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Digital File Conversion Tutorial

Digital audio provides many advantages for transcription. Better sound quality, decreased turnaround time, and no shipping costs. If everything is done right...

This tutorial is designed for clients who are already somewhat comfortable with converting analog audio to digital audio. It assumes that you have already digitized your audio.

• Skip to Macintosh iTunes Tutorial
• Skip to Window iTunes Tutorial

Please keep in mind that simply converting poor sounding analog to 'digital' will not make it sound better than the original analog sound.

If you're looking for a information on how to upload files digital files, please use our Uploading Digital Files tutorial.

Our preferred format for digital audio files is MP3 using the following specifications. We can also handle most other digital formats, but MP3 is preferred.

• Mono Channel
• 64 kbit/second data rate (MONO) or 128 kbit/second data rate (STEREO)
• 44.1 khz sample/frequency per second

If you're not sure if your system is creating a Mono or Stereo file, opt for 128kbit/second data rate.

Please name your file in some unique way but with a name not longer than 25 characters. For example: File_1.mp3, File_2.mp3 or bob_smith.mp3, jane_doe.mp3, etc. (Use an underscore "_" instead of spaces " " if possible.)

iTunes is available for both Windows and Macintosh. iTunes is available for download here. (Comes pre-installed on Macintosh.)

iTunes Tutorial for converting audio to MP3 for transcription.

Macintosh OS X

The normal uncompressed audio format on Macintosh systems is call AIFF. If you're exporting from Final Cut Pro or Avid, you will most likely end up with an AIFF file. AIFF files are unsuitable for uploading as they are EXTREMELY big!!! 600MB for 60-minutes of stereo audio

Using iTunes, we can create a 60-minute file that is only 28MB but sounds identical to the original AIFF.

In iTunes, open the "Preferences" menu found under the iTune Menu (Command - ,). Next Select the 'Advanced' Tab. Select "MP3 Encoder" from the "Import Using" pull down menu. Then select "Custom..." from the "Setting:" pull down menu. You should see a screen that looks like Figure 1.

Figure 1

Set the encoder settings to: 128kbps. Turn off "Use Variable Bit Rate Encoding (VBR)". Set the sample rate to 44.100 kHz.

Since most transcription is just one track of audio and not truly Stereo, select "Mono" for channels. If for some reason you believe that you have two distinct channels of sound, or if you are putting audible timecode on one of the channels, use Stereo instead. Our experience is that Mono works fine 95% of the time and the file will be only 1/2 as big as a Stereo file.

Turn on "Smart Encoding Adjustments" and "Filter Frequencies Below 10Hz". Click "Okay" to close the MP3 Encoder settings. Click "Okay" again to close the Preferences window.

You are now ready to convert your AIFF or WAV audio files to MP3.

Add the audio file you want to convert to the library. Select Convert from the Advanced Menu. (Figure 2)

Figure 2

After conversion, upload the mp3 to our servers. If you need to locate the file, "Control-Click" on the file name and use "Get Info" to determine it's location. Be sure to upload the 'mp3', not the original uncompressed file!!!

Figure 3

The "Where" is the path in Figure 4 is the location of the newly created MP3. Your location will be different than the one indicated in the example.

Figure 4

Windows Tutorial for using iTunes to convert audio to MP3

Download and install iTunes if you haven't done so already. iTunes is available for download here.

Open iTunes and then go to the preferences menu. (Figure 1-W)

Figure 1-W

This will bring up a Preference menu like Figure 2-W. Select the 'Advanced' tab shown in Red. Next, select "MP3 Encoder" from the menu shown in Green. From the "Settings:" menu show in Purple, select "Custom.."

Figure 2-W

This will bring up the MP3 Encoder settings show in Figure 3-W below. Set the encoder settings to: 128kbps. Turn off "Use Variable Bit Rate Encoding (VBR)". Set the sample rate to 44.100 kHz.

Since most transcription is just one track of audio and not truly Stereo, select "Mono" for channels. If for some reason you believe that you have two distinct channels of sound, or if you are putting audible timecode on one of the channels, use Stereo instead. Our experience is that Mono works fine 95% of the time and the file will be only 1/2 as big as a Stereo file.

Turn on "Smart Encoding Adjustments" and "Filter Frequencies Below 10Hz". Click "Okay" to close the MP3 Encoder settings. Click "Okay" again to close the Preferences window.

You are now ready to convert your AIFF or WAV audio files to MP3.

Figure 3-W

Add the audio file you want to convert to the library and then 'select' it. Pull down the "Advanced" menu to "Convert Selection to MP3" to begin the conversion process. (Figure 4-W)

Figure 4-W

If you select "Converting Songs.." you will see which files are converting and how long it is expected to take. See Red highlighted area in Figure 5-W

Figure 5-W

After conversion is done, you upload the MP3 files to our server to begin your transcription order. If you don't know where the MP3 file is, you can locate it be 'Right-Clicking" on the file names in the library. See Figure 6-W

Figure 6-W

This will bring up a file info screen. Since the MP3 file is named the same as the original file, this is a good way to figure out which is which. In Figure 7-W, the path to the newly created MP3 file is highlighted in Red. (Your actual location may be different.). The format should be listed as "MPEG-1, Layer 3".

Figure 7-W

If you need help uploading the file to our server, see our uploading tutorial.

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