Bit Depth and Sample Rate and Audio File Type

[gavriil1]

Guys, new to PT (sorry for the flood of threads, so much to learn).

What should I know about the above three items? Bit Depth and Sample Rate and Audio File Type

About the first two:

I understand that the higher the number the better the sound fidelity. Correct?

Yes OK larger file sizes but I dont care. Storage is cheap in my opinion even for SSD storage which I use for my sessions. So file size is not a limitation for me.

I also understand that when I bounce to disk as MP3, the sample rate goes down to 41 or so. OK. That's an MP3 limitation.

But my main question is: When I start a new session, having as a goal the absolute highest quality of sound, should I just simply chose the highest numbers for both Bit Depth and Sample Rate?

Secondly, why does the 32 bit only, have the word FLOAT next to it? What does that mean? And why is it not next to 24 or 16?

Also, when should I choose WAV as opposed to AIFF file type? What are the repercussions?

Finally, what about Interleaved vs not?

[C]

Massive topic. I'd suggest looking into a book about Digital Audio and recording techniques to get the best and and deepest information but here's some cliff notes for you.

Samplerate: CD Audio is 44.1kHz 16bit, if your end game is a CD then try to use whole multiples of these to avoid too much rounding error in processing. 88.2khz, 176.4khz.

Bit depth: This will essentially determine how much amplitude information is recorded and consequently affect the 'headroom' available to you on a per track basis but also on a project basis. Higher bit depth means higher headroom. Lots of discussion (and arguments) around here about dithering etc but promised you the cliff notes and that what these are.

32-bit float - (http://www.dspguide.com/ch28/4.htm)

Wave vs AIFF - I tend to prefer WAVE and Broadcast WAVE at that due to the abundance of metadata that is kept.

Interleaved - Traditionally Pro Tools has not been able to deal with interleaved files, this is new in v10. If you are sending your sessions to someone with PT9 they will not be able to open it if you've used interleaved files.

So to answer in completely simplistic terms your question:

But my main question is: When I start a new session, having as a goal the absolute highest quality of sound, should I just simply chose the highest numbers for both Bit Depth and Sample Rate?

Music absolute highest quality : 176.4 kHz, 32-bit float

This really is a huge topic and it seems like you are a beginner to digital audio not just Pro Tools. I cannot stress how important researching (and not just internet research) will be to you going forward.

I hope that I've managed to help and not cause any further problems.

Ceri

[gavriil1]

Thanks. I knew that this question, although basic-sounding, hides a ton of knowledge behind it. But I am a pragmatist and a bottom line guy. Meaning:

How would my work be heard? Probably via MP3s on people's iPhones, etc. And CDs cos my mother still does not listen to music on her phone, just the old CD player. But I want the best PT and my Mbox3 can do with respect to audio quality.

Do I still use 96 kHz and 32-bit float?

About interleaved, understood about the compatibility however, do I gain sth when I check it?

[C]

You don't gain anything from interleaved other than fewer files created when using multichannel.

If it were me, I'd go for 88.2khz and 32bit. I'd also look to rerecord into Pro tools rather than bouncing out, mostly for the ability to punch into the master then rather than having to rebounce the entire song.

Then do the MP3/MP4 conversion outside of Pro Tools.

Ceri

[Craig F]

32 bit when recording only wastes drive space, your A to D Converter is 24 bit at best and more likely only 20 bit of usable resolution
now switching from 24 to 32 for mixing makes some sense

[chrisdee]

Originally Posted by gavriil1

I want the best PT and my Mbox3 can do with respect to audio quality.

Do I still use 96 kHz and 32-bit float?

Sampling rate is just a part of the picture.
The quality of your room, converters, microphone and preamp is equally if not more important.

Since the Mbox is usb i think you might struggle with large 96khz sessions.

Have you tried 96khz ?