32 Bit Float

[boogiemotel]

Does this setting in session setup mean you are recording 32bit audio ? or is just the mixer changing to 32bit float ?
A standard PT converter cannot record at 32 bit so, what does this setting mean to us ?

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by boogiemotel

Does this setting in session setup mean you are recording 32bit audio ? or is just the mixer changing to 32bit float ?
A standard PT converter cannot record at 32 bit so, what does this setting mean to us ?

It means you are recording 32bit audio and while no converter on earth is outputting 32bits, it does make your entire audio path "32bit clean" as far as processing goes.

Does it matter enough to justify the drive space and processing power? If you're doing rock, pop, hip hop, r&b, edm? HIGHLY doubt it.

[drumzalicious]

Originally Posted by dmazurek

It means you are recording 32bit audio and while no converter on earth is outputting 32bits, it does make your entire audio path "32bit clean" as far as processing goes.

Does it matter enough to justify the drive space and processing power? If you're doing rock, pop, hip hop, r&b, edm? HIGHLY doubt it.

thats not necessarily true as an example was shown online a while ago how it can help with something as simple as clipped audio. With 32bit float the audio was able to be reduced in gain and still sound perfectly fine. In 24bit it just stayed sounding terrible. That is something that's beneficial no matter what genre of music you're doing.

[originalscottyg]

If that's the demo I'm thinking of, it showed audio purposely clipped inside of Pro Tools with clip gain, then bounced out at both 32 bit float and at 24 bit. Then the 2 clipped and bounced audio files were reimported then attenuated with clip gain. The 32 bit float file maintained the original headroom of the audio and the clipping was eliminated by lowering the clip gain, while in the 24 bit file, the clipping was permanent and couldn't be removed by attenuation.

If the incoming audio clips the converters, there is no way to simply reduce the level to eliminate the clipping, even at 32 bit float. It will only work with audio that is clipped in the box in the digital domain. It seems like the consensus is to track at 24 bits then change the session setup to 32 bit float for mixing and outputting.

[WernerF]

Originally Posted by drumzalicious

thats not necessarily true as an example was shown online a while ago how it can help with something as simple as clipped audio. With 32bit float the audio was able to be reduced in gain and still sound perfectly fine. In 24bit it just stayed sounding terrible. That is something that's beneficial no matter what genre of music you're doing.

That's really only important if you are careless with proper gain staging techniques during your recording process. If watch your levels during recording you will have no need to clean up any distorted files. Also, it's only files that were distorted in the digital domain that can be turned down by 33 bit audio files. Anything that has been distorted outside of the digital domain cannot benefit from the 32 bit feature.

[feliponk]

http://duc.avid.com/showpost.php?p=1996151&postcount=24

[deadshot]

I record all in 32bit float, not because of gain staging but the flexibility for mastering. I'm hearing more and more major metal and scene records with digital distortion clipping through. A great example is the Devil wears Prada Death Throne. That record is filled with it and Adam D knows his stuff but it was either mastered poorly or it was too Hot at mix. I'd prefer to do it right the first time for the client.

[WernerF]

That sounds like it's the mastering guys fault. If there's no clipping on the actual session there's only one person left in the chain who can make the Master clip. There's no way to protect against bad mastering other than hiring an actual good mastering guy to do the job.

[Piers Gibbon]

Just an idle question - can anyone think of any case in recording my voiceovers where I might get some benefit from 32 floatiness?

[Wolfgang Eller]

Originally Posted by WernerF

That sounds like it's the mastering guys fault. If there's no clipping on the actual session there's only one person left in the chain who can make the Master clip. There's no way to protect against bad mastering other than hiring an actual good mastering guy to do the job.

+1!