WAV files 16/24 bit

[NancyJohnson]

I've just been passed a DVD with [i]hundreds [/i]of drum loops in both 16 and 24 bit WAV files. For the record, I'm using Adobe Audition for basic home demoing/arranging (I'm comfortable with the software and don't have plans to change it).

I wondered if anyone can give me a short but concise reason which wavs I should use. Audition supports both...I'm literally dropping guitar/bass parts in, then exporting the final arrangement down to a single stereo mix then saving to 256kbps MP3 for circulating via e-mail. The 24 bit loop files are about 50% larger than the 16 bit versions, but to my ears there's no discernable difference.

Anyone?
Cheers
P

[s1ater]

If it were me I'd always use the higher quality ones just as a matter of principle... The only reason that I can think of for using the 16 bit ones is to preserve disk space which may be an issue in your case.. basically If you have enough space use the 24bit ones

[Skol303]

Use 16 bit if you're burning to CD only.

Otherwise, I'd opt for 24 - the more bits the better!

[NancyJohnson]

Thanks for the input!
P

[EdwardHimself]

Unless you are really desperate for the disk space, might as well use the 24 bit. The number of "bits" in a wav file is how big the data string for each "snapshot" of audio is. It basically determines the dynamic range of your recording. With 0 dB being the "upper limit" to the volume level, 16 bit gives you a noise floor of -96 dB and 24 bit gives you a noise floor of -144 dB. This is all theoretical of course, since you can't really match that sort of dynamic range with the signal to noise ratio of any d/a converter equipment, which is about 124 dB max.
Whether you'll actually hear a difference depends on how the sound has been recorded, how it's been produced and what type of equipment you are using to play it back. A low budget recording played through low budget speakers that has been compressed to hell will not give you any difference between the 16 and 24 bit versions, for example. The advantage of using 24 bit though is that it gives your computer some space to work with when it's encoding the audio down to 16 bit.

Edited January 7, 2012 by EdwardHimself

[brensabre79]

All valid, but CDs are only 16 bit and if you're just making mp3s then I would just use 16 bit because any advantage you get from having a higher bit depth will be lost on an mp3 and you'll fill up your hard drive faster!

I've recorded stuff at 32bit, 24bit and 16bit, and if I have the choice I use 32 bit every time because you never know where it will end up. But if you're just doing demos and running off mp3s 16 bit is perfectly fine.

The best way to describe the difference in bit depth is that the higher you go the closer you get to analogue sound. If you're recording classical music with a huge dynamic range then you need this. For Rock/pop music you're not going to need the dynamic range to be so large.

[krysh]

basic rule: keep one sort of bit resolution in a project.

if you want to modify or stretch files then the higher bit rate allows more manupulation before you get digital artefacts.
if you want better quality also use 24 bit.