Topic: 24 bit vs 16 bit

[terrapinj]

Anyway, my main point is that you may want to run at 24-bit for two main reasons: (1) headroom, and (2) archiving for possible future use. That's my two cents...

just out of curiousity why not also do 48 or higher sample rate for the future if you have the capabilities now?

[BayTaynt3d]

Anyway, my main point is that you may want to run at 24-bit for two main reasons: (1) headroom, and (2) archiving for possible future use. That's my two cents...

just out of curiousity why not also do 48 or higher sample rate for the future if you have the capabilities now?

Well, I could run 96 with the R4 and have at times since I bought it. My basic answer is that I'm pretty much totally ok with 16/44 from a listening standpoint, so anything else is kind of excessive. I'm sure a whole bunch of people would disagree, but hey, to each his own. On the 96 front, frankly, I just don't like dealing with the freakin' HUGE file sizes and the splits -- it's just a headache I don't want to deal with from needing twice the HD space, running slower processing (I master almost everything I tape a little), splicing together splits (YUK!), and that extra step of resampling with anti-aliasing. Maybe I should care more, but I kind of don't. On the 48 front, I'm more torn. The file size and processing time (when mixing and using vst's and whatnot) aren't as much of a factor, but that added step of resampling still is. I basically just don't think it makes much of a difference to me, so I started running 44.1 again. I go back and forth on that, and I probably should just run 48. See, I'm pretty much happy with 16/44 audio, but the 24-bit thing has some real advantages like I raised before. ALTHOUGH I left out another HUGE advantage of 24-bit... The increased accuracy is very helpful in lowering quantization errors when doing any sort of processing like mixing a matrix, doing a bass rolloff, EQ'ing, fades, or (god forbid) some compression. So, 24-bit has some really obvious benefits to me on that front even when 16-bit is your target medium (between the headroom and quantization improvements, it's worth it right there). On the sampling rate front however, the advantages just don't seem to be as compelling to me, but maybe my ears are just shot?

[terrapinj]

i definately agree with you on the 96 front. most of the places i tape are somewhat crappy PA rooms so there's no advantage IMO to going 96. i was running 48 because i had assumed (incorrectly) that it was necessary to play audio on DVD. i also do 48 now because 48 is a more natural (for lack of a better term) sampling rate, and figure its a small trade off for the additional file size and extra step in resampling.

most important point...

but hey, to each his own.

one of these days im gonna see if i can do some tests, or find some samples out there, to see just how noticeable the different sample rates are

[wbrisette]

ione of these days im gonna see if i can do some tests, or find some samples out there, to see just how noticeable the different sample rates are

I made some discs where I recorded at 24/48 and 24/96. I sent these out to people to listen to in a blind test. Nobody could tell the difference without looking at what sample rate their equipment told them they were playing. That said, I usually record at 48 KHz for most things. However, if I'm doing acoustical stuff, I use 96 KHz.

Wayne

[nihilistic0]

now send them a 16 and 24 bit versions, and see if they can hear a difference

[viega]

Just make sure it has enough dynamic range to make the test worthwhile...

[BayTaynt3d]

I personally don't think the insteresting test is between 16 and 24 because we know there are a whole lot of good reasons to record in 24-bit over 16-bit, whether you play it back in 24 or not -- I think everyone is pretty much in agreement on the fact that 24 bit is better. However, I do think the decision of 44.1 vs. 48 vs 88 vs 96 is a very worthwhile discussion personally, and I'd like to see the above test done blind between 44.1 and 48 to see if anyone can really pick that out or not in the real world...