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Interview transcription

Quotes you can trust, with timestamps — for articles, research and hiring.

Drop an interview recording .m4a, .mp3, .wav or .mp4

First 2 minutes free, any lengthLanguage detected automaticallyFirst 2 min free

Longer than 2 minutes?You get the first 2 minutes here. Kalpa transcribes the rest — free to start on iPhone Get the app ›

How do you transcribe an interview?

For interview transcription, record with consent, then drop the audio above (up to 100 MB). The first 2 minutes of any interview are free here — handy for checking a quote — and the page shows how much is left. The full interview is in Kalpa, with timestamps to jump to any quote.

Short ones here, long ones in Kalpa

First 2 min · free hereInterview recording, clip1:30English · detected

0:00: Can you tell me how you got started in nursing?
0:09: I was a hospital volunteer when I was sixteen.
0:35: What surprised me most was how much of the job is listening.
1:08: Twenty years later, that is still true.

Keep it, search it, ask about it laterSave to Kalpa ›

How to transcribe an interview

Get consent
Tell the person you’re recording and why.
Record clearly
Phone between you, or a lapel mic.
Transcribe
The first 2 minutes here, the rest in Kalpa.
Pull quotes
Search the transcript and jump to the timestamp.

Faster in the app

Every interview quote, one search away

Interviewers need the exact words. Kalpa keeps each interview as timestamped text on your iPhone, so you can check a quote against the moment it was said.

Download on the App Store

Good to know

Put the phone between speakers, not next to you.
Say the date and the person’s name at the start.
Check names and numbers against the audio before you quote them.

Who transcribes interviews

Journalists

Accurate quotes with timestamps.

Researchers

Qualitative interviews ready for coding.

Hiring managers

Compare candidates on what they actually said.

When the free tool is enough — and when you need Kalpa

	Free web tool	Kalpa app
Length	First 2 minutes of any recording	The whole recording, no limit
Summary, quotes and topics	—	Yes
Search everything you saved	—	Ask in chat, jump to the moment
Your own recordings	Upload a file	Record on iPhone or Apple Watch, transcribed on device
Languages	25, detected automatically	25, detected automatically

Questions and answers

How much of an interview can I transcribe for free?

Kalpa transcribes the first 2 minutes of any interview recording for free, with no sign-up; the rest is in the Kalpa app.

Can I find an interview quote quickly?

Every interview transcript has timestamps, so you can search the text and jump to the moment a quote was said.

Does the interview transcript label each speaker?

The web tool does not label speakers, so add the interviewer’s and guest’s names when you edit the transcript.

Which languages can the interview be in?

Interviews can be in any of 25 languages, including English, Spanish and Ukrainian, and the language is detected automatically.

Is my interview recording kept private?

On the web, the interview audio is deleted right after the transcript is made, the text is kept for 24 hours so the same recording isn’t processed twice and then deleted, and Kalpa does not use it to train models.

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Everything you hear and say, remembered

Kalpa keeps what you watch, say and think in one place you can talk to. Free to start on iPhone and Apple Watch.