Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-recording,rec.audio.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Take 2: Recording at different bit depths/sample rates
I'm starting a new thread about this because I apparently didn't make my
question clear enough the first time. I want to experiment with different bit depths and sample rates, to get a feeling for how the sound qualities vary as the bit depths and sample rates get down into the low end (below 16 bit sound). I have a computer/studio setup with a Firewire 410 interface. I can do recordings into my sequencer, but it defaults to 24 bit and I think the only other choice is 16 bit. I want to do lower bit depths than that. I took a look at Audacity, but it seems to only support 32 bit, 24 bit, and 16 bit. Bit depths higher than 16 bits are not interesting to me at this point. I already know what they sound like. I'm only interested in going down from 16 to lower bit depths and slower sample rates, the range that would be considered unsuitable for recording. I'm really interested in getting a feeling for the qualities of the sound in this lower range. As you might know, 12 bit samplers like the SP-1200 and some of the older Akai machines, etc, are still very popular with Hip Hop musicians. This vintage gear in many cases sells for more than current gear with "better specs." They don't want better specs. They want the grungy 12-bit sound of an SP-1200. Some people writing for severely constrained gadgets are playing with the lower limits of bit depth and sample rate. In many cases, they're going below 8 bit sound. I'm gearing up for a project with an engineer to do some stuff along these lines. So that's where I'm coming from. I want to get a feeling for the sounds down at the low end. I'm not concerned with whether anyone thinks they can hear the difference between 24 and 32 bit recording. |
#2
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-recording,rec.audio.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Take 2: Recording at different bit depths/sample rates
On Wed, 02 Jan 2008 04:00:16 -0700, Ty Roberts wrote:
I want to experiment with different bit depths and sample rates, to get a feeling for how the sound qualities vary as the bit depths and sample rates get down into the low end (below 16 bit sound). I have a computer/studio setup with a Firewire 410 interface. I can do recordings into my sequencer, but it defaults to 24 bit and I think the only other choice is 16 bit. I want to do lower bit depths than that. OK. Well, Audacity is great, considering it's free! But it isn't stuffed with functions that most users wouldn't consider useful :-) Soundforge offers only 8 bit, and 4 fixed sample rates down to 8KHz in the "sub-prime" range. I seem to remember Wavelab offers a greater selection, but it isn't handy so I can check. |
#3
Posted to rec.audio.pro,rec.audio.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Take 2: Recording at different bit depths/sample rates
Ty Roberts wrote:
I want to experiment with different bit depths and sample rates, [snip] I took a look at Audacity, but it seems to only support 32 bit, 24 bit, and 16 bit. Audition supports a lot of output formats .... get the demo! So that's where I'm coming from. I want to get a feeling for the sounds down at the low end. I'm not concerned with whether anyone thinks they can hear the difference between 24 and 32 bit recording. That difference can be very obvious .... O;-) ... assuming of course that steps are taken to prevent overload of the playback hardware. Kind regards Peter Larsen |
#4
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-recording,rec.audio.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Take 2: Recording at different bit depths/sample rates
Ty Roberts wrote:
I want to experiment with different bit depths and sample rates, to get a feeling for how the sound qualities vary as the bit depths and sample rates get down into the low end (below 16 bit sound). I took a look at Audacity, but it seems to only support 32 bit, 24 bit, and 16 bit. Have a look at sox. It's a commmand line "Swiss army knife" tool for converting between different audio file formats. You should be able to convert at least to 8 bit depth, with or without dither (which you should certainly investigate if you want to learn something useful) and will convert between different sampling rates. You can also get bit depth reduction by reducing the level, storing e.g. as .WAV, reloading and increasing the level back to original. You lose 1 bit per 6 dB level reduction. you can do that with Audacity using the "amplification" tool. Anahata |
#5
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-recording,rec.audio.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Take 2: Recording at different bit depths/sample rates
On Wed, 02 Jan 2008 04:00:16 -0700, Ty Roberts wrote:
I'm starting a new thread about this because I apparently didn't make my question clear enough the first time. I want to experiment with different bit depths and sample rates, to get a feeling for how the sound qualities vary as the bit depths and sample rates get down into the low end (below 16 bit sound). I have a computer/studio setup with a Firewire 410 interface. I can do recordings into my sequencer, but it defaults to 24 bit and I think the only other choice is 16 bit. I want to do lower bit depths than that. I took a look at Audacity, but it seems to only support 32 bit, 24 bit, and 16 bit. Bit depths higher than 16 bits are not interesting to me at this point. I already know what they sound like. I'm only interested in going down from 16 to lower bit depths and slower sample rates, the range that would be considered unsuitable for recording. I'm really interested in getting a feeling for the qualities of the sound in this lower range. If a 16bit file contains only 12 bits of information it will practically be the same as a 12 bit