Manual transcription costs you a week
Typing out one hour of interview audio takes four to six hours on average. With ten 45-minute interviews for your thesis, that is a full working week spent on transcription alone, before any coding or analysis starts.
Murmel converts those same recordings to text in minutes. Upload your recording (mp3, m4a, wav or a video file) and the transcript appears in the editor, where you correct where needed and export to Word for coding in ATLAS.ti or NVivo.
Verbatim or intelligent: you decide the end result
Murmel delivers a word-for-word transcription of what was said. For most qualitative analyses (thematic analysis, grounded theory) that is exactly what your methodology chapter requires. Prefer strict verbatim with every repetition and hesitation, or a cleaned-up version? The editor makes adjusting easy, with the audio right next to the text.
Respondent names, jargon or recurring abbreviations can be added as a custom vocabulary so they are spelled correctly. Speaker identification automatically labels each turn: useful for duo interviews and focus groups.
GDPR-proof: what to tell your supervisor
Interview data is often personal and sensitive, and universities rightly set requirements. Murmel is built for that:
- Your audio is processed on servers in the Netherlands and never leaves the EU.
- Recordings and transcripts are automatically deleted after 7 days.
- Your data is not used to train AI models unless you explicitly opt in.
That gives you a concrete answer for your ethics committee or supervisor about where the data lives and for how long. See the privacy policy for details.
What does transcribing your interviews cost?
For a thesis you do not need a subscription: buy prepaid credits and pay only for the minutes you use. €1.21 equals 50 minutes of audio (including VAT), valid for 6 months. Ten 45-minute interviews cost about €11: less than an hour of tutoring, for a week of work saved.
Transcribing a lot over a longer period, for instance in a research job? Then a subscription is cheaper per minute. You can also try Murmel for 14 days for €0.01 first.
Frequently asked questions
How much does transcribing an interview cost?
With prepaid credits you pay €1.21 per 50 minutes of audio (including VAT). A 45-minute interview costs about €1.10. Credits start at €5 and are valid for 6 months.
Do I need a subscription?
No. For a thesis, prepaid credits are usually the best choice: you only pay for what you use. If you transcribe a lot on a structural basis, a subscription is cheaper per minute.
Is the transcription verbatim?
Murmel delivers a word-for-word transcription. In the editor you can then adjust it towards strict verbatim or a cleaned-up version, with the audio right next to the text.
Can I upload interview recordings under the GDPR?
Processing happens on servers in the Netherlands, recordings are automatically deleted after 7 days, and your data is not used for AI training unless you explicitly opt in. That lets you justify the processing to your supervisor or ethics committee.
Does Murmel recognise different speakers?
Yes, speaker identification automatically labels each turn. It also works for duo interviews and focus groups.