Preparing a tour for Tellstop

Tellstop plays one track per stop and waits between them. Everything in this guide is about getting your audio into that shape and onto the device that sits by the speakers. Ten minutes for a first tour, no software to install.

Two ways to load a tour

1. Record

• One take per stop, 30 seconds to 4 minutes. Start with the safety announcement if you have one.
• Any phone voice-memo app is fine. Hold it 15 to 20 cm from the mouth, indoors, away from fans and fridges.
• Speak as if the listener is looking at the thing: "on your left you now see…". The crew will press play when it is in view.
• Formats that work: mp3, m4a, m4b, wav, ogg, flac.

2. Name the files (option A)

Tellstop orders tracks by file name, so number them and write the stop name after the number. The name becomes the title on screen.

01-safety-briefing.mp3
02-kunstsilo-kilden.mp3
03-falconbridge.mp3
…
17-odderoya-thanks.mp3

Zero-pad the numbers (01, 02, …) so that 10 does not sort before 2.

3. Or make one audiobook with chapters (option B)

Drop a single chaptered file into Tellstop and every chapter becomes a stop. Chapter titles become stop titles. A chapter called "Pause" or "Break", or shorter than eight seconds, becomes a pause marker with no audio.

Audacity (free, Mac/Windows/Linux)

1. Put all takes in one project, in order.
2. Add a label at the start of each stop: Edit → Labels → Add Label at Selection (or Cmd/Ctrl+B) and type the stop name.
3. File → Export Audio, format M4A (AAC) or MP3, and tick "Export labels as chapters" if offered. Otherwise export the audio, then use Kid3 or mp4chaps (below) to add chapters.

ffmpeg (command line)

Given the separate files from option A, this concatenates them and writes chapters from the file names:

# 1. list + chapter metadata
i=0; pos=0; { printf ';FFMETADATA1\n'; for f in [0-9]*.mp3; do
  d=$(ffprobe -v error -show_entries format=duration -of csv=p=0 "$f")
  e=$(python3 -c "print(int(($pos+$d)*1000))"); s=$(python3 -c "print(int($pos*1000))")
  printf '[CHAPTER]\nTIMEBASE=1/1000\nSTART=%s\nEND=%s\ntitle=%s\n' "$s" "$e" "${f#*-}"
  pos=$(python3 -c "print($pos+$d)"); echo "file '$f'" >> list.txt; done; } > chapters.txt
# 2. concatenate + chapters → tour.m4b
ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i list.txt -i chapters.txt -map_metadata 1 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -f ipod tour.m4b

Other tools that write readable chapters

• Kid3 (free tag editor): add chapters to an existing mp3 or m4a.
• Apple Books / Audiobook Builder on Mac: exports .m4b with chapters.
• Podcast editors such as Hindenburg, Descript or Forecast: export mp3 with ID3 chapters.

4. Add instructions for the crew (optional)

Each stop can carry a short note that shows under the title, such as "press play when the lighthouse is visible". Two ways:

• In the app: open the tour, Edit, type a note per stop, Save. You can also reorder stops and insert pause markers here.
• In a file: put a tour.json next to the audio files and select it together with them.

{
  "name": "MS Maarten – round trip east",
  "cues": [
    { "title": "Safety briefing", "file": "01-safety-briefing.mp3",
      "note": "Always first, before leaving the quay." },
    { "title": "Coffee break", "kind": "marker",
      "note": "No audio. Press Next when ready." },
    { "title": "Kunstsilo and Kilden", "file": "02-kunstsilo-kilden.mp3",
      "note": "When the buildings come into view." }
  ]
}

Chapter-based tours can use start and end (seconds) instead of file per stop. Edit → Download tour.json in the app gives you a starting point.

5. Load it on the device by the speakers

1. On that device, open tellstop.com/app and, when the browser offers it, install it. Installed, it works with no internet.
2. Tap the dashed box, select all audio files at once (or the one audiobook), plus tour.json if you have one.
3. Wait for the import counter to finish. The tour opens on stop 1.

6. Connect to the speakers

• Boat or bus PA: 3.5 mm jack from the device into the aux input of the amplifier. Phones without a jack need a USB-C or Lightning to 3.5 mm adapter. A 5 to 10 m cable lets the device sit where the crew stands.
• Walking tour: any Bluetooth speaker. Pair once; Tellstop uses whatever the device plays through.
• Set the device volume to maximum and adjust on the amplifier. Turn on Do Not Disturb so notifications do not play over the guide.

7. On the tour

• Press the big button when the stop is in view. The track plays to the end and stops. The next stop is on screen.
• Pause if something interrupts; Restart plays the stop again; Next skips a stop you passed. The list at the bottom jumps anywhere.
• The screen stays awake while a track plays. Tellstop remembers where you were if the app is closed.

8. Share with the crew (Tellstop Cloud)

1. Sign in under Account and cloud with your email; a code arrives in the mail.
2. Upgrade (card monthly, or Vipps/card yearly), then press Upload to cloud on the tour.
3. Each cloud tour shows an eight-character share code. Crew open the app on their own device, type the code under Fetch shared tour, and the whole tour downloads for offline use. No account needed for them.

Changed a stop later? Edit, then Update in cloud; crew fetch the code again.

Common problems

• Stops are in the wrong order. The file names are not numbered, or 10 sorts before 2. Rename with two digits, or reorder in Edit.
• The audiobook came in as one long stop. The file has no chapter marks Tellstop can read. Re-export with chapters (see step 3) or split it into files.
• No sound over the PA. Check the device is not muted, the cable is in the aux input and not the mic input, and the amplifier channel is up.
• "Audio file is missing". The tour was fetched on this device before its files finished downloading. Fetch the share code again.

Open the app