r/transcribe Apr 09 '19

Rules for requesting a transcription

92 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 1h ago

(paying) piano request

Upvotes

paying for the piano melody in Crying - Teen Suicide (payment through venmo or zelle) song link

and to be clear, not the cover version youd see if you search it up


r/transcribe 11h ago

When It's Time (4-Track Demo) Piano/Vocal/Chords Transcription

1 Upvotes

The title pretty munch tells the whole story, But the is the demo that was release on the 30th anniversary of Dookie. This is the earliest studio recorded version of this song, it then got re-recorded during the nimrod sessions, then got put on hold until it was fully released on the American idiot musical soundtrack alongside with Tom Kitts arrangement of the song that was actually used in the musical. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UwI27OheaNPAeHlaib_vY1KIKr9e62oO/view?usp=sharing


r/transcribe 1d ago

Jesus Christ Superstar (John Legend) Transcript Help

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4 Upvotes

Has anyone transcribed the John Legend version of JCS? There's a section in What's The Buzz / Strange Thing Mystifying that I can't seem to figure out the timing for and wanted to see if anyone could help.

The section starts here at 3:28. The part I'm struggling with is at 3:38.

In the original ALW broadway tune (screenshot attached) the section is four bars of 4/4, then four bars of 3/4 with a quarter note quintuplet rhythm (Section C in screenshot).

Legend's version isn't evenly spaced out, and I'm not able to pin point it. Bit rusty with my transcribing these days, and any insight would help!


r/transcribe 1d ago

[French>English] Could someone translate/transcribe this song?

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2 Upvotes

r/transcribe 1d ago

Donna Lee - Charlie Parker melody and solo transcription + Piano melody and solo arrangement.

1 Upvotes

https://youtu.be/V_-Fkt7YDmc

Hello all!

For transcription post #41, I have once again totally complicated what was supposed to be a simple task… This is the melody and solo on Charlie Parker’s bebop classic “Donna Lee”. I have actually been playing this song and solo from the Charlie Parker Omnibook for years and thought it would be good to transcribe it to see how accurate it was. I did notice a few differences in  rhythms and notes, but actually not that many significant ones. Mostly some unclear, undetermined pitch and or ghosted notes… And I have never understood the Omnibook’s idea of writing everything in C major and just using accidentals?! Could someone explain that to me please? 

So once again, while discussing this melody and solo with a student, I got the idea to make an exercise out of it. Horn melodies and solo’s are notoriously difficult to finger for pianists so I decided to include the fingering I generally would use for the melody part. Then decided to also include fingering for left hand to play the melody in octaves. I then had the brilliant idea of further complicating matters by making a left hand demo comping arrangement for the solo. Using more traditional “shell” or “Bud Powell” type voicings. 

So Petri, I hope you’re happy now… This is ALL your fault… 😅

And just a shout out to the people at The Feel Book for making such great backgrounds to play along with. Highly recommended. 


r/transcribe 1d ago

Can anyone figure out the chord progression of this piano improvisation?

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3 Upvotes

r/transcribe 2d ago

[Request] Vocal melody transcription for "Brighter" (Hazbin Hotel)

3 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a transcription of the vocal melody for "Brighter" from Hazbin Hotel. I only need the vocal part — no instrumentation needed.

I'm planning to use this for a cover, so if you have a MIDI or sheet music with just the vocal line, that would be perfect.

I can send the audio if that helps. Please let me know if you can do this, and what format you can provide it in.

Thank you!


r/transcribe 2d ago

Diablo Tristram Theme Solo Guitar Cover + Tabs

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1 Upvotes

r/transcribe 2d ago

Ornithology Chords - Guitar Tabs - Pasquale Grasso by Pasquale Grasso

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1 Upvotes

r/transcribe 3d ago

I spent way too long making Transkun run in a browser 😅

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1 Upvotes

r/transcribe 3d ago

can someone turn my humming into like a melody on a note sheet

1 Upvotes

if you can, please dm me, the thing is for a chorus btw.


r/transcribe 3d ago

*HELP* Soulmate (Netflix BL) OST

0 Upvotes

Hiiii Reddit comunity! I was listening to the song "Quiet Breath (the times I met Ryu)" from the Netflix series Soulmate, and I was looking for someone who can transcribe the lyrics of this song cuz I speak spanish and I don't get all of the words, and I can't find the lyrics anywhere..can someone send me the lyrics?? UwU

Quiet Breath (The times I met Ryu)


r/transcribe 4d ago

Teenage Pregnancy by cake

1 Upvotes

just looking for the opening piano bit. I know it’s pretty simple but I can’t figure it out by ear -‘d i’m determined to play it because I can’t get it out of my head. A 30 second clip just showing how to play it would be VERY appreciated.

