TalkBank Digital Audio Guide

These pages provide suggestions and guidelines for researchers who wish to create audio files for analysis with the CLAN editor and other TalkBank programs.

Warning: Do not rely on MP3 or similar lossy compression schemes for the archived version of your audio data. These compressed formats are lower in quality and more difficult to segment temporarily. Please rely instead on 16-bit WAV format in stereo at either 22,050 or 44,100 KHz.

Working with audio involves two basic processes.

  1. The first step is recording. If you would like some suggestions on recording equipment and techniques, you should read this information.
    1. For recording of child subjects, here is an excellent description of a fully implemented set-up from Margaret Fleck.
    2. For recording from adult subjects here are suggestions from Michael Chial.
  2. The second step is digitization. If you want to learn how to digitize audio files, you should read this information. If you want to convert from cassette to CD and have sufficient funds, we recommend using a professional digitization service. In particular, Canaan Technologies does a great job of transferring cassette to cd and elminating background noise in the process.
  3. The third step is transcription and linkage. If you would like to learn how to transcribe your audio files in a way that also links the transcripts directly to the files, you should read this information.