Creating audio books?

I don't know the exact details of all this, but here are some tid-bits of information:

• CDs hold around 700 megs of data
• DVDs hold 4.7 gigs, so that's roughly the same as 7 CDs
• A raw uncompressed CD holds 80 minutes of music, so thats 8.7 megs per minute.
• An mp3 can hold roughly 1 minute of music per meg.

So... A CD using mp3s can hold 12 hours of music A dvd using mp3s can hold 81 hours Additionally since you're recording voice, not music, you could get by with a little lower quality, and I wouldn't be surprised if you got 20 hours on a CD using mp3.

If I were you, I'd much rather use cd than dvd. The only format you can rely a car stereo playing is uncompressed CD. But most good car stereos will probably play mp3s off of a CD.

Well, you can always down-sample it after you record it, so start with high quality recordings (MP3 256kb/sec) and lower the quality until they fit in under 700 megs (go for 600 or less just to be on the safe side). You can get away with 64kb/sec for voice, but 128kb/sec or more is preferable.

One thing to remember is that you don't need stereo, because the sound is only conceptually coming out of one point in space: the reader's mouth. However, I could see a few players only playing a mono recording out of the left side.

I was just checking crutchfield.com (they sell car stereos) and it looks like mp3 on a CD is the best way to go (Around 80% of the car CD players could handle this).

My own personal preference would be to do each chapter as its own MP3. I could see certain players having issues with MP3s that are longer than an hour or so.

Your Mac came with GarageBand, which is similar to Audacity. You can use that. (Though Audacity is also available for Mac if you prefer.)

As mentioned above, an audio CD is different from a CD with a bunch of mp3's on it. An audio CD that all CD players will play will only hold about 80 minutes of music. But many CD players can also play mp3 CD's, which would allow you to fit a lot more.

Yes, I would suggest recording each chapter as a separate recording. I don't know of a way to add chapter metadata to a single long mp3, so you'd need to have separate files to be able to skip around to different chapters.

PinkAmy said:

Not to sound completely obtuse (though about this I am) is 80 minutes of talking the same as 80 minutes of music?

Click to expand...

Well, for an audio CD is about 80 minutes of whatever recording, so for an audio CD, yes.

For a regular mp3, 80 minutes of talking would be a smaller file than 80 minutes of music. So you can make an mp3 CD rather than a "real" audio CD, and many players will be able to play that, but not 100% of them.

Looks like others are on top of your question, and well, so I'll just toss in some extra info that may come in handy from personal experience (not with audiobooks, but with recording radio quality, which is as good of quality as you need to worry about ) in general.

You've got good recording software in either Garage Band or Audacity, so that's a happy face.

Next you need to worry about your mic...and I have a cheat for you on this one if you don't have a high quality mic (or aren't sure): The mics that come with Rock Band, if they haven't been utterly abused, work beautifully and generally don't need a wind screen (I've used these mics and Audacity while on vacation to record voice tracks for the station I work for and it's been more than adequate). Handily, if you don't have Rock Band, someone you know probably does

Next...if you have a mic, you'll want to use a wind screen more often than not to avoid the S, T and P pops that occur. If you don't have one, they're easy enough to manufacture by experimenting with clothing (again, from experience - light sweaters seem to work best ). You will want a wind screen because you do want to be speaking very close to the mic to give you top control of the end product after recording.

From there...if you don't have a soundboard (I don't know why you -would- have a soundboard, truthbetold ) you'll want to experiment with mouth placement versus sound...that is, if you speak slightly above the mic you will sound a little different from when you speak straight-on to the mic and different from when you speak from under the mic. Once you find your sound, remember to be consistent in where you speak from You can adjust easily if you speak too softly or too loudly...it's not nearly so easy to adjust the angle or length you speak from (and yes, you can tell that even in mono)

Next thing I thought of...when you go to burn to CD -don't- rush it. You should have different options for write-speed and more than anything else it's this that I've noticed determines what players can play a CD. For my own vehicle's default equipment I have to use the second to fastest write speed to get it to play, for example.

That's all I can think of right now that might help...oh! Remember to smile while you're recording...sounds strange perhaps, but it really does help your voice avoid sounding monotoned

Good luck!

Just look on Amazon for microphone windscreen or wind muff. Some are like foamy balls that are put around the microphone, some are a "screened" circular thing held a few inches above the microphone.

Well, don't stumble over your words when you speak either...(but I doubt very highly you will) when you are ready to record too. It's a great strength to see you on the boards Amy, yet some writer's might not always get it. Good for you to pursue something like this. I will wait patiently to hear such a great "speaking" voice. I too look for other avenues and I think this is glorious and a great leap in the best direction for you.

Good Luck to you also Amy. Keep me informed when this comes out.

Sorry on the lateness of this response, but go with whichever mic gives you the best quality! Experiment on both...the levels of each mic are probably similar, but may vary in little ways that you'll like (or dislike) as it relates to relaying your particular voice

Starting with the best mic you can goes a loooooooong way toward a quality file. Oh! And initially save it as a .wav rather than mp3 - higher quality retention and then you can convert it to an mp3 or whatever else you want for CDs and such.

Something I noticed in Audacity: (you may or may not have this issue) If I try to record for too long (on my machine it's about 15 minutes at a time) then the program and computer sometimes freeze. I've taken to doing longer recordings in about 10 minute spurts to ensure my files save (and don't take forever to save). It's easy enough to string it all together when the time comes...Save frequently!!!

Hope that didn't get to you too late!