Fix a wrong speaker name

Eddie splits your audio by voice. It marks where the person talking changes, and it names a person when the audio makes the name clear — for example when someone introduces themselves. When nothing in the audio gives a name, Eddie leaves a placeholder such as Speaker 1.

This is a guess, so it can be wrong. Eddie can give a person the wrong name, split one person into two speakers, or invent a speaker who was never in the room. You correct all of this yourself, in the transcript.

Where the speaker controls are

1. Open the project and select one clip in the source list. The clip's transcript opens beside the player.
2. Under the player, click the filter icon, next to the search icon. A menu opens to the right.
3. The menu has a SPEAKERS section. It lists every speaker in this clip.

The speaker controls appear only in this single-clip transcript view. They are hidden while you look at an edit, the timeline, the compare view or the B-roll review. Go back to a clip's transcript to use them. See The editor explained for the different views.

A speaker has the wrong name

1. Move the pointer over the speaker's row in the SPEAKERS list.
2. Click the pencil.
3. Type the correct name.
4. Press Enter, or click the tick. Escape or the cross cancels.

The new name replaces the old one on every line of that speaker. This is not a per-line change.

The name applies to this interview only. An interview is one clip, or one multicam group: every camera angle and the separate sound recorder. Renaming Speaker 1 in one interview does not rename Speaker 1 in another interview. Eddie analyses each file on its own, so the same label in two interviews is usually two different people.

In a multicam group, the name reaches every angle and the recorder. Each angle can call the same person by a different label, so Eddie finds the person on each angle by when they speak. If it cannot tell who is who on an angle, it says so and leaves that angle alone. Rename them there yourself.

To go back to Eddie's original label, clear the box and save it empty.

Move every line of a speaker at once

Use this when Eddie put a whole speaker on the wrong person, for example when all the interviewer's lines carry the wrong name.

1. In the SPEAKERS list, move the pointer over the speaker's row.
2. Click the swap icon — two arrows — on that row.
3. Pick the person the lines belong to.

Every line of that speaker moves in one step, on every camera angle and on the recorder of the interview. Other interviews do not change. If the right person is not in the list yet, add them with + new speaker first.

A block of lines is on the wrong speaker

Use this when a speaker's name is right in most of a clip but wrong in a few places.

1. Move the pointer over the lines in the transcript.
2. Click the swap icon — two arrows — beside the speaker name.
3. Pick the correct speaker.

This moves the whole speech turn, which is every line in that block, to the speaker you pick. In a multicam group, the same moment moves on the other angles and on the recorder too. The menu offers the speakers found in this clip, plus any speaker you added yourself.

A speaker is missing from the list

Speaker detection can miss a person who says very little, or fold them into another voice. Add the person yourself:

1. Open the SPEAKERS section of the filter menu.
2. Type the name into the + new speaker box at the bottom of the list.
3. Press Enter, or click the tick.

The name then appears in the swap menu. Use the swap icon to move that person's lines onto them.

Eddie invented a speaker who was not there

There is no delete button for a speaker. Empty the speaker instead:

• If all of their lines belong to one person, use the swap icon on their row in the SPEAKERS list and pick that person. See Move every line of a speaker at once.
• If their lines belong to different people, tick that speaker in the SPEAKERS list so the transcript shows only their lines. Use the swap icon on each block to move it to the right person. Then untick the filter.

Once no line uses the invented speaker, it leaves the clip's speaker list.

A speaker that you added by hand stays in the list, and you cannot delete it. If you add a name by mistake, rename it to the name you meant.

Eddie split one person into two speakers

Move one speaker's lines onto the other. Use the swap icon on the smaller speaker's row in the SPEAKERS list and pick the correct speaker. All the lines move in one step, and one speaker is left in the list.

What a name change does, and what it does not

• Your cut does not change. A speaker name is a label. Eddie does not re-cut, re-render or re-export anything when you rename someone.
• The new name appears in the transcript, in the speaker filter, and in the transcript panel of an edit you already made.
• Names are saved with the project. Anyone with the share link sees them.
• Files you already downloaded keep the old name. Export again to pick up the new one.

Re-transcribing a clip can undo your work

Re-transcription rebuilds a clip's transcript from the audio. It is a paid action, and Eddie quotes the cost before it starts.

• The names you typed are kept.
• The voices are analysed again, so Eddie can label them differently. A name can end up on the wrong person.
• Lines you moved with the swap icon can end up on the wrong lines.

Check a clip's speaker names after you re-transcribe it, and fix anything that moved.

Honest limits

• You can also ask Eddie. For example: "In this interview, the Interviewer is actually Jane Doe." or "Move all of Speaker 2's lines in the Sam interview to Sam." Eddie changes that interview only and tells you what changed on each angle.
• There is no delete button and no merge button. Use the methods above.
• Names stay in one interview. A rename does not carry into other interviews in the project, or into your other projects.
• Getting names right at import is better than fixing them later. Attach a Backgrounder before you import, so Eddie spells your names correctly from the first pass. Media you add to an existing project uses that project's Backgrounder too.

Related: Transcripts and speakers, Backgrounder: give Eddie context.