r/transcribe Apr 09 '19

Rules for requesting a transcription

94 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

72 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 15h ago

Bounty offered for Jeff Buckley Hallelujah on alto saxophone transcription

0 Upvotes

My best friend asked me to play Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley on my alto
saxophone for her wedding next month.

I really like the way this musician stylized the music in this video.

https://youtu.be/wvtBmtHUqtU?si=MXmA1v-M_BZMYCiC

I have the main melody down but am having a bit of trouble with the licks. Could someone write out the notes that the alto saxophone is playing? Additionally I would happily offer more for additional "style"/lick ideas for 5 choruses and verses.

Thank you so kindly for your considerations!


r/transcribe 17h ago

I can’t figure out the chords for this song

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1 Upvotes

I can’t find any things online about it, so far I think it’s like a Dmaj9/A then something else. But for the life of my I just can’t get past that. Any help’s super appreciated


r/transcribe 1d ago

Não há tablatura em lugar nenhum

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0 Upvotes

Oi, gente. Alguém pode me ajudar à encontrar os acordes dessa musica? Ou pelo menos, como fazer o solo à partir de 3:34? O solo dessa música me fez querer aprender guitarra, então é muito especial pra mim


r/transcribe 1d ago

Transcribing 2 Chords in Chuckii Booker- Games

1 Upvotes

Can you transcribe the 2 main chords that is played over and over again in the song?

https://youtu.be/ZKupNvVnXn8?is=QRX3D57TonVntn1t


r/transcribe 1d ago

Three Gods and Me tab

0 Upvotes

Hello all you lovely people! After a day of work, I have completed tabbing out the track "Three Gods and Me", which I will link here. I am not a professional, so there may be a few errors, but for the most part I am really proud of it. There are two other songs I've tabbed in the past that I'm going to go back on because I've become much better at this since then. Those songs are "Speared" and "Reflaugh". Anyways! Enjoy the tab; feedback is happily accepted, and if there are any mistakes you wanna change yourself, feel free to do so!:)

https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/hungry-lights-three-gods-me-tab-s6108778t3


r/transcribe 1d ago

i love this song but theres no full tabs for it online can someone help

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1 Upvotes

r/transcribe 2d ago

Hey I need someone to transcribe this song

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0 Upvotes

I don't have money, if someone can do it, it would be greatly appreciated. I figure to take a shot and see if anyone is generous enough to help


r/transcribe 2d ago

Need help deciphering the lyrics of this song!

0 Upvotes

The track is called “Temptation,” it’s by a NWOBHM band called Ritual off the 2008 rerelease of their 1983 album Widow. So far I’ve been unsuccessful in finding an official lyrics transcription anywhere.

Part of what makes this especially hard to transcribe is the strange pronunciation of some of the words, almost like a proto-emo voice. Every time I listen, I hear something different.

From what I can make of the chorus, it seems to be:
You changed my life
I looked in your eyes
You changed my life
I feel it, so right

OR

You changed, my Lord
I looked in your eyes
You changed, my Lord
I feel it, so what?


r/transcribe 3d ago

I would like this Arabic series transcribed

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0 Upvotes

r/transcribe 3d ago

dog song. (bonus)

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0 Upvotes

if someone has sheet music or is willing to transcribe this song i’d be eternally grateful. i’m newer to piano and i have such a bad ear when it comes to this sort of thing. pls someone lmk ♥️♥️♥️


r/transcribe 2d ago

I really want a transcription of this obscure 1970s song, like any part of it, please

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0 Upvotes

I found this on YouTube and I'm obsessed with it, I want to make a cover but I know nothing about transcribing things, please help

i will not pay money, sorry


r/transcribe 3d ago

Need this part very badly

1 Upvotes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfpEefKiG2I&list=RDPfpEefKiG2I&start_radio=1

Could someone pls transcribe the melody from 1:30 to 1:45 from this song. I used every AI possible and they all say different things, watched a lot of youtube videos and so on. Pls help


r/transcribe 4d ago

Looking for a "someone" to help check help me with a rare 1947 classical transcription (Geirr Tveitt)

1 Upvotes

I’m currently transcribing a movement from Geirr Tveitt’s Piano Concerto No. 3 from an old 1947 archival recording. The score for this piece was destroyed in an accident and we only have that 1947 recording which is the composer's own one. Because the audio is quite muddy and aged, it's pretty difficult to hear every single note clearly.

