Re: [microsound] High sampling rates/Bit depths

[ian stewart <artsonics@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I wrote:
> > There are reports of physiological responses to ultrasound (in bone 
> > structure, etc).

John Nowak:
> If you know anywhere I could read about such loveliness, I'd appreciate it.

As one of many examples: www.engineering.vcu.edu/fac/Lenhardt/lenultra.html

JN:
> I'd suspect the number of tracks you'd want to have a range greater than 
> 96dB are incredibly limited. Very rarely would you want to go from a 
> whisper to pain-inducing... For playback, 24-bit audio is not going to give 
> any benefit over a properly dithered 16-bit recording

Listen closely to the noise, distortion, and sound dropoff in fadeout tails 
in 16-bit at high volume (as you might have in a concert situation). And 
it's quite common to find pieces of experimental music that are 
predominantly below, say, -20 dB, perhaps with a couple of transients that 
spike up near 0, and then most of the audio is effectively not at 16-bit 
resolution- more like 12. I've seen some pieces that are almost entirely 
below -48 dB, which is 8-bit audio! Proper dithering can get you about 3 
extra bits at the cost of a bit of noise, but at 24-bit, there's just a lot 
more room to manoeuvre, especially if you're working with unusual materials, 
dynamics, or frequencies, as is the case with many artists on this list.

JN:
> 99% of people are happy with properly encoded AAC/MP3 files, so I really 
> don't think the DVD-audio thing will ever catch on. I suppose I should 
> never underestimate capitalism's ability to make people want what they 
> don't need though...

People still go to the cinema, even though they're happy with their telly, 
if the analogy makes any sense. Or maybe they watch CNN on the old Hitachi, 
but watch Apocalypse Now on the home theater. MP3 may work fine in a lot of 
situations, but I think many listeners know there's a difference.

best,
Ian

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself with cool new emoticons http://www.msn.co.uk/specials/myemo


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.microsound.org