16bit versus 24bit ???

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stealthtech
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Stealthtech

Stealthtech

LOGIC ABUSER
I use the Audiowork8 PCI card from Emagic. 16bit max. resolution.
I write my songs to CD with internal CD writer. I do not use ADAT or any other digital recorders. Then I thought, OK, I should get better quality with a 24bit card. But if a CD will only write 16bit, do I have to convert 24 back to 16 in order to write to CD ?
Or, if I record at 24bit Im assuming that the record quality will be better therefore even after I convert back to 16bit it will still sound better than recording at 16. Do you follow me ?
And I guess my last question would be, is there really any noticable difference between 16 and 24 bit recordings ?
Or I could be wrong about CD's only accepting 16 bit files, I dont know.
Any comments would be helpful........thanks
 
You're correct about CDs being only 16 bits (at least conventional CDs, DVD-As are a new and different story). The thing about recording at higher bit depth (and there IS and audible difference) is even though you're going have to dither back down to 16 bits, any and all processing (compressing, effects, fades, cross fades, etc) will sound better and it'll do a better job of it at the higher resolution. Now lots of folks have different opinions on this but in my humble opinion, recording at a higher sampling rate (48 or 96kHz) and resampling down to 44.1kHz is audible and I don't care for it. Personally, 24 bit, 44.1 and just dithering down to 16 bits is the least distructive.
 
Track Rat said:
, 24 bit, 44.1 and just dithering down to 16 bits is the least destructive.
Click to expand...

would you say that this applies across the board, no matter what you are using to master(resample,dither)?
 
if you are using awesome software, it wont matter....i feel safer at 44.1.......
 
If you have some high zoot outboard resampler, 96kHz is probably the way to go (48kHz of digital band width? Drooool!).
With the gear at my disposal, 44.1kHz is what I feel I have to use.
 
Yes, CD audio standard is 16bit/44.1kHz. Anything you produce will have to be converted down to this before you can burn a audio CD. It only takes a half a minute to open up my final mastered 24/44.1 wav mixdown file in SoundForge and resample it down to an output file folder.

24bit/44.1kHz is all that I work at. The extra headroom is noticeably deeper and smoother when applying effects and EQs. Each typical 24bit song track is 60Mb instead of the 16-bit's 32Mb. I can still backup a full song with all tracks to a standard CD-RW data disk (you >are< thinking about backing up all those 120Mb 96k tracks and mixdowns aren't you???)

96k files are HUGE and tremendously time intensive to process... you'll be using tons of disk space and spending a lot of time watching the clock. Is it worth it to you??? It's your call....
 
OK, you guys have helped a lot on this subject.
So the last few days I've been researching the M-audio Delta series cards. These cards record at 24/96. Would I be able to instruct this card to record at 24/44.1 ?? Does'nt say on the specs. at their website. I sent an email to em but it may be awhile before I hear from em. Im looking at the Audiophile because I dont need all the inputs and I like the idea of midi connects so I can get away from my system card. Does the Delta 66 have midi connect ? does'nt say on the website. And of course whoever can reply would naturally have to be familiar with these cards. I'll keep my fingers crossed or put up another post, or wait for the email { snore-snore }
Alrighty then............thanks again
 
yes, you can do 24bit/44.1 on the Delta.....

the Audiophile has midid ins/outs but doesnt have an onboard synth so youll still need another card, software synth,vst instrument to take care of that...
 
Gidge said:
yes, you can do 24bit/44.1 on the Delta.....

the Audiophile has midid ins/outs but doesnt have an onboard synth so youll still need another card, software synth,vst instrument to take care of that...
Click to expand...

Ok, thx Gidge.
I use external midi devices, not onboard synth. I've had to use my SB card to get my midi tied in so it will be nice to have a card with all in one.......thx again
 
24 bit at 48 / 88.1

I have the delta 44 and need to say that the 24 bit mode makes a huge difference in dynamics and 3-d spaciousness of sound.
The sample rate increases make a less dramatic improvement when recording but there is an audible difference in the quality of the overall mix clarity.

I have found that drums and percussive sounds work best at 24 bit / 88.1 khz and that guitars, bass, keys are ok at 24 bit / 48khz. 96khz had no audible difference, and is supposed to cause more headaches in resampling since 44.1 is not a direct divisor of 96 like 88 is.

Using 88/48khz and resampling down to 44.1 (as long as the algorithm is good) does not degrade the sound quality audibly as long as anti-alias filtering is used. Soundforge is great for this.
 
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