file. This is what some of the earlier replies about reducing the volume were getting at. As you might know, 12 bit samplers like the SP-1200 and some of the older Akai machines, etc, are still very popular with Hip Hop musicians. This vintage gear in many cases sells for more than current gear with "better specs." They don't want better specs. They want the grungy 12-bit sound of an SP-1200. Some people writing for severely constrained gadgets are playing with the lower limits of bit depth and sample rate. In many cases, they're going below 8 bit sound. I'm gearing up for a project with an engineer to do some stuff along these lines. SP-1200 is 12bit 22KHz. You should be able to resample to 22KHz in audacity I think. What you might find is that a properly converted 16bit 44.1Khz to 12bit 22Khz does not sound as grungy as you might hope. It might just sound noisy and muffled. I bet EMU allowed some aliasing in the SP-1200 to get a bit of brightness despite the low sampling rate. Many people disable the VCFs too to get even more aliasing. There are some bit and sample rate reduction plugins that do a really nasty aliasy conversion. The Waldorf D-pole VST plugin is my normal tool for this kind of thing. I'm sure there are many others. CMT Bitcrusher looks interesting for free. So that's where I'm coming from. I want to get a feeling for the sounds down at the low end. I'm not concerned with whether anyone thinks they can hear the difference between 24 and 32 bit recording. Don't worry too much about the actual file bit depth. If you want it as an effect, keeping the file 16/44.1 and using bit reduction effect plugins will be more versatile. |
#6
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-recording,rec.audio.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Take 2: Recording at different bit depths/sample rates
On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 06:00:16 -0500, Ty Roberts wrote
(in article ): I'm starting a new thread about this because I apparently didn't make my question clear enough the first time. I want to experiment with different bit depths and sample rates, to get a feeling for how the sound qualities vary as the bit depths and sample rates get down into the low end (below 16 bit sound). I have a computer/studio setup with a Firewire 410 interface. I can do recordings into my sequencer, but it defaults to 24 bit and I think the only other choice is 16 bit. I want to do lower bit depths than that. I took a look at Audacity, but it seems to only support 32 bit, 24 bit, and 16 bit. Bit depths higher than 16 bits are not interesting to me at this point. I already know what they sound like. I'm only interested in going down from 16 to lower bit depths and slower sample rates, the range that would be considered unsuitable for recording. I'm really interested in getting a feeling for the qualities of the sound in this lower range. As you might know, 12 bit samplers like the SP-1200 and some of the older Akai machines, etc, are still very popular with Hip Hop musicians. This vintage gear in many cases sells for more than current gear with "better specs." They don't want better specs. They want the grungy 12-bit sound of an SP-1200. Some people writing for severely constrained gadgets are playing with the lower limits of bit depth and sample rate. In many cases, they're going below 8 bit sound. I'm gearing up for a project with an engineer to do some stuff along these lines. So that's where I'm coming from. I want to get a feeling for the sounds down at the low end. I'm not concerned with whether anyone thinks they can hear the difference between 24 and 32 bit recording. In addition to what's been posted, there are also plugins; once called "bit crusher" comes to mind. The challenge you face certainly has somewhat to do with bit depth, but more importantly, perhaps, what chips and algorithms were used. In other words, different mfgrs use different ingredients to bake their cakes. If you want the "Akai Sound", simply going for the same bit depth may not give it to you. Regards, Ty Ford --Audio Equipment Reviews Audio Production Services Acting and Voiceover Demos http://www.tyford.com Guitar player?:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RZJ9MptZmU |
#7
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-recording,rec.audio.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Take 2: Recording at different bit depths/sample rates
"Ty Roberts" wrote ...
I'm starting a new thread about this because I apparently didn't make my question clear enough the first time. I want to experiment with different bit depths and sample rates, to get a feeling for how the sound qualities vary as the bit depths and sample rates get down into the low end (below 16 bit sound). Others have already explained how you can reduce 16-bit audio to any smaller bit-depth simply by attenuation. Did you miss that info? |
#8
Posted to rec.audio.pro,rec.audio.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Take 2: Recording at different bit depths/sample rates
"Peter Larsen" wrote in news:017a3afd$0$30254
: Ty Roberts wrote: I want to experiment with different bit depths and sample rates, [snip] I took a look at Audacity, but it seems to only support 32 bit, 24 bit, and 16 bit. Audition supports a lot of output formats .... get the demo! Audition supports "all of them". You can specify the sampling rate from single digits to megahertz and bit depth by any number of bits from 2 to 32. What you'll find is that as you decrease bit depth, noise levels increase, and as you decrease sampling rate, high frequencies disappear. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Recording Bit and Sample Rates | Pro Audio | |||
Recording at different bit depths/sample rates | Pro Audio | |||
Recording at different bit depths/sample rates | General | |||
Confused About MP3 Sample Rates | Pro Audio | |||
Combining different sample rates | Pro Audio |