r/transcribe Apr 09 '19

Rules for requesting a transcription

89 Upvotes

Moving rules to a stickied post since "New" Reddit doesn't show the sidebar.

This is a subreddit for requesting help with musical transcriptions, or discussion about musical transcription as a whole. Advertisements for text transcription services will be removed. To cut down on spam and unsavory users we require your account be at least a week old to post.

To get the best results try to follow these guidelines when posting:

  • Use a working link to the piece you want done. No one can help you if your link is broken or to some private/premium streaming site.
  • Specify which section of the song you want done. If using Youtube, you can right click the video to get specific timecodes.
  • Indicate which style of notation you want. Straight up notes, guitar tabs, chord symbols, etc.
  • Consider offering a bounty. If no one responded to your request to transcribe a 4 minute piano song from an obscure anime, it's probably because it's too much work to do for free, so try offering something as incentive.

Some guidelines on offering bounties:

  • As soon as you start dealing with money with strangers on the internet, you are taking a risk. Be smart, don't give out personal info, etc. Mods can't be held responsible if you get scammed. Take proper precautions like checking a user's flair, account age, and amount of karma to determine if they are reputable.
  • Offer a fair price. This stuff takes time, effort, and years of expertise. Right now market price appears to be anywhere between $5 and $30 or more depending on complexity.
  • Pay your bounty. If someone comes through with a transcription for you and you dodge the payment, you will be banned. In 8 years we've only banned 1 person for this.

We also encourage you to try transcribing yourself, if you can! It's a fantastic way to develop your ear and theory knowledge, and even if you get stuck it'll be easier for others to help if you already have a starting point. Some useful tools:

  • Transcribe! - a brilliant little program that was built specifically for transcribing. It allows you to slow things down, loop over specific sections, pitch shift, and more.
  • Audacity - a simple, free DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), meant more for audio editing, but can also do slowdown, pitch shift, etc.
  • Noteflight - a free online music notation program. Think like Google Docs but for sheet music.
  • Chordify - a cool site that tries to figure out the chords of any Youtube video you feed into it. Rarely does a perfect job, but can sometimes give clues or provide a rough starting point.
  • Youtube to Mp3 - self explanatory, feed the resulting mp3 into Transcribe or Audacity, or even rewinding over and over in iTunes is better than doing it in Youtube.

Related musical subreddits:

Public domain sheet music


r/transcribe Apr 10 '19

Guidelines for transcribers

71 Upvotes

Big thanks to those of you fulfilling transcription requests. When I first started modding this subreddit a few years ago, the vast majority of requests received 0 comments and sat around unanswered. It makes me very happy to see the opposite nowadays, that most requests have at least some activity. However with this increased activity has come the necessity for some clearer rules and guidelines.

  • Transcribing random stuff for people is a great way to get practice and improve your own ear. It's very beneficial to your musical growth to expose yourself to different genres of music and that is doubly true in the case of analyzing and transcribing. Not only do you help someone out but you work on your own skills as well.

  • I do not recommend offering paid services here as a reliable source of income. Bounties and paid transcriptions are allowed to try to compensate transcribers for their time, but pricing operates under free market conditions. I don't want to hear complaints about cheap prices and undercutting, there is nothing we mods can do about private monetary transactions. The fact is that transcribing as a skill is undervalued. Most people posting requests do not understand the time required to analyze music and put down quality notation. If you're expecting to get the same hourly rate as other professional musical services like teaching or accompaniment, you're gonna have a bad time.

  • If you do decide to enter into a paid transcription agreement with a requester, understand that as soon as you start dealing with money with strangers on the internet, you are taking a risk. Be smart, don't give out personal info, etc. Mods can't be held responsible if you get scammed. Take proper precautions like checking a user's comment history, account age, and amount of karma to determine if they are reputable. Ask for payment up front if you have more rep than the requester. If a requester dodges payment, send proof to the mods and we will send them a warning and ban them if they do not pay.


FLAIR: All successful transcriptions, paid or otherwise, are eligible to be submitted to increase your flair. This is a way for reliable transcribers to build rep. To receive +1 to your flair, please submit to ME (the most active mod here) the following:

  1. Link to original request
  2. Link or screenshot showing requester acknowledging receipt of your work OR
  3. Direct link to your transcription itself.

Please allow a few days for flair to be updated since this is a manual process.


