Have you been put off by transcription services uploading your sensitive data to the cloud? Now you can stay local with Simon Says On-Prem.
We have to say that when we first saw this new product from the successful transcription service company Simon Says, we thought because of the naming, it only worked with Adobe Premiere!
But that's not what Simon Says On-Prem is about and yes, it will work with Final Cut Pro.
At the moment, the majority of transcription services work by sending timecode stamped audio files off into the cloud. You then modify the transcription in a browser and then download the result in whichever flavoured file you wish - from a simple Word document, to FCP captions ready to import on to the timeline with a few clicks.
That's great for a lot of jobs, but what if you are dealing with sensitive footage or high-profile productions that insist media doesn't leave their premises?
This is where the new Simon Says On-Prem can help. All the advantages of the cloud-based version that we all know (Read our FCP.co reviews here) but, transcription without any data leaving the location. Which should be good news to the IT guys who go around production departments trying to lock down everything.
We are very familiar with the cloud service, it is quick to set up and there's a great FCP workflow extension. Simon Says On-Prem is different.
There are two components to the location transcription. The Mac or PC app that sits on the client and then the separate AI engine that needs to run in Linux or run on a virtual machine on a Mac or PC. So this isn't something that a single or infrequent user is going to set up. More Simon Says On-Prem setup information here.
As for pricing, even though the transcription will be running remotely, hourly billing still applies. Prices start at $100 for 5 hours up to $10,000 for 1000 hours of location transcription.
Features:
- Runs locally - no data goes to the cloud
- Easy installation: a few clicks and 15 minutes
- Intuitive user interface
- Video transcript-synced text editor
- Mac/PC compatible, min. 16GB RAM
- Supports most audio and video file formats and codecs
- Syncs with the video’s start timecode/frame rate
- Timecode-based transcription in English, French, German, Spanish and dozens more
- Export to: text, SRT subtitles/captions, Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro X, Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve, and Adobe Audition
Use cases:
- Organizations and enterprises with SOC 2 Type 2, TPN, CDSA, MPAA, and HIPAA compliance requirements, or who can’t send video to the cloud for other security reasons and want AI automated transcription services.
- Post production houses, television networks, and studios transcribing dailies, interviews and more, often with files that are large and need transcripts with timestamps, compatible with their workflow.
- Reality TV and other productions with high volume who may be working abroad, without an internet connection, to transcribe large file sizes and large volumes of content.
- Captioning keynotes, corporate presentations and branded videos for the web.
- Transcribe important, confidential meetings for internal record-keeping.
- Save time for a transcription where AI does the first pass and the transcriptionist can finalize the captions.
Don't forget you can still sign up for a free trial of the cloud-based version and take a look at Oliver Peter's article in the link below
Oliver Peters Reviews Simon Says Transcription Service.
I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.
I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.
Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.
I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!
Current Editing
2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.
BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.
Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.
As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.
Plugin Design & Development
I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.
I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.
FCP.co
Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.
The Future
I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!
