OK, so I [audio only] recorded a (live) Billy Connolly concert last night with my Zoom H4 (all legal and above board, so no appoplexies please).

Problem is, I now have a 1.2 Gig .WAV file that I need to get onto a standard (er, any such thing?) CD.

My knowledge of sound stuff doesn't even register above fart level on the Richter scale (heck, I haven't even got a clue how I-Tunes works!).

OK, like most of the planet, I have apps loaded on my system that claim to be able to heal cancer, turn the "worst home video ever made" into the next Hollywood smash and etc etc etc etc...............

How, for the love of Mike, do I cram this 1.2 Gig file onto a 750 MB CD?

I've got Cubase loaded but every time I fire it up, I just take one look at it and shut it down again - I mean, what the fu** is all that stuff?

(Understand it? I can't even understand the "Help" section!!)

I'm not trying to send a rocket to frigging Mars, just "squash" this file a tad so it will play on a stanard CD player.

All reponses gratefully recieved, tho' any that start with "buy so and so" will get a very quick flick, heck, I'm only doing this for my mates sick daughter!!

And no, he wasn't on his sparkling best, I have to say.

I think even he would agree.

Thanks in advance.


CS

This problem is actually not a very difficult one, and here's why. .WAV files are uncompressed. So what you want to do it compress it into a smaller file which could fit on the CD.

The first thing I would try would be to import the .wav file into iTunes (just drag and drop it onto your iTunes library) and then try burning a CD with that (create a new playlist and put only your recording into it, then burn that playlist onto a CD by clicking on one of the buttons in the bottom-right of the window).

That might be all that you need to do, since depending on your settings, iTunes will recompress files upon import. Anyway, give it a try and see if it works.

If the goal is to have a standard audio CD that can be played on any conventional CD player, I don't think it's going to be possible. I make that out to be about 2 hours of material and I think the most you can squeeze onto a regular audio CD is 80 minutes. If you can't edit it down, you'll need to split it over 2 CD's.

How did you record it?

Is it a 16-bit file or a 24-bit file?

If 24-bit it should convert down to 16/44.1 at full CD quality.

Otherwise, take it into Cubase and edit it to fit two CDs.

Don't compress it as it will then not play on a CD player.

Audio CD maximum duration is by time. (Minutes and Seconds) So regardless of the input file format, file size, mono/stereo ect., one can only get 80 minutes on a 700MB CD-R.
If you're feeling lucky, one can try to "overburn" an extra minute or so. Do you feel lucky?.. well do ya punk?

It was recorded @16 bit 44.1kHz from memory, tho' why oh why I didn't just do it in MP3 has me astounded, but then again, I didn't forsee this problem arising.

I just made a HUGE assumption, that whatever it turned out as, a quick convert using "something" would sort it.

Ha!

Having decided there was no way on the planet it was going to fit on a CD, I decided to go the DVD route.

Don't know about the States, but here pretty well all the latest DVD players will play just about any format going, including MP3 and, er, WMA as well.

Aha, says I, I'll just transcode that .WAV file to .WMA and all will be well.

Bloody good theory, just wish I could find something that actually does it.

NERO will write a DVD with .WMA's, but won't transcode.

Windows Media Player promises the Earth and delivers nothing (even finding a Toolbar took me 15 minutes this arvo, how sad is that?).

Cubase still requires my missing 15 Phd's to even fire up let alone do anything with.

Have finally said "#@$%*&^%$" to the entire thing and let it drop.

Life's too short for this stupidity, why can't anything be simple?

There sure is some pretty dumb software out there.


CS

Chris, Audacity is a free sound editing package and can handle the conversion no problem, among all kinds of other tasks.
Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)

HTH,
Brian Brown
BrownCow Productions

There is such thing as a "standard CD" which is called Red Book Compact Disk, RBCD for short. All the CDs you buy in the store which have Compac Disk logo on them are just those. For various reasons too complicated to get into here and now, the absolute maximum length of the music is about 80 minutes and is HAS to be uncompressed WAV at 16/44.1 sampling.

This is not complicated: you have to split your overly long file in two and make 2 CD:s out of it. Quess why record companies publish double and triple albums?

Making a RBCD is the only way to guarantee that the people who will be getting your disk will 100% sure be able to play them. Putting MP3 or WMA files on DVD is recepie for disaster.
-------------

Sony has a good sofware solution for making Red Book compliant CD:s called CD Architect 5.2. You can download a free 30 day fully working trial from Sony, and the whole thing costs under $100 if you deside to keep it.

Chris - I think you made a comment along the lines of "I should have made an MP3 in the first place" Does this mean that a CD with MP3 files on it is OK? If so, just about any editor under the sun will convert WAV to MP3.

Roxio claims it will make music DVD's

Does this mean that a CD with MP3 files on it is OK? If so, just about any editor under the sun will convert WAV to MP3.

Hate to be a nitpicker: should read: CD-ROM with MP3 files on it

=:-)

Tho' I have to admit it was my missus as found the "missing link" (she's pretty good at detecting those "oooh, now he's in a funk" moods!).

She did a Google search on "Convert .wav to .wma" and came up with this:

WAV and WMA reviews and downloads on CNET (http://www.cnet.com/topic/wav/wma.html)

which in pretty short order gave rise to this:

Free Mp3/Wma/Ogg Converter - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com (http://www.download.com/Free-Mp3-Wma-Ogg-Converter/3000-2140_4-10793572.html?tag=txt.4)

which actually did the business.

Not pretty but exceedingly effective.

Converted my 1.147098 Gig Stereo .Wav file (about 1 hour 52 minutes worth) to a 104.62 Meg Stereo .Wma file in about 5 minutes flat.

Next, fired up Nero Express, told it to access the CD/DVD drive as a DVD drive, but instead of putting in a DVD, put in a 650 Mb CD.

Burned the file to it and...................drum roll............magic!

Won't play on a CD drive (natch) but plays on both our PC's and, halleluja, all of our DVD players.

By my math that makes almost 12 hours of Stereo on a 650 Mb CD!

No, I can't hear any significant difference in the sound quality of the two different files, tho' what the effect would be of a sound source somewhat more challenging than a monologue is anyones guess.

Thanks again for all the help.


CS

Glad you worked it out. Congrats to the little lady and you.