Band wants to send me 16 bit recorded tracks to mix down... Would you?

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RRabbi
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2009/03/14 11:23:16 (permalink)

Band wants to send me 16 bit recorded tracks to mix down... Would you?


They want to record the drums and vocals at my studio (24 bit) but they asked about recording everything else with their BOSS BR-600 and BR-1200 units (records at 16 bit)... Then they want me to mix it all down together. My gut is telling me not to even go down that road, and insist on having them track everything with me at 24 bit (and I also would be using better preamps, have more control over the sound of the raw tracks that I'd be working with, etc...)

I just keep thinking, "garbage in, garbage out" and if I want to put my stamp on this I dunno what sort of job I'd be able to do with 16 bit recorded tracks (adding EQ, compression, etc...)

Or, maybe this is do-able and I just don't realize that yet?

Thoughts? Opinions?

Dave

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    Lord Tim
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    RE: Band wants to send me 16 bit recorded tracks to mix down... Would you? 2009/03/14 11:35:39 (permalink)
    16bit will be absolutely fine - many great sounding albums were recorded in 16bit, especially heavier styles of music.

    That said, I would say the biggest concern is HOW they're recording the sounds, and if they are able to capture them properly. 16bit is totally fine if the source material and recording techniques are good, but even 64bit is useless if the source is crap. Your better converters and knowledge will have MUCH more bearing on the sounds recorded than anything recorded at 16bit instead of 24bit, so I'd approach this cautiously if at all...

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    jamesg1213
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    RE: Band wants to send me 16 bit recorded tracks to mix down... Would you? 2009/03/14 11:54:18 (permalink)
    ORIGINAL: Lord Tim

    16bit will be absolutely fine - many great sounding albums were recorded in 16bit, especially heavier styles of music.

    That said, I would say the biggest concern is HOW they're recording the sounds, and if they are able to capture them properly. 16bit is totally fine if the source material and recording techniques are good, but even 64bit is useless if the source is crap. Your better converters and knowledge will have MUCH more bearing on the sounds recorded than anything recorded at 16bit instead of 24bit, so I'd approach this cautiously if at all...


    +1 to this. I've used a Boss BR-8 (16 bit) for capturing vocal tracks at a singer's house then mixed in Sonar, worked out fine. Perhaps ask for some sample WAV's from them before committing?

    The tricky part I can foresee is getting everything lining up timing-wise when you get it back; not sure if the newer Boss machines can create/export Broadcast WAV's, so they'll have to ensure everything starts at 0:00:00.
    post edited by jamesg1213 - 2009/03/14 11:58:17

     
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    RRabbi
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    RE: Band wants to send me 16 bit recorded tracks to mix down... Would you? 2009/03/14 13:32:01 (permalink)
    Would I have to tell them to shoot for a certain peak level when recording in 16 bit? I know with 24 bit recording I can leave lots of headroom, but I've never done recording in 16 bit (this far) Also, will I be limited to the amount of post-fx processing I can do to 16 bit tracks? Again, I've got zero experience working with 16 bit tracks to know what the limitations might be, if any...

    Thanks for the help...

    Dave

    David Yanofsky
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    RTGraham
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    RE: Band wants to send me 16 bit recorded tracks to mix down... Would you? 2009/03/14 13:39:25 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: RRabbi

    Would I have to tell them to shoot for a certain peak level when recording in 16 bit?


    When 16-bit used to be the only option, we would usually shoot for peaks of -6. Now that everything's 24-bit we've learned that we can (and should) leave more headroom, but I don't know if the philosophy on 16-bit has changed as a result. Hopefully someone else here has more insight into that.

    ORIGINAL: RRabbi
    Also, will I be limited to the amount of post-fx processing I can do to 16 bit tracks?


    Absolutely not. Once the tracks are in the DAW, it doesn't care what bit rate they started at. They're all being processed internally at maximum resolution. In fact, using certain effects that generate low-level signals, or signals with extreme dynamic range (like very high-quality reverbs) will generate extra bits to handle the low-level signals.

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    Fog
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    RE: Band wants to send me 16 bit recorded tracks to mix down... Would you? 2009/03/14 13:46:37 (permalink)
    well samplers were 12 bit for a fair few years.. and most people bounced them down to DAT.. which was 16 bit..

    The 808 , whats the bit rate of that ? and it's still in use..

    I would explain it to them, that it's 16 bit..

    how are the drums? separated? maybe that's an area that needs padding out or fixing.


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    Guitarhacker
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    RE: Band wants to send me 16 bit recorded tracks to mix down... Would you? 2009/03/14 17:29:24 (permalink)
    Perhaps ask for some sample WAV's from them before committing?



    Yeah...I agree... I'd want to know they were capable of recording quality tracks before saying yes to the project. If they can produce & provide good clean high quality tracks... it'll save you a bunch of time tracking them in your studio.

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    pistolpete
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    RE: Band wants to send me 16 bit recorded tracks to mix down... Would you? 2009/03/14 17:43:08 (permalink)
    The REAL question that you should be asking is whether or not the money they are paying you is 16 bit currency or 24 bit currency. Otherwise you shouldn't care. As long as they pay you.
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    Dave Modisette
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    RE: Band wants to send me 16 bit recorded tracks to mix down... Would you? 2009/03/14 20:29:15 (permalink)
    ORIGINAL: pistolpete

    The REAL question that you should be asking is whether or not the money they are paying you is 16 bit currency or 24 bit currency. Otherwise you shouldn't care. As long as they pay you.
    That's my attitude. The more crap they bring you, the more billable hours it takes to fix them.
    post edited by Mod Bod - 2009/03/14 20:34:55

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