Thanks Bob. Typo corrected in my post.........

I am not sure I understand headroom concept. What is that supposed to mean?

Headroom is the amount of space the audio has to work in before it clips.

At a bit depth of 24 there is more dynamic range storage space available than there is at 16 bit. 8 extra bits obviously. Therefore you don't have to "squeeze" the audio into just the 16 bits, there's a bit more room to play with before clipping.

A bit like having to walk under a bar. If it's at about head height it's more of a squeeze. Lift it up a bit and you have more headroom, hence the term.

tsbol


Soo wtf is 64bit that Sonar gives option to put,, bit depth and render etc.....   I record at 64bit 192khz

Freezing tracks will take longer and much more disk space.

My question is

Why do I have options for 64 bit ,,,,, is there even a sound card in the world that is 64 bit ?

To me 24bit/96khz is perfect.  However now I see I have options for 32bit and 64bit.  The higher the better or what ?

Theoretically, but only in theory. To use my bar analogy. If you are 6 foot tall and you lift the bar from 8 feet high to 16 feet (16 bit to 24) you are even less likely to bang your head no matter how high you jump. Moving it from 16 feet high to 32 feet high (24 bit to 32 or 64) you are again even less likely to smack your head. But only in theory as you weren't going to at 24 feet either.

I think that's enough of the analogies.... my head is hurting.

Soon there will be sound cards that are 384khz  or are they out........

Why do your project @ 64/192khz is my question.

should I go back to 24/96khz.  I mean I know all samples are not higher then 96khz anyway.

tsbol


Soon there will be sound cards that are 384khz  or are they out........

Why do your project @ 64/192khz is my question.

should I go back to 24/96khz.  I mean I know all samples are not higher then 96khz anyway.

I personally have no idea, that's why I don't. 44.1/24 for me thanks.

This question always causes interesting debates.  There's lots of material on this subject - a few quick searches and you'll have lots of background info.  I choose to record at 24bit / 96 Khz.  Some will say you can't hear a difference - maybe it's my imagination, but I think I can hear the difference when starting with a 96khz sample as opposed to 44.1khz.  Anything higher than 96khz doesn't pay dividends in my opinion.  Bear in mind, increasing the sample size means your CPU / Disk will work harder and resulting audio files will be larger,  so take your hardware specs into considation when making the decision as well. 

Recording at 24 bit gives alot more headroom up front - which I find very handy when recording dynamic sources such as vocals - you can keep your signal much lower and lessen any concerns of clipping, given you'll have the additional headroom to raise the signal afterwards.

Hope that helps.
Russ

I've been using 24/48 for years now.

I do recall reading something that said, if you're going to be converting to 16/44.1 for CD you are better off doubling your sample rate. Meaning you should be recording at 24/88.2 because the dithering is smoother.
Not sure how true that is either.

So for me a happy balance is 24/48.

Mike

For bit depth, I think the main thing is you're better off recording at 24-bit (and we're talking about the audio interface's actual converters) for headroom when adding effects, etc. If you then export to 16 bit for CD Sonar will just discard any extra bits without having to recalculate.

For sample rate it's best to either record at the same sample rate as your final delivery medium (i.e., 44 for CD, 48 for DVD) or a rate that is evenly divisible by the rate of your final medium (88 for CD, 96 or 192 for DVD). That way Sonar either won't have to recalculate the sample rate at all when exporting, or it will be an easy calculation. If your final medium will only be MP3, then you have the choice of either 44 or 48, so just try to avoid recalculations when Sonar exports.

The higher your projects sample rate, the lower your latency is.

That's another thing to consider when choosing your project settings.

vladasyn


I have been using 16/44.1 for 13 years now, but all my mixes are slightly lower in volume compared to commercial. I do not mix above 0. I am not sure I understand headroom concept. What is that supposed to mean?

So is it 24/41 or 24/48?

When saving to CD, I will have to convert it. Is the Sonar converts it automatically and all I have to do is select 16/44.1 when mixing down to 2 tracks? (I know there settings- it set by default to 32 and makes unplayable tracks if you forget to change it.

The MP3- I use Wavelab to convert to MP3s. I think it would have to be 16/44 to be able to convert, and it converts to most standard MP3 size.  

First: switch to 24/44.1khz. 24bit is generally accepted as the best way to get the most out of your digital converter.


Second: bit depth and sample rate have nothing to do with volume. Look up the "mastering" phase to find out how commercial music is made louder. 

Commercial music made louder by compressing it, EQ, normolizing and then by going over 0 db limit. I am sure there few more tricks. It just that dont matter what I do, and I used to spend hours trying everything, it would not get louder if kept under 0 db. I was wondering if the way I record has anything to do with it.

What do we store on DVD?