Yeah, it seems like you would lose anything you gained by resampling first if you resampled before any normalizing, etc. But I can't imagine there is that much different between 48 kHz and 44.1 kHz. I suppose if I had used 96 kHz. I think keeping it 24-bit though until the final export will retain most of the advantage?
Some argue that the difference between 44.1 and 48 is worth more to music recorders than 48 to 96, but the theory stands as to doing edits at the higher sample rate before resampling. Like I said, in the grand scheme of things, I wouldn't worry about it.
As for your bit depth, yes, you'll gain a lot from doing edits in higher bitrates until the final export when you dither to 16.
Sounds like optimally what you would want to do (especially with a 24-bit / 96 kHz recording) would be to pull it into Audacity and do all of your normalizing, compression (if you use that), etc. and then export it as 16/44.1 before splitting it into tracks? Then pull that back into Audacity and split / re-export with no dithering (if you can really turn it off)?
Basically yes (and yes, you can turn off dither, select "none" instead of a shaping or quality, but that applies until you change it, not per workflow/file).
For this one, I'm resampling from 48 kHz to 44.1 kHz with r8brain first but leaving it 24-bit. Then I will do everything I normally do in Audacity (normalize, try toremove any offending noises, split tracks, etc.) and then export like I normally do. That should work?
Sure. Technically it's the resampling that is your hiccup with the extra gaps at the end of tracks. So doing that outside of Audacity resolves that. (or hell, before export works too).
I haven't been using labels to split into tracks (didn't actually realize you could). I normally put my cursor where I want the track split and select everything between cursor and end and then split. Sounds like labels may be easier. Appreciate all the help and feedback. If it doesn't work, I'll probably be back;)
yeah, read up on labels. That's one of the things that really improved in 1.3.x land in my experience. You can even set them to cut on CD sector boundaries too. Like I said, it's a great program, just a lot of quirks.
the safest way i found is to do any edits like amplify in the original file
change the sample/bit rates
export
open the new file
track it out
export multi
Be careful about dither. Audacity dithers regardless of change in bitdepth (or direction of bitdepth) if you've set it to dither on export. So unless you're flipping that setting deep in the preferences menu each time, you're dithering twice at 16bit.
It's a handy program, and I can't find anything better at it's price point, but it has a ton of quirks like that.
hmmm
i most likey am doing it twice then
not sure what kind of effect it would have doing it twice, but it sounds ok on playback
guess i will get in the habit of checking that out too
You're just getting extra dither noise. When the band is raging, you won't notice, but if it's really quiet and you turn the stereo up you have a greater likelihood.
You're not the first who's done this, nor the last. I wish Audacity embraced dither settings like every other editor but they dont.