You don’t specify what format you recorded. If you happened to record this in stereo, you could bounce to mono and it will fit on a CD.
Does the deliverable have to be a CD? Can it be a DVD? If it has to be a CD, have you considered editing the piece for time? If editing is not an option, can you get away with two disks?
You could try time compression…but in my opinion, attempting to use one of Cubase’s time stretching algorithms to compress the piece will produce quite noticeable (and fairly unpleasant) artifacting on the spoken word. But if the result is acceptable to you (and/or your clients) you might be able to get away with that in lieu of editing out 220mb worth of material.
I’d consider editing first. Easily done in Cubase.
Why not burn the project (as files) to a DVD for your storage and backup purposes…
If you are saying that your mixed down stereo file is over 900 megs, then you will have to split it up to 2 separate files then burn each one to a CD. You also have the option to divide up your “spoken words” into chapters. This way, maybe it would be divided up more evenly onto 2 disks. This way, your listener, would be able to more quickly find the subjects they need to listen to. Hope this helps…
It’s quite straight forward, really. If a 45 minute session is 922 MB, that means # of tracks X sample rate X bit rate X project length is 922 MB. For 44k1/16 bit stereo (the only possible CD-Audio standard), a 45 minute session would result in a 476 MB file.
^
If you can let go of the wav constraint, converting to FLAC might make it fit in a CD(?). (FLAC is lossless compression, so you can re-create (exactly) the original wav file from it. And there are other lossless compression formats you could use instead.)
Otherwise the file’s simply too big to put on a CD, and you’d need something like others have suggested, using an audio format that’s smaller - but, that will mean a loss of detail, which might matter. Whether or not you can hear the difference between the original file and the smaller one, if you intend to process the file further, you ought to stick with the original wav file or a FLAC (or similar) version.
Yes, and many interpret that as writing a CD-Audio. I’m not saying it’s right, but one could argue that the 44k1/16bit uncompressed PCM audio on a CD-Audio still contitutes a wave file…
Anyhow, the mystery here is how you manage to get a 45 minute audio file with a size of 922 MB. A PCM-file (which I assume you have because of the size) of a certain length and quality will always have the same size regardless of content.
same length but with 24 bit resolution will result in files 1,5 times that size, that is 357,21 and 388,8 MB respectively.
Other combinations will give multiples of 2 for these numbers, 44,1 kHz 16 bit stereo would give the size 476,28, as would 44,1 kHz, 32 bit mono and 88,2 kHz 16 bit mono etc.
There is no combination thereof giving a size of 922 MB for a 45 minute file, not even if you recalculate with kBi or MBi (2^10 base) unless I’ve overlooked some obvious parameter.
The most plausible combination is that your file is not 45 minutes, but instead somewhere close to 43 m 33 s with a quality of 88,2 kHz, 16 bit, stereo PCM or some other combination giving a size with a multiple of 4 relative to 44,1 kHz, 16 bit mono.
Either that, or you have edited the recording but not yet exported it and are watching the size of the raw file.
/A
edit and my suggestion in either case is that you export the recording with a quality that gives a file small enough to fit on a CD.