44 16

Thanks,
Hmmm, so I have this song I am working on, can I make the switch now to 44, 24bit without messing anything up?  But I have to re do my vocal I suspect.
So stay with 44.1 though right? or 48?  I notice my DSP software is set to 44.1, that's for my EMU 1616m unit, I see I can switch it to 48 if I want to.  Thanks for the insights.
 
Kalle Rantaaho


24 bit depth is better in recording, using it you don't need to record so hot. Just remember to dither it down to 16 when exporting the final mix.

I don't actually know if this affects the BiaB files in any way. If you're only doing MIDI (no vocals or other audio) you can as well stay with 44,1 Khz/16 bit.

kmsomethingmore


so stay with the 44.1 setting all the time? 

Is 44/24 okay then?  If I change the setting now from 16 to 24 will that affect my project any, or just future recording in that same project?  I don't seem to see where BIABox will export 24bit wavs, but maybe I just didn't find it yet.  When you import audio into Sonar I think it asks about bit depth, change you technically make 16 into 24bit at this process?  Likely not eh!?  Thanks, I am learning lots.
Kevin
 
 
mattplaysguitar


There is a huge debate that will never end over 44.1 vs 48 vs 96. Some say it all sounds the same, some say 96 just sounds heaps better. I have seen tests which show people can't pick the difference, and some that show people can. In the end, it is a SMALL difference compared to pretty much everything else you can do. So if you really aren't sure or can't hear any difference in your tests, just use 44.1 and save some cpu power and disk space.

16 vs 24? 24 bits always wins. You get more DIGITAL headroom at 24, but with cheap gear, the headroom in your equipment may not allow you much benefit over 16 bit. Still use 24 anyway, but just don't assume you then have endless headroom, because your gear noise will impact. The high noisefloor with 16 bit tends to become noticeable after compression of tracks and the song. You might not really hear it at first in the recording. To put it in perspective though, I accidentally recorded a song of mine in 16 bit and did not notice I did so till about a year after the recording. Only then did I notice the noisefloor and realise it needs to be re-recorded! (or does it really, if I never even noticed till I saw the numbers on the bottom of sonar)... You can find the song on my website if you would like to listen to the noisefloor. It was done on decent, but budget gear. 24 bits would have been better, but it goes to show how much you can get away with it.

You mentioned "doesn't it all get converted back to 44 16 anyway?" I touched on this in the pragraph above, it's because at 24 bit, you have more headroom which allows you to apply more compression before the noisefloor increases and becomes noticeable. As has already been mentioned, at 24 bit you can bring your preamps down a little to reduce the risk of clipping. But be warned that bringing it down too much will start to expose the noisefloor of your gear. So there is still a definite compromise. 24 gives you a bit more room with cheap (noisy) gear, and a lot more room with expensive (quiet) gear.

This post is all over the place, but in summary, 24 bit gives you a) more headroom recording reducing the risk of clipping or the need for compressors, and b) more headroom once recorded to compress your tracks as much as you desire.