Re: [microsound] High sampling rates/Bit depths

[derek holzer <derek@xxxxxxx>]

John Nowak wrote:
> On Sep 18, 2004, at 4:13 PM, Dale Lloyd wrote:
>
> > Working in 24 bits is fine, but when saving a sound file, it needs to 
> > be kept in mind that
> > there are still plenty of people who don't have up-to-date editing 
> > programs that can open
> > 24 bit sound files. LIKE ME!  : )
>
>
> Many open-source and free programs have no problem with 24-bit files (or 
> 32-bit for that matter).
> Stop throwing your money away. ;-)

Audacity should be able to handle anything you throw at it:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Dale Lloyd wrote:

> So when mastering a disc compilation, has anyone encountered trouble with the 
> tracks being various bit rates? 

Theoretically, the ones mastered @ 24 bit would sound better ;-) But 
everything still needs to get to 16 bit to burn/press/whatever. The 
whole thing is, as has been mentioned already, to use a good dithering 
algorithm when converting from 24 or 32 bit to 16 bit without 
introducing any "artifacts". No dither, or a badly implemented one, can 
make it sound much worse than the original.

Personally, I capture a lot of stuff on DAT these days, bring it into my 
Linux DAW at 24 bit and bounce it in realtime between various 
applications with 32 bit transfers using the Jack-Audio-Connection-Kit. 
Many applications I use, such as Pure Data, automatically "inflate" any 
audio imported to 32 bit anyway. I use a "shaped noise" dither which 
comes with Ardour [the free software world's answer to ProTools] at the 
end of everything to take it down to 16 bit for CD mastering or MP3 
compression. To my ears, the sound is much better than when I was 
geeking around with shareware or cracked commercial apps.

best,
d.




--
derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl
---Oblique Strategy # 22:
"Be less critical more often"

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