Contents:
- Best Practices: Sample Rates, Bit-depths, File Formats
- Digital Audio Background Information
- Audio Capture and Encoding Software
- Bibliography of Selected Readings
- Appendix: Sample Workflow
This document sets forth guidelines for digitizing audio materials for CARLI Digital Collections. It provides specifications for sample rates, bit-depths, file formats, and suggests equipment for the analog-to-digital conversion of audio materials. Some technical background information on digital audio is included as well as lists of audio capture, encoding, transcoding and playback software, a bibliography of selected additional readings and a sample workflow process. This document forms a part of CARLI’s Guidelines for the Creation of Digital Collections.
This short best practices document provides clear guidance on requirements for preservation master digital audio files. It also includes a good justification on why higher sample rates and bit-depth should be applied in the preservation files. Like the CARLI guidance for video, these guidelines offer not just best practice advice but acceptable practice as well, allowing for more flexibility in archives that may not be able to accommodate best practice norms. It is not meant to provide exhaustive digitization workflow instructions.