Recording technologies used for audio Bible podcasts
New scientific high-technology recording devices are used to bring the Word of God to people who might not otherwise have any way of hearing God’s Word. The result of this scientific technology on the Word of God is the audio Bible. There are various formats in which you will find the audio Bible available, including the audio Bible on CD and audio Bible mp3 formats, as well as Internet distribution by podcast. This technology also brings another benefit: it is highly portable, requiring only a small digital sound system connected to a computer. This means that recording of the Bible can occur anywhere in the world. The result of this ease of mobility is that there can be recording centers where the audio Bible is recorded in hundreds of different indigenous languages. People worldwide, who might not have any other means for reading and understanding the Bible, can now be exposed to the power of God’s Word in an audio version, which they can hear.
Digital recording provides clear, crisp audio, and is a preferred method for capturing sound. The basics of how it works is that a speaker reads the Bible into a microphone, which produces an analog signal. Then this signal is sent from the microphone to an analog to digital converter. This component’s job is to convert the analog signal into a binary code. This code is then sent through a bundle of transmitters, usually wires connected to the computer in the form of cables, and eventually ends in storage on the computer, often on a hard drive or a CD burner.
The beauty of digital recording is that any mistakes can be taken out by simply removing the exact part of the code stored on the computer, which makes for much more precise editing and cleaner sound as a result. During the editing process, music and sound effects can also be added, and are, in order to produce a final audio Bible version that is dramatized, and more compelling to listen to. You can have speakers from anywhere in the world recording their part of the final version, then sending it via the Internet to the mixing center, where all of the parts are combined together and edited to result in the final version of the audio Bible. Speakers who come from oral cultures can relate to drama very well, and this is an important aspect of the recordings that make the audio Bible so influential.
Lasers are used in the recording and playback of CDs. The laser burns tiny holes onto the CD’s surface. This allows a CD or DVD player to distinguish between parts of the disc that allow reflected weak laser light to permeate through holes and parts of the CD surface that do not, resulting in a reading of the digital data and playback through a speaker so that you can hear it. These are some methods used for audio Bible production, to share God’s Word worldwide.
Susan Slobac has worked professionally with audio recording technologies focused on audio Bible translations. In particular, she has been involved with a number of groups in recording audio Bible podcasts and believes strongly in making the audio Bible online a tool for ministry work. Due to the ease use Susan recommends the audio Bible mp3 and the Bible on audio CD for a variety of uses including audio Bible study sharing Bible stories with children.