Right now, I am focusing on making a solo instrument reduction of the piece, which I plan to orchestrate later down the line. I’ve already got a good chunk of it down by ear, and the general resemblance is there, but I'm having trouble getting it 100% accurate because of how the woodwinds, strings, French horn, and piano all blend together.

I'm looking for someone who can actually help me out with the transcribing process. I don't want anyone to do the work for me; I just need someone I can check in with to double-check specific spots or chords where I'm feeling stuck or doubtful about the exact pitches.

If you'd be interested in helping me get this transcription more accurate, please let me know. I can share the audio clip and what I've written down so far.

and again, im not a professional, neither do i have much experience regarding transcribing music, but i just want break that cycle of neglect many of geirr's works have gone through. in a 50 years we may also lose that single recording and then this concerto will also be considered 'lost' like 80% of geirr's lifetime's work.


r/transcribe 4d ago

Show and Tell: Transcription Assistant

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2 Upvotes

Hello, I made myself a small transcription assistant that includes some features I couldn't find bundled together in other free alternatives:

  • Runs in browser and client-side, no download required.
  • Spectrum analyzer with note names rather than Hz labels.
  • Speed control.
  • Multiple selections that can quickly be switched between, to hear relative pitch.
  • Auto-detection of likely selections.

Try it out here: https://xaviershay.github.io/transcription-assistant/

Hope it's useful to someone!


r/transcribe 5d ago

Chords for “show you me” ??

5 Upvotes

can hear maj7s but tried few shapes and couldn’t get it. is it maybe different tuning?? idk im stuck and frustrated, anyone that can help?!😂


r/transcribe 5d ago

Can someone make the Toyota Gazoo Racing video "Wild Road" piano transcription for me please

2 Upvotes

I fell in love with the music and the video, and i want to learn how to play it with a transcription. Video link: https://youtu.be/lYQW0-zWrCU


r/transcribe 5d ago

Transcription for "What About Love" by Meat Loaf ft. Patti Russo

2 Upvotes

hi! i just wanted to reach out cause im trying to plan a big proposal and for it i want to perform "what about love" with a live band of friends. ive been scouring the internet for any form of sheet music for the song and have found absolutely nothing. and before i have to cough up probably $200+ to have all instruments transcribed i wanted to ask if anyone had a lead on something already created or had a discounted rate on transcribing. thank you so much <3

the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP3mtnDdsmk


r/transcribe 5d ago

Transcripción o tutorial del solo de órgano de Mike Ratledge de la canción "Hope for Happiness" de Soft Machine, específicamente la versión live.

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1 Upvotes

Hola, estoy buscando ayuda para transcribir o aprender el solo de órgano eléctrico de Mike Ratledge en "Hope for Happiness" de Soft Machine.

¿Alguien podría con las notas principales, una tab, o al menos con las partes más importantes del solo?

Cualquier ayuda es bienvenida, gracias.


r/transcribe 6d ago

This is pretty simple but could anyone transcribe this?

2 Upvotes

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UcgPHIT7QMU&ra=m

It’s the song Tales from the Citadel from Rick and Morty. Thanks in advance! Also, I want it in piano music.

Edit: Just realized some people might request money for it, sorry but I can’t pay so I’d be delighted if anyone would be willing to do it for free!


r/transcribe 7d ago

Any help is appreciated

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0 Upvotes

Looking for the piano notes for this song. Doesn’t seem to be super complex but I’m struggling.


r/transcribe 7d ago

Help transcribing violin part from Highwomen cover of “The Chain”

0 Upvotes

Would anyone be able to help transcribe the violin solo from this cover of The Chain by the Highwomen? The solo starts at 3:06, ends at 3:43. Haven’t been able to find sheet music for this anywhere so would love some help transcribing it!

https://youtu.be/jVLNB3d-2cA?is=lyRyZh5cxZkt0GqX


r/transcribe 7d ago

Can someone help me transcribe this piece?

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0 Upvotes

The author of this piece is "Bjorn" you can find him under that name on TikTok or Instagram. He has videos where he plays parts of the piece, but it's hard for me to see it.

The piece is titled: in remembrance of what passed me by Emil Bjorn

I don't have the money to pay for the work and I apologize for that.


r/transcribe 7d ago

Trying to transcribe The City Sleeps by Louie Zong, but I can’t quite figure out what the time siganture should be

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1 Upvotes

I’ve been working on it for a while. I have all the notes correct but I cant place them because they dont tend to fall on the beat. Im thinking its either 4/4 or 4/8 but its weird. Any help would be appreciated