Transcription for Podcasters: Show Notes From the Recording

Most podcasters write show notes from memory, which is why most show notes are three sentences long.

The transcript changes the economics. Once the episode is text, notes, chapters, quote cards and a searchable archive all come out of the same source.

Record so the transcript is easy

Separate tracks per speaker if your setup allows it. Beyond the mixing benefit, it makes speaker labelling trivially correct, because each track only contains one person.

If you record to a single track, the usual rules apply: close microphones, one person at a time, and headphones for remote guests so their audio does not come back through your speakers.

Show notes

The useful ones are not a summary of the episode. They are a list of the things somebody might be searching for: the topics, the names, the books and tools mentioned, the timestamps of the good bits.

All of those are extraction jobs on the transcript rather than acts of memory. You can generate notes and pull the through-line, then edit — the editing is where your judgement goes, not the recall.

Chapters and timestamps

Chapter markers are the highest-value, lowest-effort thing most shows skip. A transcript with timings makes them a fifteen-minute job: find where the subject changes, note the time, write four words.

Quote cards

Social clips come from finding a sentence worth pulling. Scrubbing an hour of audio for it is unpleasant; skimming the text for it is not.

The back catalogue

This is the one that compounds. Fifty transcribed episodes are searchable — which guest talked about that funding round, when did you first cover the topic, has this question been asked before.

For a show a few years old, transcribing the archive is often more valuable than transcribing new episodes, because the archive is where the unfindable material is.

Accessibility and reach

A transcript on the episode page makes the show usable by people who cannot listen and readable by people who would rather skim. For Nigerian shows recorded partly in Pidgin or a local language, it also makes the episode legible to listeners who follow along better in text.

Set the language to what is genuinely in the episode rather than what the show is nominally in. The languages page lists what is supported.

Names, always

Guest names, company names and book titles are what the first pass will get wrong, and they are exactly what people search for. Fix those before you publish, or the transcript works against discovery rather than for it.

Starting

A free account includes transcription minutes each month with no card required. Sign up and start with the episode you most want people to find.