Federal transcripts are ordered from the court's approved transcribers. You give the transcriber your case number and hearing date; they request the official audio from the clerk, collect a deposit, produce the certified transcript, and file it. For 90 days after filing, copies are sold through the transcriber before PACER access opens.
The federal transcript pipeline
Federal courthouses record most proceedings through the courtroom's electronic recording system, managed by the clerk's office. When a party wants a transcript, the approved transcriber requests that audio along with the docket information needed to caption the record. The transcriber produces the transcript to the court's format, certifies it, delivers it to the ordering party, and files it on the docket where required.
Rates are capped by the Judicial Conference's maximum transcript rates, tiered by turnaround speed. Your transcriber quotes within those caps.
Special wrinkles worth knowing
The 90-day restriction: after a transcript is filed, remote public access through PACER is restricted for 90 days, and during that window copies are purchased from the transcriber of record. Redaction: parties have a short window to request redaction of personal identifiers from the filed transcript. Government orders: court systems and agencies are invoiced rather than paying advance deposits. None of this is complicated once someone explains it, which is a large part of what we do for first-time orderers.