How to Transcribe Research Interviews Locally on a Mac

To transcribe research interviews locally on a Mac, record the interview with an app that captures your microphone and the call audio, then run the transcription on the Mac itself, so the audio is never uploaded. Rebrief for Mac does this after the recording ends and works offline once its models have downloaded. Export the transcript as plain text or Markdown for your analysis, then check wording and speakers against the audio.

Local processing doesn't replace your ethics approval or your study's transcription standard, so the steps below cover both. If you need to pull quotes for publication rather than code an interview, see interview transcription for journalists.

Before the interview: permission and a test recording

Obtain the required recording permission and follow your institution's process. Explain how you'll use the recording and who can access it. Rebrief's local processing may fit your project's requirements, but it doesn't establish approval on its own.

Set up Rebrief before the interview and make a short recording with the microphone and call setup you'll use. Check that you can hear both your questions and the other person's answers. If either is missing, follow Rebrief's recording support guidance and resolve the permission or capture problem before continuing.

Rebrief requires Apple Silicon and macOS 15 or later. Complete its initial model downloads before relying on offline processing. For an interview longer than 15 minutes, arrange the one-time paid unlock first: free recordings stop at 15 minutes, even if the conversation continues. These requirements and the free limit are covered on the support page.

Keep your notes about what to ask next

Start the approved recording from Rebrief's menu bar controls when the interview begins. Keep your interview guide open and use your own notes for a follow-up question or something you'll need to revisit. Let the recording hold the account of what was said, so you don't have to type out each answer while deciding what to ask next.

Give the participant room to finish before moving on. If they mention a term you don't know, ask what they mean while they're there. A transcript can preserve the explanation afterward, but it can't supply a question you never asked. Note any relevant gesture or reference to something on screen yourself; Rebrief records audio.

After the interview, stop recording and allow Rebrief to process it. Transcription happens first, followed by generated notes. Use the notes to remind yourself which subjects came up, then work from the transcript when you need the participant's words. The Rebrief workflow produces this record after the conversation, so don't expect a completed transcript during the interview.

Review the wording your analysis will rely on

Export a working copy of the transcript and review it alongside the audio. Follow your study's transcription requirements: confirm who is speaking, correct misheard words and retain the details your analysis needs. Keep the questions with the answers, since a brief reply can mean something different without its prompt.

Pay attention to specialist terms and words that qualify an account. In this illustrative sentence, "I waited until Tuesday. I think it was Tuesday," the final phrase matters. Removing it makes the participant sound certain about the day. Preserve that uncertainty in the research copy, even if a definite date would be easier to code.

If your study needs pauses, overlapping speech or other vocal details, check them against the recording and add the required notation yourself. Rebrief isn't established to produce a complete verbatim research transcript. Mark unclear words or uncertain speakers with a source location so you can return to them; don't fill a gap from a plausible summary.

When you remember a useful explanation but can't locate it, ask Rebrief a focused question, such as "What did the participant say about waiting for approval?" Ask shows the source lines beneath its answer; opening one takes you to that moment in the meeting. Check the passage and surrounding audio before using it in your analysis.

Exporting the transcript for qualitative analysis

Rebrief lets you export the transcript as plain text or Markdown. Choose a format your existing research workflow accepts and open the file there. Check that the speaker turns are readable and that names or specialist characters survived the export. Save this exported file as your working copy for analysis.

Keep the original export and reviewed copy separate, with clear names such as P04-original.txt and P04-reviewed.txt. Record unresolved passages in the reviewed copy and keep its recording reference available to authorised reviewers. Put your interpretations in a separate memo so you can distinguish the participant's account from the conclusions you draw from it.

Before sharing the research copy, apply your project's participant-protection rules. Use consistent participant codes and check identifying details in the account as well as names. The UK Data Service's text guidance explains why a distinctive event or job can still identify someone after their name is removed.

Keep the exported files in an approved location. Rebrief processes interview content locally, but a folder that syncs elsewhere can upload your exported copy. Its privacy policy also describes optional usage analytics, which is separate from interview content.

Try this with one short approved interview: record it in Rebrief, review the transcript to your study's standard, then open the research copy where you'll analyse it. Use that result to decide whether the workflow meets your needs before recording the rest of the study.