Topic: 32-bit AIFF. What now?

[cyfan]

I just got show recorded by a club for a friend who's in a band. They gave him a regular tracked CDR copy too.
The DVDs he gave me from the same set are AIFF files (I'm not a Mac user) and appear to be 32-bit files (hour show took more than one 4.7 Gig DVD for all the files).

Clearly I can convert the files to 44.1 khz to burn to CD, but that really doesn't do more than he already has.
What else can I do with this things? What's the purpose of the large AIFF files?

[Brian Skalinder]

What else can I do with this things? What's the purpose of the large AIFF files?

Sounds like there was an original recording (at what bit-depth / sample rate?), the recording was then edited (or at least saved) in the 32-bit realm, and that's what you received.  You can do anything you would normally do with 32-bit files:  <1>  dither down to 24-bit for playback (instead of the 16/44 provided to the band), <2> edit the 32-bit files further as you see fit and then produce 16- and/or 24-bit copies, or <3>  re-resample/dither to 16-bit using your preferred SRC and dither apps.

[cyfan]

Thanks Brian,

I guess my real question is: Is it better to do the wav editing (I use Cool Edit Pro) before dithering, or does it matter?

The 16 bit CDR given to the artist was recorded/mixed on the fly from the soundboard by the club's FOH guy. My friend, the performer, thought the AIFF files were the original individual tracks that could be remixed as a new multi-track and gave me suggestions on what he felt needed to be boosted or cut back. I just got the disks last night, copied one to my computer this morning and found it was a mixed file and not mulitple channels.... so obviously I can't do much more with it for him than what he's already got. I did notice it was 32-bit but didn't look at it much beyond that before heading to work.

Tim

[Brian Skalinder]

I guess my real question is: Is it better to do the wav editing (I use Cool Edit Pro) before dithering, or does it matter?

Yes, it matters.  You want to perform all edits at the highest resolution possible.  So you should perform all editing using the 32-bit files, and once finished resample and and dither (in that order) as your last two steps to get to 16/44.

[cyfan]

Thanks.
In my case though, he was wanting the rhythm guitar part brought up in the mix. I don't think I can do that in a fully mixed file (at least worth a shit) and the rest of the recording, frankly, kicks ass and needs no tinkering (other than tracking).

Tim

[easy jim]

Sometimes slight compression can help bring up instruments, especially in the treble range, that are a little burried in the raw mix.  It may be worth tyring to see if it sound good to you once you import it into your DAW.