16bit or 24bit, 44.1 or 48, how should I operate?

[hilliard]

I'm doing pop/r&b/dance tunes (drum-machines/synths/workstations and vocals..some multi-layered background vox).

Also, I'm using the mBox with an emachines m6810 (AMD Athlon 64) +3200 laptop with the stock 512MB memory.

As mentioned, the sound sources are sequencer/workstations (Roland XP-50, Korg Triton, etc), drummachines (some oldies like the Linn LM-1, Roland CR-8000, E-mu SP-12, SCI Drumtraks, etc), and alot of different synths (Juno's, Moogs, XP-50/JV-2080/JD-800, etc), and good 'ole "analog" human vocals (hehe).

What should I be using for my new sessions, 16-bit or 24-bit, and 44.1 or 48 sampling rates?

A few production partners are using the digi002 rack (and 001) with mac G4 and G5 systems. I think they might be using the higher settings (some that are not even possible on the mbox), maybe because they are available, or maybe because they also do some film/video production (i hear that the higher settings are better/required for those apps).

Will I still be ok working with their projects/sessions, if we have differing settings? We plan to swap sessions back and forth on some tunes, adding tracks and overdubs, etc as we go.

What's best for my setup/situation?

What's best (if different from the first answer) for our common working arrangment on these shared sessions/tunes?

Thanx so much for any info/advice.

[myfm]

Most people work at 24 bit 44.1 - for better sound quality when working but it's really up to you.

However, if you're working with other people and transfering files, you'd want to work at whatever resolution they're using.

[nukmusic]

Well 24/48(or 16/48) because some of your sessions may one day get mixed on analog consoles.

[tele_player]

There's certainly a debate about sample rate, but there's no good reason not to use 24 bit. Disk space is cheap, and CPU load is essentially the same (except for possible side-effects of 50% greater disk I/O)

[hilliard]

Ok, one more question, tho':

What about the +6 or +12 fader choice? (I hope this is right, I'm at work and can't recall the exact text for the selction on the the new session creation).

Oh yeah, if I choose anything besides 16bit and 44.1, I'll need to do some conversions when burning an audio CD of my tunes, right? If so, is it still better to work in the higher bit and higher rate environment?

Sorry for the "dumb" questions.....I'm REEEEEAAAAAALLLLLYYYYY new to this.

[bigbubbaj]

I use 24/48 99% of the time. Works great, sounds great.

Funny thing, I am remixing and re tracking some stuff for a client that was originally recorded at another studio on PTLE at 16/44.1 and at 64 buffer size got an UNDERFLOW. LOL.