ACK!!!
I'm not saying that everyone needs to be recording at 24 bit. But I
find it troublesome when people keep saying 'ah, it doesn't really
matter' when it so clearly DOES. Anyone using a sound devices
recorder, and semi-professional to professional quality mics, and is
recording mid to low range signals at 16 bits, is shooting themselves
in the foot compared to what they could have. It's just that simple.
If you're recording using a $39 radio shack mic, knock yourself out.
But a lot of people on this list are spending money on decent gear,
gear that is capable of 24 bit recording, and I fear that if they
listed to the general gist of this thread, they're going to be
convinced that recording in 24 bits won't get them anything, when it
will.
I just have to say one more time. Nature recordists DO deal with
fairly small dynamic ranges most of the time. This is part of the
problem, in that often, that entire dynamic range is also of lower
level. How many of you recording in 16 bit employ enough gain to get
your loudest sound near zero? I'd bet not many. And if NOT, then you
are not recoding in 16 bits, you're recording in some number less
than that. And as your signal is recorded at a lower level, your
dynamic range is being reduced, and you will be able to hear it, as
the noise floor increased into the dynamic range. This is and was the
main impetus for introducing a 24 bit system, control of and
preservation of a usable dynamic range.
Storage cost has become so low, that I have a hard time believing
people are using that as an excuse. A DVD to backup your sound files
can backup several hours of recordings for twenty cents. A 4 gig
flash card for a 702 is now under $100 and will still record four
hours of 24 bit 48k sound.
As was posted earlier, please do to the sound devices webpage, which
has such a clear audio example of exactly what is being talked about,
that it's hard for me to believe that anyone who has listened to it
is still arguing :)
On May 13, 2007, at 4:21 PM, Marc Myers wrote:
> Exactly right. Most preamps and microphones are too noisy to take
> advantage of 24 bit recording. So record at 16 bit and save space.
> Now when you process the signal, it does not harm to up to 24 bit.
> In fact it can help. Dithering is usually a good thing when it
> comes to processing.
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