Focus group transcription
Six voices, ninety minutes, one moderator, all turned into labeled, searchable text you can actually analyze.
Free: 60 min per 30 days, files up to 30 min / 50 MB · Paid plans: 10 to 100 hrs, files up to 2 GB. Big video? Upload just its audio track: same transcript, much faster upload.
Encrypted in transit · audio & video auto-delete in 30 days · never used to train AI
Optional settings
Set this for the most accurate result on quiet or mixed audio.
Get a second copy translated into another language (Pro).
Uncommon words the AI might misspell. List them so they come out right.
Last updated 21 July 2026
Focus groups are the hardest everyday transcription job: multiple overlapping voices, varying distances from the microphone, and analysis that depends on who said what. Trustample's diarization, included on every paid plan, separates voices into Speaker 1…N labels which you can rename ("Moderator", "P3"), and speaker stats show each participant's share of talk-time, a quick read on group dynamics.
The synced editor earns its keep here: when a passage looks garbled, click it and the player jumps to that moment, so disambiguating crosstalk takes seconds instead of scrubbing.
Focus groups rarely travel alone in a research project. The one-on-one sessions that precede or follow them go through the same flow, covered on the research interview transcription page, and the moderator guide debriefs and stakeholder readouts transcribe just as well. If you're weighing how far to trust automatic speaker labels before a study depends on them, how AI handles multiple speakers lays out what diarization can and can't do today, so the verification pass gets a realistic slot in your timeline.
How it works
- 1Record with the mic central to the group (a phone in the middle of the table works).
- 2Upload to Trustample. Speakers are separated automatically; label them once and it applies everywhere.
- 3Verify contested passages via click-to-replay, then export DOCX for analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I transcribe a focus group discussion with multiple speakers?
Three steps: record with one mic central to the group, upload the file with the spoken language set, and let diarization separate the voices into Speaker 1…N. Then rename them once ("Moderator", "P1") and verify contested passages with click-to-replay. The whole flow, including the recording setup that makes or breaks it, is on this page.
How accurate is speaker labeling with 6–8 participants?
Distinct voices in clean audio label well; similar-sounding voices and heavy crosstalk get confused, and that's true of every diarization system. Budget a verification pass on contested attributions; the click-to-replay editor makes it fast.
What's the best recording setup for transcribable focus groups?
One omnidirectional mic (or phone) central to the group beats a mic near the moderator. Ask participants to avoid talking over each other, which helps humans and AI equally. A second phone as backup costs nothing.
Can I get a summary of themes across the session?
Yes. The AI summary produces an overview and key points, and you can chat with the transcript ("what did participants say about pricing?") to pull themed quotes with the speakers attached.
How long can a session recording be?
A standard 90-minute session uses half of Basic's 3-hour per-file allowance, and Pro's 6 hr 40 min cap covers a double session with the breaks left in. In the rare case a recording runs longer, split the file at a natural pause and upload the parts separately.
Can I run focus groups in languages other than English?
Yes. Set the session's spoken language before uploading; 16 languages are supported, and diarization works in all of them because it separates voices by sound, not vocabulary. On Pro, a foreign-language session can also be translated to English in the same pass, useful when the moderator and the analyst work in different languages.
An honest note: No AI reliably untangles moments where several people speak at once; those seconds usually transcribe as fragments from the dominant voice. Plan a human check of crosstalk-heavy passages before publishing findings.
Related pages
One-on-one qualitative interviews
Meeting TranscriptionMeetings into minutes
Multiple Speakers?How diarization actually works
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