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[Ivo]

From now onwards I plan recording and mixing in 96/24. I wonder what would be the best way to get to 44/16, retaing most of the sound quality. The most elegant way seems to be to go down through some analogue "sweetening" (Millennia EQ/comp in my case), to avoid any software SRC recalulations. I am however not sure whether it is better to record the final analogue signal straight to 44/16 or better to 44/24 and then to dither ?
(I use Lavry Blue AD DA).

[lagerfeldt]

Ivo wrote on Sat, 07 January 2006 20:50

record the final analogue signal straight to 44/16 or better to 44/24 and then to dither ? (I use Lavry Blue AD DA).

If the choice is between recording straight to 44.1/16 or 44.1/24 and then dither, I would do the latter.

What kind of dithering are you using? Personally I prefer the POW-r#3.

[bblackwood]

Ivo wrote on Sat, 07 January 2006 13:50

From now onwards I plan recording and mixing in 96/24. I wonder what would be the best way to get to 44/16, retaing most of the sound quality. The most elegant way seems to be to go down through some analogue "sweetening" (Millennia EQ/comp in my case), to avoid any software SRC recalulations. I am however not sure whether it is better to record the final analogue signal straight to 44/16 or better to 44/24 and then to dither ? (I use Lavry Blue AD DA).

Are you sending stuff out to mastering or doing it yourself? If you;re sending it out, your mastering engineer should have SRC's that are virtually invisible...

[Ivo]

bblackwood wrote on Sun, 08 January 2006 01:22

Are you sending stuff out to mastering or doing it yourself? If you;re sending it out, your mastering engineer should have SRC's that are virtually invisible...

I am doing it myself ... Maybe Voxengo r8Brain can do the job ?

Thinking about it, I am now actually not sure whether I can do it within my 8 ch (4AD 4DA) Lavry Blue. Sending 96k signal and receiving (recording) 44k signal. The master unit must be set either to 96 or 44 k.   What do you think ?

[Arf! Mastering]

You can with the Lavry Blue.  The DACs are independant of the Master Clock and ADC modules.  However, you're better off using a high quality software SRC such as Weiss Saracon Light or R8Brain Pro, there will be less degradation than an d/a/d loop; unless you like the inherent sound of the Blue series which has a subtle extra something in the lows.

[Ivo]

AlanS wrote on Sun, 08 January 2006 09:34

However, you're better off using a high quality software SRC such as Weiss Saracon Light or R8Brain Pro, there will be less degradation than an d/a/d loop; unless you like the inherent sound of the Blue series which has a subtle extra something in the lows.

But if I want to do some analogue processing through Millennia, the DA AD path is unavoidable ... I hope Lavry Blue belongs to the higher AD DA league ... People do analogue processing with much lower quality AD DA, yet they usually gain more than they lose ...
R8Brain Pro is, of course, something to consider in any case ...

But my basic question was - if I go through DA AD way, is better (soundwise and headroomwise) to record to 24 bit and dither or directly to 16 bit ?

[Ronny]

Ivo wrote on Sun, 08 January 2006 06:10

AlanS wrote on Sun, 08 January 2006 09:34  However, you're better off using a high quality software SRC such as Weiss Saracon Light or R8Brain Pro, there will be less degradation than an d/a/d loop; unless you like the inherent sound of the Blue series which has a subtle extra something in the lows. But if I want to do some analogue processing through Millennia, the DA AD path is unavoidable ... I hope Lavry Blue belongs to the higher AD DA league ... People do analogue processing with much lower quality AD DA, yet they usually gain more than they lose ... R8Brain Pro is, of course, something to consider in any case ... But my basic question was - if I go through DA AD way, is better (soundwise and headroomwise) to record to 24 bit and dither or directly to 16 bit ?

Keep the material at the highest bit depth, until processing is over and than as a last step reduce word to 16 bit when you are back in the digital domain. For example, you record at 24 bit, no need to dither, the DAC will have enough self noise to dither the 24 bit signal on output in most cases. You process in the Millenia and return the analog signal to 24 bit ADC, your signal never goes below 24 bit resolution, until all processing is finished and you than dither to 16 bit for redbook compatibility. It's probable that your ears would hear no significant difference if you dithered to 16 bit before going to the Millennia and re-entered the digital realm at 24 bit, but you know you won't lose anything if you keep digital material at least at the highest res it was recorded at until all process is finished, including minor gain changes, which you may have to perform after the Millennia and are back in the digital realm.

[bobkatz]

The processes called A/D conversion, D/A conversion and SRC are all Quantization or ReQuantization processes. If you are already going to be processing a digital source  with any analog outboard gear then this is the place to change the sample rate if you wish to, and of course you'll have to capture the new sample rate material in a different DAW or another instance of your DAW with a different sound card.

Today's SRC is definitely more sonically transparent than D/A/D conversion, and preferable if you are NOT doing any analog processing.

BK