Bit rate

[wgouldsby]

When I am bouncing a project to disk, what is the best bit rate? 16 or 24? I am running Protools 9.0.5 on a Mac (OS 10.8.5). Thanks in advance for your replies.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by wgouldsby

When I am bouncing a project to disk, what is the best bit rate? 16 or 24? I am running Protools 9.0.5 on a Mac (OS 10.8.5). Thanks in advance for your replies.

Depends on where the project is going. I'd keep it at 24 bit until final mixdown and then if you're going to cd dither down to 16 bit at 44.1 KHz.

[wgouldsby]

Thanks for the reply. I am bouncing to disk and once it is there I am importing it into my iTunes library where I will then convert it to an AAC file. Am I on track? Thanks for the speedy reply!

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by wgouldsby

Thanks for the reply. I am bouncing to disk and once it is there I am importing it into my iTunes library where I will then convert it to an AAC file. Am I on track? Thanks for the speedy reply!

Don't know about AAC so I can't answer to that.

[wgouldsby]

How about MP3?

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by wgouldsby

How about MP3?

16 bit would be fine as 24 bit would be overkill

[wgouldsby]

Can you tell the difference by listening? In the AAC format, I can't tell.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by wgouldsby

Can you tell the difference by listening? In the AAC format, I can't tell.

You would need to be listening to an uncompressed format and have good ears to tell the difference.

[wgouldsby]

An uncompressed format would be a wave file, correct?

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by wgouldsby

An uncompressed format would be a wave file, correct?

Yes,(or AIFF on a Mac). In any case, what bit depth is the session? If its already 16 bit, there is nothing to gain by bouncing to 24 bit. My preference is to bounce at the session sample rate/bit depth(and I ALWAYS record at 24 bit for the extra headroom). Then I open the "2 mix" in Wavelab so I can trim the head/tail, add a fade if needed, do any mastering(if the product is not going to an ME) and add dither if I am going to need 16 bit/44.1K for an audio CD. Otherwise, Wavelab is fine for creating mp3 versions from the original file format.