Do I need 24 bit?

  • Thread starter Thread starter omtayslick
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omtayslick

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I have been using an Aardvark usb device for a few years, and I am very comfortable working with it. (And that comfort is important.) But it only records at 16 bit.

Please tell me some of the benefits that you hear in 24 bit as opposed to 16 bit. Very subtle difference? Or night and day difference?

Lately I'm hearing something a little lacking in my recordings. Is it 24 bit? Or mics? Or preamps? (or skill. :) )

Rest of the chain is: DMP3 directly into soundcard. Most frequently used mics: SM81, AT 3035, Oktava MK319. Mostly acoustic stuff.
 
It is a night and day difference. You will get more air and clarity with 24 bit. A 24 bit interface won't really work any differently than your 16 bit one does now.
 
What I've observed leads me to believe that 24-bit versus 16-bit gives you effectively more headroom and greater precision in your mix. If I'm wrong, please correct me.
 
Lately I'm hearing something a little lacking in my recordings. Is it 24 bit? Or mics? Or preamps? (or skill. )
Click to expand...

Probably a little of all of them.

I think with 24bit your gonna hear a night and day differance.

A better mic will yield a night and day differance (it might be for better or worse though depending on your room)

The preamp will probably be suttle until you track a bunch of audio and start stacking.

But skill is gonna get you the biggest differance by far... In other words keep practicing.
 
you should work on your room, acoustic situation, monitoring enviroment, and signal path before worrying about 24 bit, in my opinion. get it soundiing phenomenal at 16 bit, then worry about the high resolution....THEN be truly amazed.
 
I recorded happily w/16 bit(AC97,prob'ly nowhere near as good converters as your Aardvark)for years before getting my Audiophile 24/96.I can hear the difference,but it's not that dramatic.BigRay is right,other factors will make a huge difference,also.
If you're only recording a track at a time,an Audiophile 24/96 will only cost you a hundred bucks.It's worth moving up.
 
The added headroom I got when I upgraded from my Aardvark20/20 to my Motu24i was incredible. If you upgrade you wont regret the difference it makes, not to mention aardvark doesnt exist anymore so you can rest assured that there won't be any driver or software updates for that device.
 
The extra headroom of 24 bit gives a nice amount of wiggle room with gain staging. Makes it much easier to get a nice strong signal without clip.

Daav
 
In case I (or anyone else) misunderstood that -

It allows you to record a QUIETER signal without having to worry about the levels. Recording a "hot" signal is bad no matter what bit depth you're working at. If you're even approaching clipping, you're around 18dB into the headroom of the front end. NOT a good idea...
 
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