Bitrate Resampling Question

[Cayce]

Hey, Forum... I'm stuck.

My company had some spoken-word audio files produced down in Australia, audio book files that have been submitted to Audible.Com for processing. The tech at Audible has requested that the files be remastered so that the bit rate can be changed from 96kbps to 192kbps. I'm running ProTools LE 7.4. Can I get some help with how I would do this?

I'm in the New York area and there isn't time to fix the problem 'down-under'.

Many thanks for any suggestions.

Cayce

[Dism]

PTLE is not capable of 192k samplerates. The highest you get is 96k. (provided we are talking about wav files here... though I'm not sure what the point of having a 192k spoken word file). You need either PTHD or PT9 with an interface that can clock at 192k.

At the same time... upconverting doesn't add any extra quality or detail. There's never really any point in taking something that was already recorded at a lower bitrate and upconverting it. It won't make any difference. You will need a higher quality source in the first place.

[DigiTechSupt]

If I'm reading this correctly you're saying 96kbps vs. 192kbps (a compressed file format like MP3, AAC, etc), NOT 96k vs. 192k, a sampling frequency difference (WAV, AIF, BWF). Is that correct?

What format are the audio files you're submitting to them? The question and problem, overall, are bit unclear.

[Cayce]

DigiTechSupt;

Yeah, that's correct: kbps rather than khz. The submission format is MP3, originally set at 92kbps, but the publisher is requiring 196kbps. I can't find a way to effect that in ProTools. Is there a way, or an outside program for doing this?

Thanks much for getting back to me.

Cayce

[Ben Jenssen]

Free:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

[Cayce]

Thanks, Ben!

[DigiTechSupt]

You can also export at 192kbps from the bounce window in Pro Tools.

[Cayce]

DigiTechSupt;

I wish I could do that, but the MP3 option doesn't give me any kbps setting, and I get an error when I try to use it in any capacity. Says the module could not be initialized, that my demo may have expired (version 7.4... ya think?). So... I'm trying to import the AIFF bounce from PT into Garage Band because it has broad MP3 export parameters, but even that is giving me problems.

Thanks again for the response.

Cayce

[DigiTechSupt]

Pro Tools 7.4 would require purchase of the MP3 Option - did you do that?

You could also import your WAV or AIF file into iTunes (assuming you have iTunes) and export as an MP3 from there. Audacity, as Ben indicated, is also a good, free option.