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Joined: Feb 2007
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Joined: Feb 2007
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There was a guy over at FAWM this year that had wonderful sounding recordings and they were super loud! But they didn't seem overly compressed at all. I asked how he got things so loud, but so clean and he said: Thanks so much for the comments on "My Mistake". It is cool to have some feedback as it is definitely a little less palatable in a mainstream sense. In terms of recording, engineering and mastering: I am using pro tools 10.7 (going to switch to 11 very soon) I record at 96 kHz floating 32 bit resolution this does make a huge difference anyone who tells you otherwise simply is not listening to the harmonic series and overtones in their recordings. Then I use a combination of IK Multimedias T-racks master plug-in with the new Steven Slate dynamic FX mastering plug-in in the master fader. The only place that I change the resolution to 16 bit 44100 kHz is the final master and those plug-ins really allow me to get my masters as loud and fat as a commercial mix. I am going to check out your tunes this morning and I will give you some feedback! Any questions on recording and I will be glad to help if I can, it is kind of my thing. Recording at the higher resolutions is all about having "headroom" to compress without affecting dynamics. Sort of off the topic of video vs. audio, but I always feel the need to interject something -- especially when I don't know what I am talking about (ha, ha). I switched to 44.1/24 bit recording and I haven't noticed any differences yet (LOL!). EDIT: Here's a link to his fawm page: http://fawm.org/fawmers/lenigmusx1/ and here is one song: http://fawm.org/songs/38913/
Last edited by Kemmrich; 05/13/14 01:26 PM.
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Joined: Jan 2002
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Josie,
To continue, when you record, you have two things you need to worry about. Sample Rate, and Bit Depth. Today, most recordings are done in either 16 bit or 24 bit, although you will see 32 bit floating once in a while.
Think of a graph for me, please. As we move from left to right in the horizontal plane, we increase our sampling rate. Along with the sampling rate, our highest frequency that can be recorded increases as well. So, as I said before, Nyquist says that the sample rate must be twice that of the highest frequency sampled. Sampling at 48kHz gives you a 24kHz frequency range.
If we move up the graph, we increase our bit depth, which equates to our dynamic range. Remember, Dynamic Range is the range, in decibels, from dead quite to the loudest sound we can record in digital. Each single bit gives us 6dB or range. So, an old 8 bit recorded would give us a total of 48dB of dynamic range. My conversations are in the 55-70dB range, depending on how agitated or excited I am. A standard CD has a bit depth of 16 bits, giving you 96dB of Dynamic range. Twenty four bits will give you a dynamic range of about 144dB, but the thing is, you get into electron flow noise at that level. The gear I work on, our top of the line A/D converter, will top out in the -127 to -130dB range. That's a pretty substantial noise floor, and that's without A-Weighting.
Let's go back and discuss these numbers some, okay?
A rock concert may have SPL, or Sound Pressure Levels in excess of 140dB! That is actually damaging to hearing, but they still do it. Now, if you're recording at 16 bit, you have a 96dB dynamic range. How do you compress 140dB into 96dB? Well, that's pretty easy, actually. You attenuate the input level so that at the maximum SPL you're getting to the maximum of the converter, which is this case is 96dB. Ahhh, but what about the really silent parts? In a straight recording, they may be lost. Subtract 96 from 140, and you have 44dB. Now, that 44dB is your noise floor, not zero. Anything below 44dB is lost. This is where compressors come into play. If you have a compressor before the inputs to your A/D converter, you can squish the sound to get all 140dB of the concert range into a 96dB dynamic range for a CD.
Okay, none of this answered your question earlier, though. If you upsample a 44.1kHz, 16 bit signal to 48kHz, not much is going to happen. You're adding frequency range and bit depth, which are basically zeros. Downsampling, for most people, you will not hear a difference. There are some who will, but most, it's doubtful. Remember that most recordings today are recorded at 96/24, and then downsampled to 44.1/16 for CDs.
I hope this helps you a bit.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Charlie, Herb and Mario, thank you guys, I appreciate all of your insights.
Kevin, Thanks for the info and the link. I really enjoyed listening to that guy.
Gary, Welcome back! Hope you are doing well. We've missed you around here. Thanks for the info.
I think I have a much clearer understanding thanks to all of you. You guys really are great.
Josie
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Hi Josie. I stumbled on this thread while I was searching to 'sample' a 'bit' (pun intended) of your music postings. The point being I stumbled onto "She's in Love" and absolutely loved it. Around here, its known as beach Music and remains popular even today because it creates the beat and sound of the SC state dance, The Shag. There are two local Myrtle Beach stations that feature classic and beach music and play and feature local artists recordings and I'm sure if they had this tune, they would be all over it. You can find streaming of one, 105.3 The Surf on line. You did a really good job on writing, arranging and producing "She's in Love". It's one of my favorites of all the posts I've listened to since joining the forum.
Regards,
Charlie
BIAB 2026:RB 2026, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 10,199
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 10,199 |
Charlie, Herb and Mario, thank you guys, I appreciate all of your insights.
Kevin, Thanks for the info and the link. I really enjoyed listening to that guy.
Gary, Welcome back! Hope you are doing well. We've missed you around here. Thanks for the info.
I think I have a much clearer understanding thanks to all of you. You guys really are great.
Josie
Josie, thanks for the welcome back. I'm alive, I'll give you that.  Things have been better, but hey, I just upgraded to BIAB 2014, so I've got a lot of catching up to do. I would appear, young lady, that you are doing VERY well. I'm so happy for you. Keep it up! Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
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