Topic: So you made your recording on the JB3... best way to get to CD?

[bodegahwy]

I bought the C4>UA-5>JB3 idea...  thanks for the help and ideas...  now, once you've been to the show and have that hot stuff on the JB3...  a few questions:

On the UA-5 can you input at 24/96 and output to the JB3 at a different level or do you pretty much send what you receive?

If you want to end up on CD should you just start with 16/44 WAV in the JB3 or can you start higher and mix down,  if so how?

Do you suggest going as high rez as possible on the JB3, transfering to the computer and then stepping down to CD quality?  If so, what software are you running to do that?

Thanks in advance for the help with more noobie stuff.

[dnsacks]

1) the ua5 will only output above 16/48 directly to a computer via the usb.  Output via the optical/coax out (which will only work if the ua5 is digi-modded) is limited to a maximum resolution of 16/48.

2) Given the 16/48 output limit, I simply record at 16/44.1 as it makes it a LOT easier to transfer to cd.

3) if you do want to record at a higher resolution (16/48 on the jb3), you'd use an audio editing program to resample down to 16/44.1 -- lotsa folks use sound forge, I like the sound wavelab 5 provides, especially using the uv22 (apogee) dithering) -- you'd then use the free program "cdwave" to split the file into tracks for burning.  It's a shareware program available at www.cdwave.com

[Ed.]

48khz -> 44.1khz is resampling.  sound forge, cool edit, adobe audition, wavelab will all do this in high quality.  the uv22 apogee dithering doesn't come into play here, you use dithering to go from 24bit -> 16bit.

if you're recording to the jb3 via the ua-5, you should never use the advance setting and record at 24bit.  if you do that the jb3 will truncate the signal down to 16bit, which is ok, but doesn't provide the best outcome.

whether you choose 48khz or 44.1khz is up to you, i do 44.1khz, cuz its just easier.  you need it at 44.1 for splitting, seeding, and burning, and i can't (nor most people for that matter) tell the difference.

[dnsacks]

huh- I always thought that the uv22 plug-in was a noise shaping/quantization algorithym (sp?) and thus was used in both dithering and sample rate conversion since both processes necessarily use noise shaping to deal with the artifiacts inherent in dithering and resampling.

Either way . . . .

Bottom line, my recommendation is to record with your intended end use in mind.  A recording made at 16/48 and resampled down to 16/44.1 is likely not going to sound as good at 16/44.1 as one recorded at 16/44/1 in the first place.  However, all things the same, a 16/48k recording played back @ 16/48 will likely sound slightly better than a 16/44.1 recording played back @16/44.1 -- my personal view is that I'll keep recording @ 16/44.1 until there is a reasonable way for me to easily play back my masters at a higher resolution.

[bodegahwy]

Again,  useful helpful ideas.  Thanks.  So... if I followed all of that:

1.  Field recording to JB3 best at 16/44 if the plan is to end up on CD.  Don't have to mess with resampling, easy to track and burn.

2.  Possible to use the 24/96 when recording straight into the computer (in my case at home)  If you are playing back from the computer you can play back at that quality.  If you want to burn a CD you have to resample down to 16/44.

[dnsacks]

yep -- one thing to point out, on playback unless your feeding the digital signal from your computer to an outboard d>a converter (even to the ua5 and an outboard d>a) you're likely to do better burning to a cd at 16/44.1 than to play back using an analog out from your computer.

Also, on an older topic -- I agree that the metering on the ua5/jb3 is definitely doable -- set the ua5's levels so that they're even on the jb3 and so that the -3db peak light occasionally blinks on the ua5 and you're all set.  Not as straightforward at first as on your old d5, but definitely doable -- enjoy!

[Patrick]

1) the ua5 will only output above 16/48 directly to a computer via the usb.  Output via the optical/coax out (which will only work if the ua5 is digi-modded) is limited to a maximum resolution of 16/48.

2) Given the 16/48 output limit, I simply record at 16/44.1 as it makes it a LOT easier to transfer to cd.

3) if you do want to record at a higher resolution (16/48 on the jb3), you'd use an audio editing program to resample down to 16/44.1 -- lotsa folks use sound forge, I like the sound wavelab 5 provides, especially using the uv22 (apogee) dithering) -- you'd then use the free program "cdwave" to split the file into tracks for burning.  It's a shareware program available at www.cdwave.com

What speshul ed said, dithering is 24 bit> 16 bit, a process that can be a little more tricky than resampling.