16 bit vs 24 bit

W

Waysid

New member
Hi,

I'm a bit confused about bit depths and sample rates and was hoping for a little advice. Our band is planning on recording some music by each person recording their parts separately on their own computers and then merging all the parts into one song on my computer. Now my audio card supports 24 bit recording up to 96khz, but the other guys in the band can only do 16 bit 48khz. So my question is, what is the best way to go about this? Should we all just use 16 bit 48khz? Or should I use 24bit recording and just "convert" their parts when I get them? How big a difference will all this make anyway? For our last CD, the studio we went to insisted 16 bit 44khz was perfectly fine, but I have read on here 24bit recording sound a lot better.

Any thoughts?
Thanks for your time.
Chris
 
Hi, well I would suggest going with 16-bit quality, because it will most likely be easier, to have everyone record at that resolution. Remember that, 16-bit is still going to sound very nice, becuse 16-bit is considered "cd quality" and is the highest bit depth that most cd-r's can accept, so I think your recordings will sound just fine at 16 bit resolution.
 
Thanks for the response. Yeah it would definitely be easier to all just work in 16bit/44khz...but since I have the capability to record at a higher depth or frequency rate should I use it. I will be recording the vocals and acoustic guitars which might benefit from the 24 bit recording. I realise I will eventually have to mix it down to 16 bit but is it worth (or can it even be done) having both 16 bit and 24 bit tracks during the recording and mixing stages.

Ps. I use Sonar as software...and an Edirol UA-700 audio capture.
 
As your bandmates are set up for 16 bit, it would be easier for you to record your parts in 24 bit (so you can benefit from the better bitrate) and then downconvert to 16 bit . Or you could just record your parts in 16 bit from the start.

As to the 24 bit vs 16 bit, to skip all the technical stuff, in my opinion,24 bit does offer a better sound. If I compare old 16 bit projects to new 24 bit projects, I definitly hear a difference. (Of course some of this difference is no doubt my improving mastering skills). As to the 48 khz versus 44.1 khz, not as much difference this seems to make to me. By recording in 44.1 from the start, instead of 48 khz will eliminate one more processing step.

I would recommend recording in 24 bit 44.1khz (my preference only, other opinions will vary greatly), but if recorded right, you can achieve very good recordings with 16 bit 44.1 khz. Keep in mind their are many factors involved in getting a great clean recording into your computer, but finding the best possible bitrate that all of you can record at will be a good place to start. Good luck!

Finn
 
I use 16 bit which is for CD and DAT. Great sound quality. Sounds great.

I also save files as mp3's for upload to the net.
 
Record at as high a resolution as possible for best results.... all things being equal, 24-bit will sound better than 16-bit (it's not called bitrate, by the way - it's word size --- the term "bitrate" only applies to MPEG/MP3 formatted audio)

However, bad 24-bit converters will sound worse than good 16-bit converters.

The difference in sound quality between a sampling rate of 44.1KHz and 48 KHz is marginal.... record at 44.1 if you need to be compatible with other recorders and/or to save the potential degradation of having to dither down to 44.1 for Redbook Audio CD creation.
 
Ok..that sound good I will definitely just use 44khz..as for the 24-bit, 16-bit thing.

Say I record a vocal track 24-bit 44khz and then import a wave file our guitarist recorded at 16/44 into a second track what actually happens when I play back the song?

Is it just a case of the Digital to analog converters in my sound card will take care of it for me and convert each track into analog sound? Will the sound quality of either track suffer because they are not at the same bit depth.

Thanks again.
 
<<Say I record a vocal track 24-bit 44khz and then import a wave file our guitarist recorded at 16/44 into a second track what actually happens when I play back the song?
Is it just a case of the Digital to analog converters in my sound card will take care of it for me and convert each track into analog sound? Will the sound quality of either track suffer because they are not at the same bit depth.>>

These tracks will grow to 24 bit sized files in your program, but should not change otherwise.
However, additional processing to them could see the beneft of the 24 bit project.
Would you import (or record) them in digitally? That would skip an extra A/D step.
Wayne
 
You cannot usually mix sample rates/word size within a project, and if the s/w does allow that, it is doing conversions for you (which have the potential to degrade the sound quality) so I'd advise against it.

Record tracks at compatible settings - if you're sharing tracks then choose a setting that everyone can be consistent with.
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
You cannot usually mix sample rates/word size within a project, and if the s/w does allow that, it is doing conversions for you (which have the potential to degrade the sound quality) so I'd advise against it.

Record tracks at compatible settings - if you're sharing tracks then choose a setting that everyone can be consistent with.
Click to expand...
Hmm...Certainly not sample rates, but is there a reason the 16 bit tracks shouldn't be dumped in? I assume as soon as you made any change on them (even gain) they'd grow to 24 bit precision.
Wayne
 
Yes - you're absolutely right.... bringing 16-bit audio into 16-bit or higher wordsizes is not likely to cause degradation (can't say for sure it won't because it depends on how the s/w is written!)

But bringing 24-bit audio into 16-bit projects is something you DEFINITELY don't want to do unless necessary (and even then, you'd probably want to dither it!)
 
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