You'll find these different format options in programs such as Cool Edit from 1996 to Adobe Audition today. You'll also find this in Sony Sound Forge, Steinberg Wave Lab and others but certainly not ProTools. This format was not utilized for anything musical or high Fidelity. It's nasty sounding, scratchy, crunchy and with a high frequency response not as good as AM radio, just about the same as the high-frequency response of a telephone call. Your call is important to us so please don't hang up yada yada blah blah is all it's good for. So you record it all at least at 16 bit, 44.1 kHz mono or even stereo if that's easier. You then save that high Fidelity wave file as your master. You then take that master wave file and " save as ", drop down your menu below your filename from Windows.wav to look for those other file formats. It will be then that your master file will be downconverted to mono (if it isn't already recorded that way), it reduces bit rate and sample rate along with adding the appropriate Nyquist filtering for 8 kHz sampling (which is a brick wall equalization response stoppage at 4 kHz audio bandwidth), equating to high-frequency telephone response for European telephones and 1 kHz shy of AM radio 5 kHz high-frequency limit. ProTools is only for high fidelity production with only the ability to contend with a minimum of 16 bit, 44.1 kHz mono and nothing lower much less anything other than.wav or AIF/AIFF, OK, so they also do MP3's today but still nothing lower than 16-bit 44.1 kHz stereo MP3's.

The above blather was also pertaining mostly to PCs as I haven't been a Mac person since 1995. If McIntosh, you may require Bias? But I don't know much about Bias unless we are talking about analog tape recorders or voltage on transistors. I believe your specification is also utilized in some avionics as I've heard the "pull up" alarm, from the artificial horizon gauge in the cockpit of McDonnell Douglas DC 8's back in the late 1960s, the earliest utilization of digital audio. No, we weren't in a nosedive, just a demonstration from the pilot for me and my dad on our way to Mexico City.

No passengers were harmed during the production of the alarms example.ASPCP (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Passengers)
Mx. Remy Ann David

Do you swear this is not for pre-recorded telemarketing purposes? (robo-calling is illegal and we will hunt you down)

LOL, LMAO I should have thought about that one DVDhawk. Yeah, that's probably what it's all about. GRRRR can't stand those things since they don't keep the same hours I do. You're a smart one.

Now I have my panties in a bunch
Mx. RAD... click

Thanks RemyRAD!!!

No this is not for the phone calls that we all HATE!

We have a promotional announcement system and I just want to have control over the messages that are placed on the system.

I was able to record in ProTools and then bring into Adobe Audion 1.5. I cringe at the difference in sound quality, it sounds nasty on headphones but good on mono speakers. SIGH! I am going to try the Sony program to see if that works any better.

Thanks for your help! I owe ya!!

You're welcome. I was just thinking, there may be a way to actually improve the perceptible quality of your 8 kHz sample rate, 8 bit recording? As you know, it crunches out real bad sounding. So, one might consider adding a track of " Brown noise " with the announced track? Brown noise is similar to pink noise, is similar to white noise. White is a high pitched hiss, Pink is a lovely summer shower & Brown noise is a low-frequency growl. This is an analog similarity to dither which ain't cuttin' the mustard at 8 bit, 8 kHz. This Brown noise would in all likelihood not be very audible through your system due to its lower frequency content below that of the human voice. This may actually improve your quality somewhat but I've never tried this myself. Even though I still have my Ensoniq Mirage, 8 bit keyboard sampler from the early 1980s. That thing sounds dog awful but still has a certain crunchy charm to it. But that was intended for musical purposes and I'm sure you're talking about spoken word here. So adding in some brown noise may help quell some of the crunchy rasp.

Let me know if it helps?
Mx. Remy Ann David

Mark, There is [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.audio2co…"]cheap conversion software[/]="http://www.audio2co…"]cheap conversion software[/] that lets you pick the bit-rate, bandwidth, and mono/stereo. If these are telephone announcements,what it sounds like via phone line is all that matters. If it's for commercial/institutional paging and announcements, there's no practical reason to squeeze it so hard to 8-bit 8kHz mono unless it's squawking bullhorn style speakers. In which case, fidelity of the end sound file might be even less of an issue.

Remy, I subscribe to (and embody) the crunchy charm theory. I still have a Mirage that I use once in a while for live performance. Subtly layered with other MIDI synth modules it added a nice thick foundation for the cleaner/brighter Roland, Emu, Yamaha, & Kurzweil modules. The Mirage sound isn't pure, but it is substantial. The Mirage was an impressive dollar value at about $1500 compared to the $15k Emu and $45k Fairlight back in the day, and there were only a handful of people who could afford the $250k Synclavier. (I think mostly big-budget film studios for Foley work)

Actually, my late friend from NBC Mark Biggs and I were going to go into business together. We went to the AES when the Synclavier, was first introduced. We sat down with the New England Digital guys to discuss a purchase. We were going to invest the $250,000 and then some. In the end, I figured, we should hold off a couple of years and so it never came to be. So right now I'm fairly happy since everything I have has been fully paid for. I'd still be paying off the loan for the Synclavier had we gotten that. Mostly because this is not really an entertainment town here that can support such a costly device. Although I think there was one in Washington DC some years ago? I never heard much about it or them. In the end, I actually thought that an SSL 4000 E would have been a more worthy investment. Especially since most any studio that had one pretty much guaranteed bookings back in the 1980s and still does today. Bob Clearmountain certainly still uses his. Unfortunately, the ones coming from 1978 are becoming more difficult every day to maintain. But then all of this vintage stuff like my Neve, is always a work in progress. Mine is just incredibly easy to maintain because of its antique vintage simplicity. And the discrete operational amplifiers BA 438/BA 440 & that little voltage follower in the equalizer, are all repairable unlike API 2520 modules. That's a huge plus. Later I even considered that Emu-Emulator at a later date but got the cheap Mirage in a bulk used equipment deal. That and a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer which I sold years ago. This old unit is still perfectly fine when one needs a MIDI keyboard as you well know.

I think the only equipment I have never owned is an antique wire recorder (I had a 10.5 inch big Magnacord, Presto & Echo Tape Machines) or, a record cutting lathe. Otherwise, I have owned just about every other professional recorder ever made with the exception of the big Studer's. I didn't need any stinking B 67's since I had 3 REVOX A 77's. So German-made instead of Swiss made. 1/2 track stereo, 1/4 track stereo, 3.75/7.5/15 IPS versions with vary speed. I gave 2 of those away to a friend but still have the old 1/4 track, 3.75/7.5 IPS unit. And that was the funniest machine I ever owned. I got it from this guy for $50 in the worst condition I have ever seen a tape machine before, in my life. While I was working for Scully, I brought this machine in to the factory. I put the entire dirty sticky rusty parts missing machine into a giant tank of heated Freon to clean it up. I had to mill the captain shaft with a razor blade to remove the rust on it. This caused the machine to run slightly slow. Thankfully, with proper speed/flutter calibration tapes in the right test equipment, I was able to bring it back to a precise 7.5 IPS. The owner of Scully at the time, Alex Myers, heard that this machine in the shop was outperforming brand-new Scully's! Needless to say, he came out to the floor to see this working hunk of junk and he wasn't happy. LMAO! I had to replace reel hubs & the wooden case, both upper and lower faceplates, re-lap the heads but even with the old dried up rubber pinch roller, the flutter specifications were still as good as a new Scully. And that's what expert analog tape recorder maintenance is all about kids. Recovery and restoration.

Stories of an audio bygone era
Mx. Remy Ann David