Audacity is a good free audio editor. Note that it's a third-party program, and not something that we support. Please see the Audacity help page for further assistance.
These tips are written for Audacity 1.3 beta.
Hold music > Exporting audio files to the correct .MP3 format
- Once you load up your audio file, in Audacity 1.3 beta, go to File -> Export.
- You can leave the ID tag information blank and click OK; it's not important.
- Change "Save as type" to "MP3 Files".
- Click the "Options..." button.
- Change "Bit Rate Mode" to "Constant".
- Set "Quality" to "128 kbps".
- Make sure "Channel Mode" is simply "Stereo". Click OK, then save.
Voice prompts > making .WAV files work on your PBX
Initial configuration after Audacity is installed:
- Go to Edit -> Preferences -> Quality, and set the "Default Sample Rate" to "8000 Hz".
- Change the "Default Sample Format" to "16-bit". Click OK.
Editing the audio file:
- Load up one of your audio files.
- Make sure that "Project Rate", at the lower left corner, is set to "8000" Hz, as shown in the screenshot.
- If your file is already "Mono, 8000Hz, 16-bit PCM", skip ahead to step 6.
- As shown in the screenshot, click on the black down arrow/triangle. Make sure "Set Sample Format" is "16-bit PCM".
- Verify that "Set Rate" is at "8000 Hz". *
- Stereo is not supported; the file must be monaural. Select Tracks -> Stero Track to Mono.
- Go to File -> Export.
- You can leave the ID tag information blank and click OK; it's not important.
- Change "Save as type" to "WAV (Microsoft) signed 16 bit PCM". Then save.
* - Audacity 1.3 should automatically speed up the file. However, if it plays slowly, you can change it under Effect -> Change Speed. Figure out how many time 8 (KHz) divides into 44 (KHz), for example, and speed it up by that percentage.
See the Audacity help page for further assistance.