dithering and uv22 something or other

  • Thread starter Thread starter rgraves
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rgraves

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Hi all,

I need some help with Cubase. I am getting ready to complete a project and am concerned with dithering correctly. When you export a song, does choosing the bit rate you want to export it as automatically dither the file correctly? Or is there something else that has to be done?

Also, on the master fader there is a feature called uv22 or something like that (not in front of my home computer at the moment.) What does that do? Should I take it off? Is it that tape function thing that Cubase offers?

Also, lastly, my sound card is a EMU 1820M with "24-bit mastering grade d/a converters". I have been recording in 32 bit float, should I not be exceeding the 24 bit rate, or is that something different??

Thanks for any help!
 
When you export your files at 16-bit, they are "truncated" from 24-bit, which is your recording bit-depth (the 32-bit float has to do with internal processing, but you're actually recording at 24-bit). uv22 is the dithering plugin that comes with cubase. If it is enabled, it will add "dithering" noise to make the artifacts of truncating less noticeable. It's a good idea to have the uv22 active during your export to 16-bit, although most listeners would never notice the presence/absence of dithering (it is most noticeable as notes die out at the end of a song.

If you're planning to get your songs professionally mastered, ignore what I just said. Instead, export at 24-bit, without the dithering plug, and burn the files to a data disk for the mastering engineer. The ME will apply dithering after truncating the files for the master.
 
Okay, so if I recorded at "32 bit float" and I want to export the song to try to master myself, do I export at 32 bit or 24 bit for best results. And then when I finish the mastering obviously I export at 16 bit at that point, but it is best to keep the uv22 thing on to do the dithering correctly...does that sound right?

Thanks again
 
rgraves said:
Okay, so if I recorded at "32 bit float" and I want to export the song to try to master myself, do I export at 32 bit or 24 bit for best results. And then when I finish the mastering obviously I export at 16 bit at that point, but it is best to keep the uv22 thing on to do the dithering correctly...does that sound right?

Thanks again
Click to expand...

If it will let you export at 32-bit, that's fine, and will preserve effects that are processing at higher rates. Then just open the stereo mixdown in a new project for mastering. You are correct in that dithering should be the last step, upon mixing down to 16-bit/44.1k
 
scrubs said:
If it will let you export at 32-bit, that's fine, and will preserve effects that are processing at higher rates. Then just open the stereo mixdown in a new project for mastering. You are correct in that dithering should be the last step, upon mixing down to 16-bit/44.1k
Click to expand...

if in fact you even like the sound of dithering. i don't really like the uv22 dithering.
 
I can't really tell the difference either way. But hey I'm deaf or something, I can't even tell the difference between a PCM file and a mp3 (I know, don't hire me to do your mastering job!!)

But on a side note, is there a better or ungraded plug that I should try? Expense is no object, I just want to get this sounding as best as possible. I wasn't sure if there was a different plug besides uv22 I could look into
 
Don't even worry about getting a 'better' dithering plugin. If you can't here the difference, you won't be able to tell which one sounds better for which songs.

As with everything else, some dither sounds better on one thing than it will on another. If you can't hear it, you can't make the desision.

This is getting really, really nit-picky.

BTW, save the hard drive space and set cubase to record 24 bit files. Recording at 23 bit does you no good at all. (your converters are only 24 bit)
 
rgraves said:
I can't really tell the difference either way. But hey I'm deaf or something, I can't even tell the difference between a PCM file and a mp3 (I know, don't hire me to do your mastering job!!)

But on a side note, is there a better or ungraded plug that I should try? Expense is no object, I just want to get this sounding as best as possible. I wasn't sure if there was a different plug besides uv22 I could look into
Click to expand...

when i said that i don't like the uv22 plugin, i should have mentioned that i mostly record quiet, mellow acoustic guitar/vocals. i can hear the dither noise during really quiet passages. to be perfectly honest, i can't hear a difference in a properly converted mp3 at a high bit rate and the original wav file.
 
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