Agreed on tapers. Though for me personal, the extra work involved in dithering would require me to hire a producer to handle the extra work load. I usually have a full taping schedule. Maybe in the future, but not now while I battling tapers-flu.
Really? Why? I cut the 24/96 files into separate .wav tracks via CDWave for DVD. To "dumb it down" to 16/44.1 for CDs I just use Wavelab to dither then resample the files in batch w/ a preset I've created and saved. Wavelab will process an entire 3hr show of files in about 3-5min. Short enough that I don't get bored just sitting there watching it run (and I'm not very patient). Sure, it's an extra step, but I wouldn't call it time consuming by any stretch of the imagination.
Any tips on creating the batch processing preset you made in Wavelab would be entirely appreciated. I usually cut the files in CD-WAV, and save each track at 24bit. Then, I'll bring in the huge file into SoundForge, do a Waves L2 dither, and re-cut them all again with CD-WAV using the cue sheet.
I really suck at wavelab. It seems very counter-intuitive to me.
It's pretty easy really. Doing this from memory...will double check later at home.
In the Process menu on the top toolbar there is an option for BATCH PROCESSING.
Once that's open, on the INPUT tab, select all of the individual 24bit files you created in CDWav, then look for the button towards the far right of the window that is "EDIT BATCH PLUGINS". Looks like a piece of paper w/ a + sign I think. In there you need to find the UV22HR plugin and add it to the list of plugins to process (it will show up in the window on the left when added). Then find the resample plugin, add it also, and set it to 44.1. You should now have 2 plugins in the left side of the input window. FYI they process in the order listed should you want to change it. Once they're both in there, look for the preset option and just save the preset. Now when you come back and do this again, you just goto "Edit Batch Plugins" in the dialog and load your preset instead of picking the plugins individually.
Next goto the OUTPUT tab, and pick a location to save the new files. BE SURE TO CHANGE THE OUTPUT FORMAT TO
16bit 44.1khz WAV otherwise the wav headers will be wrong and they'll look like 24bit files even though they aren't.
Now just run it. You'll see a progress bar open up and you can watch it run through all of the files. Seriously takes 3-5min to do an entire show on my box. That's is....pretty easy once you do it once.
Good luck! Lemme know if you need anymore help.
mitch
PS, that workflow above is fine, but that's a hard way of doing it in my opinion if your goal is to make both a 24bit and 16bit fileset. The only step really required after my method is using shntool to fix any boundry errors for CD.