Recording at 48k, Singer at 44.1

[quicksticks4]

Hey guys:

I'm doing some remote tracking for a singer who sent me scratch tracks and mentioned that she had recorded at 44/1k so that I need to record my drums at the same setting for when I send the files back to her. I normally record at 48/24. When I drop my system down to 44.1/16 I get some strange distortion during playback. So I have 2 questions..

1. Is it true that I actually need to track at 44.1/16 even if I'm just sending along bounced wav files that will be imported into her session?

2. What could be causing this distortion when i drop down to 44.1/16? My instinct is that it has to be something regarding clock source, but my troubleshooting has resulted in no progress.

System: 2015 Macbook Pro running Pro Tools 12.7.1 Interface is an Apogee Ensemble with a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 running in optical. Clock source is set internal to the Ensemble. When dropping system to 44.1 I change both interfaces and keep the clock source internal for the Ensemble.

[JFreak]

Hi, welcome to the community.

You absolutely do not have to revert to 16bit! Just set your session how you like it, import the guide track, record, then bounce your own stuff at whatever sample rate and bit depth you like. At the other end, one just has to do SRC while importing.

[albee1952]

Indeed, bounce or simply export to the settings she needs(and strongly encourage her to change to 24 bit/48K). Explain to her that 24 bit gives LOTS of headroom(a good thing), 48K is what most video wants for audio, Sample rate conversion is now good enough that its a non-issue and the hit on system power is negligible

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Explain to her that 24 bit gives LOTS of headroom(a good thing)

Yes. To be more specific:

- 24bit WAV has 144dB dynamics
- typical A/D converter has 120dB dynamics
- 16bit WAV has 96dB dynamics

...therefore if you have 16bit recording, you need to "hit red" to maximise the resolution you can get from the converter. On the other hand, 24bit recording has +20dB headroom below "red"