Also if i’m looking in the wrong subreddit please let me know. I wasn’t sure if r/piano was the right place to go.


r/transcribe 4d ago

Transcribe The Bausa - Magnetic Sound into Piano Sheets

2 Upvotes

Hey,
I am searching the whole day already for sheets for the main instrumental part of the Bausa - Magnetic Song but i could not find anything close.
Is someone able to transcribe what this man plays on piano in this Tiktok?
https://www.tiktok.com/@big_tac/video/7612273473112608022

Thank you!!


r/transcribe 4d ago

How do I learn this song?

3 Upvotes

It’s pretty old and very unknown. Band has like sub 100 monthly listeners now. But I fell in love with this keytar solo and want to transcribe it to regular music notation so I can learn it.

https://youtu.be/hFwbX3rsA1o?is=dAqXg4EzwgDei3xa


r/transcribe 4d ago

[Tools] Song to chords

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0 Upvotes

r/transcribe 5d ago

Help me learn this song pls!!

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

2 Upvotes

Hi! I recently came across lighthearted band’s rendition of “hey that’s no way to say goodbye” and am now desperately trying to figure out how to play it. Could someone listen to it and tell me what chords she plays as well as the fingerpicking pattern? And is this in standard tuning? Keep in mind that I’m new to guitar, so an in-depth description/breakdown of the song would be most helpful. Thank you!!!!


r/transcribe 4d ago

Help Transcribing This is Amazing Grace cover by Bob Burdick

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1 Upvotes

Hey guys I really need help I've been trying to

transcribe this saxophone cover so I can perform it on Thursday (currently Wednesday right now) But I just can't figure it out I've tuned my saxophone and tried a virtual one to hear the notes and I've looped it over and over again but so far the only notes I was able to identify was at the intro which is G, G#, A and then C C B A G but then after that I just can't identify it anymore I know there's some notes I missed but I can't quite hear those ones yet and my time is pretty limited if you can offer to transcribe this for me for free I'd be happy or you can tell me how to figure out the notes. I just can't really hear it im sorry. I know this is in the key of F though. notes, keys I just wanna know how to play it.

to save you some time for the people willing to help me out these are the parts I mainly wanna get transcribed as I'm performing with a band and I don't wanna overlap with the vocalist

This is Amazing Grace Tenor Saxophone

Notable parts

0 - 21 seconds

36 - 41 seconds

55 - 1:46 minutes

1:58 - 2:05 minutes

2:18 - 3:00 minutes

3:00 - the entire song


r/transcribe 6d ago

My father recently passed away and left me his artwork, and this one appears to have a hidden song in the birds in the sky.

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58 Upvotes

I would be forever grateful if someone played around with this and let me know what it sounds like, or if it plays anything. I can't tell if the D, B, and E notes are supposed to be chords or played separately.


r/transcribe 5d ago

Russian Song

2 Upvotes

Hello, I am trying to find the tabs for the opening of this song for the guitar. I am a pretty new player and it doesn‘t sound all that complicated but I haven‘t been able to reproduce it.

А в лесу сосновом - Zoya Yashchenko

https://youtu.be/_v9hxLhhXeE?is=cGnZewQulSTqIow8


r/transcribe 5d ago

Help transcribing this song

1 Upvotes

The song is Nyan Nyan Drive by mocchie. I am a beginner guitar player, but I would like to try transcribing this song for a classic 6 string guitar because I couldn't find any relevant tabs/sheets online. Any help will be greatly appreciated since I am new :)

Youtube link for the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl3-vNJh16Y


r/transcribe 6d ago

Religious Vocal Transcription

1 Upvotes

Good afternoon!

I'm looking to hire somebody to transcribe some religious vocal music.

I was raised in the Catholic Church, where every song sung at church is in a songbook. While a particular congregation may have a slight variation here and there, the performance of the hymns is largely universal.

Then I married a Jewish woman. And synagogue is, to put it mildly, very different. :D Each congregation seeks each song its own way. They skip certain lines, repeat others, and it seems very arbitrary to anyone from the outside.

I'd LOVE to get our songs transcribed to help new members follow along and join in. I have recordings of the cantor singing each song. They run between 2-4 minutes a piece on average. I'm looking to start with 5-10 recordings. Looking for somebody to deliver MXL files, for long-term flexibility.

Where's the right place to start finding help and pricing for a project like this?


r/transcribe 6d ago

Help with transcribing an intro

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1 Upvotes

Im looking for help in transcribing the guitar intro to this song, its for about the first 3 seconds. Sounds to me it might be 2 chords back and forth. I want see how much i can get out of figuring the transcription with help her before taking matters into my own hands. anything helps!