Sending Materials for Transcription

Establish an account.

Before we can work on any of your materials, you must sign up for an account.

Uploading Digital Files: WAV, MP3, MOV, MP4, AIFF, etc.

The easiest way to send us materials is to upload them directly to our secure client area using our Easy Upload application. The upload application is presented as soon as you log in.

Option 1: Easy Upload

This method allows you to ‘drag and drop’ files directly to our server.

Steps:

You must sign up for an account before you can access the client area.
Login to to the client area.
Select "Upload Files" from the menu, then "Easy Upload"
Drag your files into the upload area. Click ‘Send’ to begin upload
Fill out file logging information and confirm order.

Option 2: establish an FTP account on our server.

This is suitable only if the Easy Upload system fails to work. In most cases the Easy Upload method above is the better choice.

Steps:

You must sign up for an account before you can access the client area.
Call or email the office to let us know you need FTP access
Once you request the FTP account, we’ll provision it. That can take up to 1 day to do.
Install your FTP software if you don’t already have it.
Email us your file upload information or fax a submission form.

Do not e-mail audio to us. Files sent over the internet can only be uploaded using Easy Upload or FTP.

Sending us a Hard Drive full of footage

We can accept your USB or Firewire Wire 800 hard drive in lieu of uploading or DVDs. There’s a $40.00 handling fee for this. Additionally, if we need to render the footage down to a smaller size, then we charge $30.00 per hour of render time. Please consult with us in advance regarding the format of the footage on the hard drive. We can only handle certain formats. Render times vary based on the size of your source files and the speed of the hard drive sent in.

When preparing the footage on your hard drive, organization and a rational nomenclature are key. Do not just send us the hard drive your camera person gave you !!! We will need a highly detailed list from you of exactly which files need transcription.

Key Issues when sending a hard drive:

Only send files that are to be transcribed. Do not send extraneous takes.
You should have opened and watched every single file on the drive prior to sending it to us to confirm that it should be transcribed.
Each file should be uniquely identified. Simply putting them in a folder doesn’t count.
File names should mean something to a human. "2012-11-02_John_Doe_pt1.mov" is far better than "3289WOJP.mov"
Do not use duplicate file names, even if they’re in separate folders.
Please try to have all the files for a particular interview edited together into one file prior to sending it to us.
We only accept hard drives that are copies of your footage.

In the event that we have to spend time fixing any of the issues listed above, a fee of $30.00 per hour will apply to the order. For example, if you send us a drive with a folder of files called "John Doe" interview and inside it are a bunch of 2-minute files labeled "0001.mp4", "0002.mp4", … , "0072.mp4", "0073.mp4" that all need to be edited together into one interview, then our hourly labor fee would apply to deal with that.

Physical Tapes, CDs, Video Cassettes, Mini Discs, etc.

Please include a submission form in the box or envelope you use to deliver your materials.

Please review our duplication guidelines to avoid problems with your dubs.

Failure to include a submission form will delay your turnaround time. If you’re in a hurry to send the tapes, you may also email us the submission form if it’s not filled out by the time you send your materials to us.

Address and Hours

Send audio materials and submission form to:

Production Transcripts
Attn: Incoming Audio
3736 San Fernando Road
Glendale, CA 91204

Our normal office hours are from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Monday to Friday, Pacific Time. Our office in Glendale is located near Central Downtown Los Angeles. (5 to 10 minute drive)

Do not use Fed Ex’s "First Overnight" Service. They will not leave packages without signature and we are not open during that time frame. Use "Priority Overnight" instead.