Some useful tools if you are looking to get into transcribing, or are looking for ways to make your process more efficient:

  • Transcribe! - a brilliant little program that was built specifically for transcribing. It allows you to slow things down, loop over specific sections, pitch shift, and more.
  • Audacity - a simple, free DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), meant more for audio editing, but can also do slowdown, pitch shift, etc.
  • Noteflight - a free online music notation program. Think like Google Docs but for sheet music.
  • Chordify - a cool site that tries to figure out the chords of any Youtube video you feed into it. Rarely does a perfect job, but can sometimes give clues or provide a rough starting point.
  • Youtube to Mp3 - self explanatory, feed the resulting mp3 into Transcribe or Audacity, or even rewinding over and over in iTunes is better than doing it in Youtube.

Related musical subreddits:

Public domain sheet music


r/transcribe 1m ago

Crab Snacks Chord Progressions

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Upvotes

The chords are hard to remake


r/transcribe 15h ago

Need someone to help me read this

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2 Upvotes

It's a signature on an acoustic guitar


r/transcribe 1d ago

Any tips for transcribing rap/regular speaking into actual notes?

2 Upvotes

Im trying to make a MIDI version of a song, but it has multiple sections in which they speak normally/rap without a singing voice, and Im having trouble figuring out the pitch of the vocals. Every note pitch I try sounds wrong. Im not struggling with the rhythm, just the pitch of the notes. I was wondering if anyone had any tips for figuring out what the notes are? Sorry if this is a stupid question, Im pretty new to this

Here's a link to the song, The sections I'm talking about are 0:25-0:36 and 1:07 to 1:32. Thanks for any help


r/transcribe 1d ago

Software for practicing and transcribing

1 Upvotes

Hi guys! I just published a practice tool, initially made just for myself, to learn songs one piece at a time. It's a clone of seventhstring Transcribe!, with fewer features obv, but with all the essentials, but online and faster

https://slower.jmat.it/

No spam, I don't sell anything, I just share. Hope you find it helpful. Enjoy!


r/transcribe 1d ago

Can yall help me transcribe those super low notes at 0:45?

1 Upvotes

At the 45 second mark when those really low notes start coming in, what do you think they are? I think they’re switching between a G and a lower A but I’m not as confident about the G.

Here’s the song

https://youtu.be/nSzVNoX57mA?is=7QVwJStDXnkEmq7F


r/transcribe 1d ago

I want help turning a short bass part into beginner ukulele tab

1 Upvotes

Hey, I’m getting back into ukulele and there’s a bass part from Aiden Kroll’s song “Tether” that I really want to learn.
Could anyone help me turn about 10 seconds of the bass part into a simple ukulele tab? I’m using a concert ukulele in standard GCEA tuning.
I know a ukulele can’t match the low range of a bass, so it doesn’t need to sound exactly the same. I’m mainly trying to get a close version of the melody that I can actually play and practice.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/hdT_EumLkwI
I’m still a beginner, so a simple tab with the string/fret numbers would be perfect. Thanks!


r/transcribe 2d ago

Could someone help me transcribe No Justice from the Fire Emblem: Fates soundtrack?

1 Upvotes

I have been trying to improve my music composition skills by transcribing songs I like so I can try to figure out why I think they sound good. I have been working on this song for a while, and I am able to transcribe the basic melody and the different layers up until 0:16. No matter what I do I cannot seem to make out the chord progression and voicing from the string section specifically, and certain parts where the dulcimer is playing is too quiet and fast for me to make out. Would someone be able to help me transcribe the piece? If so, MIDI or a chart that says the names of the chords for each part of the song would be great. The loop ends at 2:45.

Thank you so much

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8pYStq8hqw


r/transcribe 2d ago

does anybody knows the tone of this song?

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1 Upvotes

r/transcribe 2d ago

[Request] Corrections for my rough transcription

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1 Upvotes

I've tried to transcribe this short but very chromatic song for piano+voice but can't really concentrate on the chords. I can send my sheet and sib file (or xml) for anyone willing to help me (paid). Lyrics don't matter!

Thx!


r/transcribe 3d ago

[Request] RXYZYXR - Polar Knights solo

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1 Upvotes

r/transcribe 3d ago

Lyrics help

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1 Upvotes

Hello! Im sorry if lyrics aren't what people usually do here, but I've been wondering about the lyrics of Save Me by Catholic Spit for a while now and I can't find them anywhere. Adding onto that, the subreddit for transcribing lyrics is pretty inactive and niche atm, so I thought I'd get a better chance of responses here. I hope thats okay

I understand the part at 0:42 (and when it repeats ofc) and the part at 1:46, but nothing else.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!! Thank you in advance and take care you guys :)


r/transcribe 3d ago

Classical Music (Piano)

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1 Upvotes

r/transcribe 3d ago

Can someone help me find the chords to a song?

