Recording Vocals in Protools v Audacity (not mixing)

F

Faultlinespine

New member
I'm wondering if there will be a difference in quality between recording vocals in a professional DAW like Protools or Ableton versus a free program like Audacity. I'm referring to quality of the raw recording data pre mixing. The plan is to record the raw vocal track in Audacity and export it as a wav file for a professional mixer to import into Protools and then work on levels, compression, mixing etc.

I'm using a relatively high end Mic (approx US $1200) the AKG C414 XLS Studio Multipattern Condenser Microphone and the basic but adequate Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB audio interface. I'm going to hire out a studio room to record the vocals.
C414 XLS | Reference multipattern
condenser microphone
Scarlett 2i2 | Focusrite

I would like to ask two questions (given the above specs and presuming I have mic positioning, room acoustics etc right):

1. Will the quality of an unedited vocal recording recorded (and exported as a Wav file) in Protools or Ableton, be better than the same done in Audacity?

2. Will the process of exporting a recording from one program (Audacity) as a Wav and importing into Protools for mixing, cause any deterioration to the
quality of the recording? In other words, would it be better to do recording and mixing in one program (obviously Protools) because exporting from
one program and importing into another will cause some deterioration to the vocal track?


Obviously my only concern here is whether this method will affect the quality of the final product once it has been mixed and mastered. I'm hoping to get a high quality result on a lower budget. Thanks!
 
Hi,
To the best of my knowledge, the short answer is no.
Without any effects or processes, recording into one DAW should be the same as recording into another.
Exporting and moving Wavs between DAWs will introduce no differences, as long as sample rate and bit depth are maintained throughout and no processes are applied.

Hope that helps. :)
 
Faultlinespine said:
1. Will the quality of an unedited vocal recording recorded (and exported as a Wav file) in Protools or Ableton, be better than the same done in Audacity?
Click to expand...

Short answer = no.

Slightly longer answer: the quality of recording is determined by pretty much everything else except the DAW.

Faultlinespine said:
2. Will the process of exporting a recording from one program (Audacity) as a Wav and importing into Protools for mixing, cause any deterioration to the
quality of the recording?
Click to expand...

Short answer = no
Slightly longer answer = no
 
Err? PC numpty here but. Audacity does not save or 'work with' .wav files therefore when you export an Audacity file as .wav is there not some internal conversion going on that MIGHT impact on quality?

Now, I am sure I am wrong, the top digital men here are going to tell me "It don't work that way!" but since Reaper DOES work natively (AFAIK) with .wavs why not use that? If the very modest cost of Reaper is a problem look at the free Samplitude Pro X Silver.

N.B. Whichever DAW you use you have to TELL it to export at 24 bits, 44.1kHz or it might go 16 on you.

Just adjusting Kevlar helmet.

Just like to add, that AKG is a pretty hot mic Open-circuit sensitivity: 23 mV/Pa (-33 dBV ± 0.5 dB) and the wee F'rites are not known for high overload capability (to be fair, many budget AIs are not) . Might need to engage a pad if it has one or invest in a 10dB inline attenuator. Depends how loud you sing of course!

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Audacity does not save or 'work with' .wav files therefore when you export an Audacity file as .wav is there not some internal conversion going on that MIGHT impact on quality?
Click to expand...

WAV is a lossless format, so there should be no impact on quality. A conversion to WAV should reflect exactly the quality of the original (good or bad). But I concede that the actual conversion process may contaminate the WAV if it is not written well enough.

ecc83 said:
Now, I am sure I am wrong, the top digital men here are going to tell me "It don't work that way!" but since Reaper DOES work natively (AFAIK) with .wavs why not use that?
Click to expand...

From website, Reaper supports ACID, AIFF, AVI, BWF, CDDA, EDL, FLAC, KAR, MIDI, MOGG, MOV, MP3, MPEG, OGG VORBIS, OGG OPUS, QT, RADAR, REX2, SYX, W64, WAV, WAVPACK, WMV
 
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