Preparing Your Audio


Tutorial Home >Music and Video >Digital Music >CD-ROM Authoring >How do I ensure the highest quality of sound when capturing audio?
Tutorial Home >Music and Video >MP3s >CD-ROM Authoring >How do I ensure the highest quality of sound when capturing audio?
Tutorial Home >Music and Video >Digital Music >CD-ROM Authoring >Recording Audio, Data, & MP3 >Preparing Your Audio
Tutorial Home >Music and Video >MP3s >CD-ROM Authoring >Recording Audio, Data, & MP3 >Preparing Your Audio

  Step 1:  Capture Your Audio

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The first step in preparing your audio for recording to CD-R is to transfer your audio to your hard drive. For example, if you are capturing audio from a DAT and you have a digital sound card, stay in the digital medium by using your digital DAT output and record into your sound card's digital input.
  Step 2:  Check the sample rate

Using our DAT example, if the audio has been recorded at a sample rate of 44.1k, you are good to go. However, if your DAT or other audio source has been recorded at a sample rate of 48k, you will need to convert the audio to 44.1 using sample rate conversion software before burning to CD.
  Step 3:  A/D Conversion

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If you own an outboard A/D converter, be sure to consult your owner's manual for the most efficient way to get the highest quality transfer.
  Step 4:  Sound Quality Tips

If you are capturing audio which is more than standard 16-bit resolution, there are several ways to assure highest sound quality in conversion down to 16-bit. A good practice is to normalize the signal, which means to make it as loud as possible without clipping or noticeable distortion, before reducing it to 16 bits. Another option is the use of Dither in sample resolution conversion.