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Re: 24 bit vs. 16 bit

Subject: Re: 24 bit vs. 16 bit
From: "Rob Danielson" danielson_rob
Date: Mon May 14, 2007 6:42 am ((PDT))
A couple of theories have been proposed that could be very
interesting to hear demonstrated. I can think of environments that
are rich with fairly loud, sustained sounds but most of them seem to
be man-made. A field of bees is a natural one, whistling wind,
perhaps some formations of moving water. To test the idea that an 8
bit recording could be sufficient, one could take a file with a
narrow dynamic range, if necessary, normalize the file to create
realistic field saturations like -12dB peaks, truncate it to 8 bits,
do some EQ with gain boosting and compare this 8 bit file to the 16
bit version handled the same way. Rob D.

At 10:17 AM +0000 5/14/07, Raimund Specht wrote:
>Hi Mark,
>
>Sure, even 8 bits could be an adequate bit depth under certain
>circumstances...
>
>The fact that ATRAC and MP3 very often do not much affect the
>subjective sound quality of nature recordings is an indication for the
>low dynamic range that is actually in such recordings. Both ATRAC and
>MP3 internally reduce the bith depth for certain frequency intervals
>even below 8 bits.
>
>Reagrds,
>Raimund
>
>  "Mark R." <> wrote:
>>
>>  But that does not mean that you
>>  need to initailly record in 24 bit!
>>
>>  this begs the question of why not record at 8 bits then dither up?
>>
>>  Mark R.
>>
>>
>>  On 5/14/07, John Hartog <> wrote:
>>  >
>>  >   I must agree with you Tim.
>>  >
>>  > Since DVDs and hard drive space are cheap these days and still gettin=
g
>>  > cheaper, I say whenever you can, record in the highest bit depth your
>>  > equipment is capable of.
>>  > Even so, many great recordings have been made on MiniDiscs in
>>  > compressed Altrac formats so do not be discouraged if that is the bes=
t
>>  > you have to work with.
>>  > And sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice bit depth for longer
>>  > recording time in order to increase the chances of getting the
>>  > recording sought. With my HiMD recorder I sometimes record one 1GB
>>  > disc through night in HiSP mode so not to miss anything while I sleep=
,
>>  > and then switch to PCM with a fresh disc just before dawn.
>>  >
>>  > John Hartog
>>  >
>>  > > 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 file=
s
>>  > > 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.


--
Rob Danielson
Peck School of the Arts
Department of Film
University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee




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