Recorded in wrong sampling rate...now what?

  • Thread starter Thread starter microchip
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microchip

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I accidentally recorded an entire track in 48Hz rather than 44.1.

Of course, I didn't realize it until I burned it onto disc and sounded odd when I played it back.

So, since I have not dealt with this issue before...

A...Is there a way to convert my work into 44.1 (and how much will it affect the music)

And B...is there a point to recording at a higher rate on your computer when you do all the mixing on the computer?

Thanks,

Micro
 
A. Yes, what software are you using? It may be as simple as doing a Save As on your master mixdown file. There shouldn't be any noticeable effect.

B. The advantage of a higher sampling rate is minimal compared to the advantage of a higher word size i.e. 24bit
 
CD standard is 44.1.
If you recorded wave files on a cd using 48 sampling rate, then what you get is not an audio cd, but data cd. You can play it on computer, but not on standard cd player. If it plays on a cd player, than it must be 44.1 rate.
Yes, you can convert sampling rate. Most of sound recording software can do that.
 
Tex...

Thanks for a quick response...

Yes, I was doing 24 bit recording session as well-I love the 24 bit recording.

This particular work I was doing on Cakewalk Home Studio 2002.

I have checked both the 'Save as' and 'Export' modes, but I don't see a place where I would convert the sampling rate.

If you could assist me on where on the software I would convert, I would be most grateful!

Micro
 
Sorry dude, I'm not familliar enough with that software. Hopefully a Sonar user will wander by. It may be a limitation of your 'home' version of sonar.

If you are in a real bind there is a fully functional timed demo of Cool Edit Pro 2 available that should be able to handle the conversion easily. www.syntrillium.com
 
Go with Tex on this one, but also do some research on dithering, it's the best way to translate a sample rate down.

Darth
 
Why can't you just go into the "Options>audio" and change the sampling rate to 44 and then save the track?

I've not tried this with a file that I did the exact same thing with. It was a cd of ambiet music for my girlfriend to relax to and then that track comes on and it's like this loud blast of static. Scared the crap out of her!
 
Blip...

I have thought of that, but unfortunately I think only changing the audio options will affect new music being recorded. This is music already recorded.

Changing the sample rate in the options I don't believe does anything to the tracks already recorded even if you change the options settings and re-save the work.

Someone must have an answer for this, because if you can't get it converted with most software programs, what is the point of recording at 48Hz to begin with?

I mean, I know it sounds ever so slightly better, but what good is it if you don't have the software to convert?
 
How about opening a new project with the "right" sampling rate and then cutting and pasting tracks from the "wrong" file and then saving as a new file? Probably not, eh?

Or perhaps exporting each track (or bounced tracks) to wav and then importing them into a new project with the lower sampling rate.

Just thinking out loud of what I would do if I was trying to do this!
 
blipndub said
Why can't you just go into the "Options>audio" and change the sampling rate to 44 and then save the track?
Click to expand...

and microchip replied
I have thought of that, but unfortunately I think only changing the audio options will affect new music being recorded. This is music already recorded.

Changing the sample rate in the options I don't believe does anything to the tracks already recorded even if you change the options settings and re-save the work.
Click to expand...

Yep, microchip is right. SONAR, Home Studio, and the other products from Cakewalk cannot change the sampling rate of digital audio files.

Reducing the sample rate and bit depth used to record tracks into Cakewalk is a solution, but then you lose the advantages of having a 24-bit card... Sounds like what you really need is to be able to turn the final stereo mix into standard audio CD-appropriate data, not necessarily the individual tracks you have recorded into Cakewalk.

The solution is to export a final mix to a WAV file at its full quality, and then use an audio editing tool like Sound Forge, Wavelab, or CoolEdit to finalize the file for burning to an audio CD. Open the exported master stereo file, and convert it to a 16-bit, 44.1 kHz copy. That becomes your production copy for making CDs from. You can also use these applications to do other things to tweak the file -- compression, limiting, EQ -- this step is knows as mastering and it's very important in turning out professional results. Most folks, even if they feel confident in their skills at recording and mixing, pay a professional mastering engineer to finalize the stereo mix if they are going to present their final product for sale in the marketplace.

It's also possible that you might wish to work with pre-recorded digital audio loops and other sounds, in which case you might need to assure the files you use are all compatible in SONAR. Again a tool like Sound Forge is the way to go. Export the tracks from SONAR as individual WAVs, and open and convert them using the audio editor. Then re-import them into a fresh Cakewalk project.
 
Do what me and Al said and stop yer bitchin! J/k

The reason for even having 48khz is a bit of a mystery to me. I think that it is a holdover from the DAT days before CD's and 44.1khz really took hold. The only real benefit would be if in the future you wanted to mix to a DVD audio format you would have a little more hiqh fequency data to work with but the gains would be minimal.

Dithering does not apply to changing the sample rate. That applies to converting word length/bit rate and should only be done as the very last step in converting your 24bit master to 16/44 for CD burning.
 
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