Transcribe Long Recordings

The short answer: AICHE has no recording length cap, but hour-long audio should be planned, sectioned, and reviewed. For work you need to edit, multiple shorter recordings are usually better than one giant recording.

Long transcription is possible. Long editing is the hard part. The goal is not just to get text back, but to get text you can use.

Best Workflow for Hours of Audio

1. Decide whether you need one continuous record or a set of sections.
2. If you control the recording, split it by topic every 10-20 minutes.
3. Say a clear section marker out loud: "Section two, implementation risks."
4. Pause between major topics.
5. Keep the device powered and storage available.
6. Let AICHE process the recording or queue it if connectivity is poor.
7. Review the result in sections, not from top to bottom in one pass.

For dictated documents, use shorter chunks. For passive capture where continuity matters, a long recording can make sense.

When to Split

Split the recording when you will edit the text afterward:

• Reports
• Articles
• Documentation
• Technical explanations
• Meeting follow-ups
• Training notes

One 90-minute wall of transcript is harder to fix than six 15-minute sections with clear headings.

When One Long Recording Is Fine

One long recording makes more sense when the goal is archival capture or when stopping would interrupt the event:

• Long personal notes
• Field observations
• Solo walkthroughs
• Lectures you are allowed to record
• Extended brainstorming sessions

Still speak section labels if you can. Future you will need anchors.

Connectivity and Queueing

If processing cannot happen immediately, AICHE can place the recording in the encrypted Later queue and process when connectivity returns. Long recordings use more local storage, so check available disk space before recording offline for hours.

Editing the Output

After transcription, do not polish the whole thing at once. Work in passes:

1. Remove irrelevant sections.
2. Add headings.
3. Fix names and terms.
4. Turn rambling paragraphs into bullets or sections.
5. Only then polish sentence-level wording.

Use Custom Vocabulary before future long recordings if names or terms were wrong repeatedly.

Do This Now

For your next long topic, record a 10-minute trial first. Say two section labels out loud and check whether the output is easy to navigate. If it is hard to edit, use shorter chunks for the real session.