<quotes fixed by admin> >>>>>>>> I just finished working on a track that consists of 24 bit audio files. I sent it to the guy who is mastering it, but for some technical reason I needed it to be a 16 bit stereo file, so I bounced it without dithering. My thought was that he (the mastering engineer) could apply dithering after he'll do his thing with the eq and dynamics, but he says that you should only apply dithering when you're reducing bit rate and not afterwards. Anybody knows better? ::: ::: ::: Thanks, Aviad >>>>>>>> I would like to hear an answer on this one. I didn't know you could reduce bit depth to 16 bits without dithering. I mean you could truncate but that would be bad... Paul

Paul Stephenson wrote: > <quotes fixed by admin> > > I just finished working on a track that consists of 24 bit audio files. > I sent it to the guy who is > mastering it, but for some technical reason I needed it to be a 16 bit > stereo file, so I bounced > it without dithering. My thought was that he (the mastering engineer) > could apply dithering > after he'll do his thing with the eq and dynamics, but he says that you > should only apply > dithering when you're reducing bit rate and not afterwards. Anybody > knows better? > ::: ::: ::: > Thanks, > Aviad > > > I would like to hear an answer on this one. I didn't know you could > reduce bit depth to 16 bits without dithering. I mean you could > truncate but that would be bad... Only if you hear it as being bad. However I wouldn't have much faith in a mastering studio that say they must have 16 bit files. Dithering should be the last step, so my gut feeling is he is talking out of his 2bit a***. If he (a) needs 16 bit but (b) then can't do the conversion or (c) give you good advice about it then (d) please go elsewhere for mastering -- Pete Thomas www.petethomas.co.uk Logic Tutorials, Hints, Tips, free Icons, Environments EXS Instruments (donationware) ***Please support my trek in the Andes in aid of APEC*** ***info & sponsorship: http://www.justgiving.com/petethomas***

Thank you so much guys. Please don't shoot my mastering engineer, it was all my fault due to some issues with the file size and my misconceptions about dithering. I'll now find a way to get it to him as 24 bit. ::: ::: ::: Aviad

> > I would like to hear an answer on this one. I didn't know > > you could reduce bit depth to 16 bits without dithering. I > > mean you could truncate but that would be bad... > > Only if you hear it as being bad. > > However I wouldn't have much faith in a mastering studio that > say they must have 16 bit files. Dithering should be the last > step, so my gut feeling is he is talking out of his 2bit a***. Harsh but fair... any type of compression is going to raise the dither-noise floor (dithering uses random noise to toggle the least significant bits and give the impression of more dynamic range) and produce artifact heavy results, bad. Any mastering engineer who uses digital *at all* should know this. Dithering should only be used after the last dsp process. I wouldn't use any mastering engineer who wanted a dithered 16bit (or truncated for that matter!) file to master as the resultant mix would be less than 16 bit in effect (think about it). Hope this helps, Mike

> Harsh but fair... any type of compression is going to raise the dither-noise > floor (dithering uses random noise to toggle the > least significant bits and give the impression of more dynamic > range) and produce artifact heavy results, bad. Any mastering > engineer who uses digital *at all* should know this. Dithering > should only be used after the last dsp process. I wouldn't use > any mastering engineer who wanted a dithered 16bit (or truncated > for that matter!) file to master as the resultant mix would be > less than 16 bit in effect (think about it). I agree that files should go for mastering with 24 bits. Noiseshaped dither *should* be the last process (if you want it). But *if* you do reduce bitrate at any stage then you should always dither. Truncation or rounding always ends up with less dynamic range then if you dither first. Steve Parker. ----------------------------------------------------------------- LUG Group Buy for Serato's Pitch n' Time LE until June 14th! See http://logic-users.org/groupbuy/serato for full details