Best Practices – Digital Asset Guidelines – Rev 4 www.autocare.org | www.autocarevip.com | technology@autocare.org 29 7. Audio Best Practices 7.1 Overview In many industries, audio is becoming a popular digital asset type. Audio is predominantly used for educational or informational content in the form of podcasts but can also be used to help promote products at the point of sale. The process of creating and distributing audio is similar to video – you record your audio, edit it, and then export it in the formats that meet the needs of your business internally and your trading partners externally. In the following, sections, the important aspects of creating, editing, and formatting audio files are detailed along with some important items to consider when creating and distributing audio files. 7.2 Audio Recording Below are some considerations when recording high quality audio: Overall Quality Similar to recording video, it is best to record your source audio at the highest quality possible. This offers flexibility when it comes to formatting and exporting audio files for your specific uses in the future. Equipment If you want to produce good quality audio files you must invest in a good microphone. Your microphone has a significant effect on the quality of your audio recording. Environment It is important that you control the environment you are recording in as much as possible. Background noise can affect the audio quality considerably and should be eliminated, if possible. The clearer the audio is, the better experience your listeners will have.