How to Transcribe a Lecture Recording

To transcribe a lecture, record the audio as close to the lecturer as you can, upload the file to Kai The Scribe, set the Language, and click Start Transcription. You get the whole lecture as punctuated text you can search, copy, or download as .txt. Then pull out definitions, examples and questions to build your notes.

A lecture transcript fixes the main problem with lecture notes: you cannot write and listen at the same time. With the full text in hand, you can listen properly in the room and do the note-taking later, at your own pace. A transcript also helps when the lecturer talks fast, when the course is not in your first language, or when you miss a class and borrow a classmate's recording. This guide covers recording a lecture so it transcribes well, running it through the tool, and turning the transcript into study notes.

Open the transcription tool

Check you are allowed to record

Before anything else, check the rules. Many universities and colleges publish a policy on recording lectures, and individual lecturers may allow or forbid it. If you need recordings as an accessibility adjustment, your disability or student support office is the place to ask. A recording made for your own study is not the same as one you share, so keep transcripts to yourself unless the lecturer says otherwise.

Record a lecture that transcribes cleanly

Lecture halls are hard on microphones. The speaker is far away, the room echoes, and the audience rustles. A few choices make a large difference.

• Sit near the front. Distance is the biggest enemy. The closer the recorder is to the lecturer, the less room echo and audience noise it picks up.
• Keep the microphone uncovered. A phone face down in a bag or under a notebook records muffled audio. Lay it flat on the desk with the bottom edge, where the microphone usually sits, facing the lecturer.
• Use the official recording when there is one. If the lecture is captured by the university's own system or held on Zoom or Teams, that recording usually comes from the lecturer's microphone and beats anything recorded from a seat. The Zoom recording guide covers finding those files.
• Save audio, not video. An audio file is far smaller than a video of the same lecture, which matters for the upload limit.
• Note the hard words. Write down technical terms, names and formulas on the board. You will need the correct spellings when you check the transcript.

How to transcribe the lecture

1. Open the tool and sign in with Google. Every account gets 60 free minutes a month.
2. Choose the file under Upload File. The tool accepts MP3, WAV, M4A, MP4, MOV and WEBM, up to 100 MB. If the file is too large to upload, paste a direct public link to it under Media URL.
3. Set the Language. Pick the language the lecture is given in. Auto Detect works too, but choosing it yourself removes one thing that can go wrong.
4. Leave Label different speakers off for a straight lecture. Tick it for a seminar or a Q&A section, where it starts each turn with Speaker 1:, Speaker 2: and so on.
5. Click Start Transcription, then Download .txt. Save the file with the course and date in the name so you can find it at exam time.

Turn the transcript into study notes

A full lecture transcript is long, and reading it end to end is slower than rewatching. Searching it is faster. Open the .txt in any editor and work through four searches.

1. Definitions. Search for "is defined as", "means", and "we call". Copy each definition under a Definitions heading.
2. Signals of importance. Search for "important", "remember", "exam" and "key". Lecturers flag what matters out loud more often than on the slides.
3. Examples. Search for "for example" and "for instance". An example next to its idea is what makes notes useful a month later.
4. Questions. Search for question marks. Questions from the audience, and the answers, often show where the material is hardest.

Put the results under those four headings, add the slide number where you can, and you have a set of notes built from what was actually said. If you would rather have structured notes generated for you, VocalScribe (vocalscribe.xyz) is built for students and turns a lecture recording into a transcript and notes.

Check what matters before you rely on it

A machine transcript of a lecture is a strong draft, not a source. Technical terms, names, numbers and formulas are where it is most likely to slip, especially from the back of a large room. Before a definition or figure goes into your revision notes, play that part of the recording and confirm it. Compare against the slides or the reading list when you can.

Limits to plan for

• Long lectures may need splitting. Uploads are capped at 100 MB and processing at 60 seconds per request.
• No timestamps or slides. The output is plain text. Keep the recording if you want to replay a section.
• Equations come out as words. Spoken maths is transcribed as spoken, so rewrite formulas in your notes by hand.

For more on getting clean audio from any room, read the guide to recording audio for transcription.

Frequently asked questions

Transcribe your lecture