commercially, including those made before the purchase. [The Terms](https://paxalabs.com/terms#content-and-output) set this out.

## How do you keep interview recordings private?

Interviews often hold things a person would say only once. Tell the interviewee where the recording will go, and keep the files where only your team can open them. Delete what the project no longer needs.

Before you upload a recording, read how the service handles what you send. Ours is set out in [the Privacy Policy](https://paxalabs.com/privacy) and [the Terms](https://paxalabs.com/terms).

## What should you read or try next?

- Upload an interview to [the Transcribe tool](https://paxalabs.com/app/transcribe) with the free credits.
- See how reporters and researchers work from transcripts on [the interviews page](https://paxalabs.com/use-cases/interviews).
- Read [transcribing Thai and English code-switching](https://paxalabs.com/guides/transcribing-thai-english-code-switching) for interviews that mix languages.
- Read [how to transcribe a podcast](https://paxalabs.com/guides/how-to-transcribe-a-podcast) for interviews that become episodes.
- Compare transcription services on [the speech to text API comparison](https://paxalabs.com/compare/speech-to-text-apis).

## Common questions

### How do I get names spelled right?

Put them in the vocabulary before you transcribe, up to 50 terms. They come back spelled the way you wrote them. Check every name the vocabulary did not cover.

### Can I transcribe a phone interview?

Yes. Record the call with consent, save it as MP3, M4A, or WAV, and upload it. [The call recordings page](https://paxalabs.com/use-cases/call-recordings) covers recorded calls in more detail.

### What if the interview switches between two languages?

Leave Language on Auto. Transcription is multilingual, and each word stays in the script it was spoken in.

### How long can the recording be?

One file can run up to 120 minutes and 95 MB. Split a longer interview at a break and transcribe each part.