First off, when you record you really want 24 bit and at least 44.1Khz. Garageband can do this (they call it Audio Resolution in the Preferences). I don't think it does anything higher than 44.1. Again, you can get great recordings at 44.1Khz and 24bit.

A pro mic is NOT going to help anything connected to a crappy preamp and recorder. It really depends on what exactly you are hooking up to what. A Nuemann 87 hooked to a crappy recorder probably isn't going to sound any better than a Shure 57.

I would think that the weak link in your setup is the un-named 8 track 44.1khz/16bit machine. I've done a number of projects with previous versions of Band in a Box recording at 44.1Khz and 24 bit that sound great. And the band in a box files where generated via DXi from a Windows Machine saved to WAVE format if I remember correctly. And I don't think we used any high end plugins other than some reverb using Altiverb (I LOVE Altiverb!)

But I hardly think getting the Audiophile version of Band in a Box is going to make things better.....nor going out and buying ProTools either. I'd suggest maybe ditching the 8 track and getting some sort of good USB or Firewire device to hook up to Garageband (if you want to keep using that) or some other program. MOTU hardware comes with their Midi-less version of Digital Performer I believe (audiodesk?) which would probably be totally fine to use (I am a regular Digital Performer user). M-Audio has some good hardware that can be bought for around $100.......

Quote:

HI ed,

Thanks for the reply. I was under the impression(maybe incorrectly.lol) that if you had 2 projects--1 recorded in 44.1khz/16bit and 1 in 96khz/24 bit and you did the final mix and master track, that the 96k would sound a lot better--even on a cd. Someone told me that was because once the projects(tracks) go thru all the compression,effects,etc the 44.1khz ends up being sub par when compared to the 96khz. Again, this may be totally off base--I'm just trying to figure it out. Or in other words--is it possible to get an excellent recording when using 44.1khz/16 bit equipment along with obviously a professional mike? I recently entered a song into a competition. The critique came back that most everything(lyrics,tempo,instruments,etc) were good but the recording was bad. I used biab along with garageband, and an 8 track digital 44.1khz/16 bit recorder. I also used Rokit monitors to listen with. So I'm trying to figure out if it was my inexperience or the quality of the equipment I was using. I know a lot comes into play-like the environment, equipment, vocal quality. etc. That's how I got into thinking about the audiophile realtracks vs the regualr realtracks as far as quality. Thanks Again,
Roger


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