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Mitch Gallagher wrote a great article about sample rates on Sweetwater:

http://www.sweetwater.com/insync/7-things-about-sample-rate/
#906 Posted Thu 22 Oct, 2015 12:24 pm
Good stuff!
#907 Posted Thu 22 Oct, 2015 4:17 pm
I record at 48Khz which is out of step with just about every studio as far as I know, I always have done this even when recording at 16 bit. It was interesting to see that originally pro audio was set to 48 and consumer to 44 so as to protect the product from easy theft in the early days. Makes you wonder how many decisions are based on this type of mindset over what is quality, I'd say it gets more thought than the later.

I didn't know film mostly uses 48Khz so that was interesting, thanks for sharing.
#908 Posted Thu 22 Oct, 2015 4:52 pm
Nice read. Thanks for posting!
#909 Posted Fri 23 Oct, 2015 1:11 am
Like Goodvibes, I work in 48Khz 24-bit for my own projects.
#910 Posted Fri 23 Oct, 2015 5:51 am
That's interesting, so if I work in 44.1Khz, which I normally do, and then Andrew and Xan use 48Khz what happens when we load our files and mix them together? Or doesn't it matter? Should we have a sample rate on the project brief?

Good post Ryan :)
#911 Posted Fri 23 Oct, 2015 6:00 am
That's interesting, so if I work in 44.1Khz, which I normally do, and then Andrew and Xan use 48Khz what happens when we load our files and mix them together? Or doesn't it matter? Should we have a sample rate on the project brief? Good post Ryan :)

Originally posted by Vuya on Fri 23 Oct, 2015

Funny you should mention that, Steve. It actually come up recently and if you check the project settings you'll see a few new options there to help out :)

As for what happens when you mix it all together, and someone smarter can correct me because I'm no geniuz, but I believe the audio would have to be converted to the project (DAW) sample rate setting when its imported - I'm speculating here, but if the sample rates were different wouldn't it effect the speed of the tracks when played back together? Cubase does all this for me automatically so I never bother to give it much thought. How much this effects quality though, I'm not sure. From what I read, its a calculation heavy process but not a big deal with modern DAWs. But I believe it would be a much better strategy to have everyone contribute audio at the same sample rate and bit depth. Maybe someone with actual knowledge could let us know more.
#912 Posted Fri 23 Oct, 2015 6:43 am
Thanks Lee, just had a look on the project brief: sample rate and bit rate - excellent, that solves that part :)

I would imagine, as you say, it has to be better if everyone works at the same rate/depth - hopefully someone will be able to shed some light...........
#913 Posted Fri 23 Oct, 2015 7:18 am
Like I stipulated I work in 48 Khz for my own projects but when I work for someone else, I setup my DAW at 44.1 Khz because it's what people choose in general. I, personally, feel a difference at 48 Khz. It just sounds better.
Some people could have problems of speeds if their DAW don't convert the sample rate automatically.
Of course, a 44.1Khz file converted in 48 Khz, won't sound better, only its speed will be adjusted.
#914 Posted Fri 23 Oct, 2015 11:14 am
Hello guys.

The bit depth and bit rate is a way to say in words, how we transform the analog signal, to digital.
Long story short, Sample rate is the number of audio samples a computer records a given signal (vocals or guitar etc.) per second. It’s time relative. For example 44.1kHz is equal to 44,100 samples of audio recorded every second.

The human ear is to perceive a maximum range between 20Hz to 22.5kHz. That is the range of sound we can hear. Anything lower you feel and anything higher you just won’t hear. In the digital domain we double that frequency and we have an excellent representation of our analogue sound which is 44.100Hz / 44.1KHz.

44.1kHz - Sample rate for CD
48kHz - Sample Rate for Video
88.2kHz - Twice the sample rate for CD
96kHz - Twice the sample rate for video
176.4kHz - High quality HD audio
192kHz - Highest quality HD audio

The bigger the sample rate the bigger the data.
There is no need for audio application to use 48Khz.

The bit rate, 16 or 24, the how precise the sample can it be. Hense, how many bits / sample we have, and it directly corresponds to the resolution of each sample. 16 is the normal and HiFi signal used for commercial products like CDs. 24 is for DVD's and Bluray applications, although in studio recordings 44.1/24 is commonly use in order to have more high resolution recordings of your audio.

That's it for me in order to help you guys in your questions.

ILIAS GOGAKIS
Professional Mixing and Mastering Engineer
BA (Hons) Audio and Music Technology
#1056 Posted Sat 02 Jan, 2016 1:55 am
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