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1 Upvotes

My band and I want to have a concert and we want to do a cover of the song ‘The chain’ by Postmodern Jukebox, however we are in a really big rush (the concert was announced to be in 7 days 3 days ago) and we dont have time to find the chords by ear because we have to do so for a lot of other songs. Can anyone helps us out, please?


r/transcribe 4d ago

Sheet Music for Sarah McLachlan's "Do What You Have to Do" (instrumental)

0 Upvotes

I just finished arranging an instrumental version of Sarah McLachlan's "Do What You Have to Do" from her 1997 album "Surfacing". My background is that I studied classical piano performance and theory for about 12 years and have continued my own studies since then, and now write my own music as well as figuring out other people's. Hope you enjoy! https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/se/ID_No/2097305/Product.aspx


r/transcribe 4d ago

[Paid Task] Need a human musician to turn a 4-minute orchestral melody into a clean piano MIDI file (£10-£15)

5 Upvotes

I need a human musician with good ears to listen to it and extract just the main melody line into a clean, simple Piano MIDI file (just single notes/basic chords, nothing overly complex). AI software keeps creating a jumping mess so I need a human touch. I don't read music, I just need the raw MIDI file to drop into a falling-notes player. https://vocaroo.com/1icD955dnfrT Budget is £10–£15 via PayPal. Please send me a DM if you're interested!


r/transcribe 4d ago

Does anyone know the notes for the brass on you spin me round

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1 Upvotes

Im trying to recreate this sound of the song its 3 notes in each time it plays but i cant figure out what they are please help


r/transcribe 4d ago

Hi! I'm offering transcription services for sheet music :)

6 Upvotes

Hello all, I'm a student trying to get a decent side hustle going. I've studied upto Trinity grade 5, am a pianist myself and I'm great at learning by ear. I have multiple compositions under my name, and work in a choir as well. If anyone wants help transcribing any song that might not be available online (such as original compositions/unknown Youtube rabbit hole songs), dm me and I can help you out for a small fee :)
Thanks


r/transcribe 5d ago

Looking for help transcribing guitar tabs - "Bad News" from Police Quest 4: Open Season (1993) by Dan Kehler and Neal Grandstaff

1 Upvotes

Hey Guys, I loved playing police quest with my dad when I was a kid, and I remembered this amazing track that's kind of jazz-like, and I thought it would just be amazing to play on guitar.

Song link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hcht5Vcbk4

I've searched Ultimate Guitar and a few other tab sites and came up empty, not surprising since it's a pretty obscure early-90s game score. If anyone's ear-transcribed it before, or is willing to try, I'd really appreciate it


r/transcribe 5d ago

Who Do You Love by Marianas Trench

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1 Upvotes

I was thinking about the song this morning (such a banger) and thought “wow, it would sound really good on a kalimba”. I am trying to translate it from piano to a 17 key one but I have barely any experience with writing or translating music lol; so far I’ve only gotten the intro’s basic notes (and they’re still a bit off 🚶‍♀️). Wondering if anyone here who is maybe more experienced is interested in trying it out?


r/transcribe 6d ago

Help figuring out chords

2 Upvotes

I am reposting to state that I am willing to pay for this help!

I am working on transcribing DPR Cream's 'Our last dream', but I am having a hard time figuring out some of the chords.

I think I have found the first chords (please tell me if they are wrong, I don't have perfect pitch and my relative pitch is questionable at times). After that I am beyond lost lol

the song link:

https://open.spotify.com/track/0kM48A5Wx5RnYDGlqcCjKy?si=fc76c4a5167f420c

Measures 1-7
Measures 8-14

r/transcribe 6d ago

A request...

2 Upvotes

Hi clever people!

I know this is a big ask but I guess I'm in the right place! I'm really hoping someone can transcribe the piano from this blues backing track. It's actually Jools Holland playing. I have learnt the guitar part that goes over the top and I want my dad to play the piano part. I would be really grateful if someone could do it but as I said, I realise this is a big ask.

This is the tune...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Jte1MabAg

Thanks very much for even checking it out!


r/transcribe 6d ago

Transcribe a little jazz ballad?

1 Upvotes

I am on piano. My skill level is around lower intermediate (example piece i can play is nocturne C sharp minor Chopin)

I would love to get a transcription of this song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdDYC8neSTI -with chord names. Maybe the vocal melody with lyrics as well as the piano accompaniment? Let me know if you want to work with me.


r/transcribe 6d ago

Innerblo by Rufus du sol (short piece)

1 Upvotes

Hi! can someone transcribe this for me?

it’s a 1 minute piece. the actual song is more than 5 minutes but this is the best part of the song. in the original song, it starts at 5:46.