In a previous tip I explored the first window you come to once you have uploaded an mp3 file to Otter.ai. You are presented with the Summary Tab and the Transcript Tab. Here I am going to explore how to Tag a new voice to the text in the transcript. The more you use Otter.ai the longer your list of voices will become.
Tagging a new voice
Firstly, check that the person who is tagged as speaker 1 is the person you think it is by listening to the recording.
How to listen to the recording in the transcript window
- Click on the first word in the transcript. Otter.ai automatically starts the replay, highlighting each word as it is said.
- Once you are satisfied that the speaker one is who you thought it should be, click on the text [Speaker 1] and you are presented with a list of all the speakers you have recorded in the past. As this is a new voice you need to type their name in the bottom section of this list and then select the [Tag button].
As soon as you start to type the name the list disappears, unless there are any similar names already in the list for you to select from. 
As soon as you select the Tag button Otter.ai starts to assign that name to all the sections of where that voice speaks. 
You do not need to confirm each assignment at this stage.
- Scroll down to another new voice tagged as [Speaker 2].
- Affirm it is the correct person by listening for a while and repeating the steps above to tag this new voice with the correct name.
Here I am showing you that there already is a Gerald in my list. 
As soon as I type the first letter of his surname, the list disappears. 
Once again Otter.ai assigns the tag to all the voice sections in this recording.
This is where it could get confusing as the Speaker 3 that was is now Speaker 2 because we have just tagged Speaker 2 with a name. So you might like to start on the last speaker first and move to the previous ones until you have tagged each voice recorded. What ever works for you is just fine.
Now you have tagged those voices, wait a while so that Otter.ai can assign each name to each voice. It would be wise to then quickly go through the whole transcript to check that each transcribed voice is named correctly.
From now on Otter.ai will look and compare the voices that you present in the future to see if you have already tagged a voice. If so it will suggest that for you. For instance, it knows Ian’s voice very well so there is no need to tag him in a transcript. Otter.ai has already done that for me.
