DJTT Blog Post on Bitrates

[ksandvik]

Ripp Cd at 16 bit 44.100Hz (Cus thats what it is)

Ripp Vinyl at 24 Bit 48hz or higher and use a much better turntable than the Technics.

I used a Linn Sondek LP 12... and custom DAC.


Producing dance music (Electronic) 24 bit 48hz anything over this is overkill.

I'm a mastering engineer of quality dance music and the above is fine..... so long as it has no been limited or compressed on the final mix bus or dithered and must have at least -3db headroom if you send to mastering dudes like me.

Yes, totally agree. If I would record a good singer, let's say Corinne Bailey Rae, in a stop-notch studio with the best possible mic setups and acoustics and a beefy computer rig and agood ADC/DAC converters, I would use 96kHz.

For most if not all electronic dance productions, 96kHz is not needed at all, 41.1/48k is fine. But 24 is a must, you could even hear yourself the diff between 16 and 24 bit concerning the dynamic range. That is then of course squeezed out in modern EDM with all the compressors placed in the channel strips and final mix, using loops that are already compressed and 16-bit samples... Ouch.

Or. Striving for perfection does not make sense when the original material and the processing will squeezed out the fine parts of the audio stream, anyway. The only result is a slower computer due to all the additional CPU and I/O processing.

[djproben]

I'm not just talking about harmonics outside of human hearing, although there's been some tests that have proven they too can have an effect on how we perceive the audio.

Just a nitpick, if you're talking about the Oohashi tests, they were flawed, and follow up research has pretty much debunked that claim. See http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=10005 and http://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/publica/labnote/lab486.html for instance.

[SirReal]

Just a nitpick, if you're talking about the Oohashi tests, they were flawed, and follow up research has pretty much debunked that claim. See http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=10005 and http://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/publica/labnote/lab486.html for instance.

I wasn't but thanks for the links. Always interesting to see the results of tests like that. No, my reference was to the harmonics of tones that still fall within the range of human hearing.

[loverocket]

Ripp Cd at 16 bit 44.100Hz (Cus thats what it is)

Ripp Vinyl at 24 Bit 48hz or higher and use a much better turntable than the Technics.

Are you really putting down a Technics 1200 ?

I know that you want to get out meters and talk technical junk but I really don't think you could ever say anything negative about a Technics 1200 without sounding like an idiot to me.

I would like a Technics 1200 in my casket please.

Respect.

>

[djproben]

I really don't think you could ever say anything negative about a Technics 1200 without sounding like an idiot to me.

It hurts when you drop it on your foot?

[loverocket]

It hurts when you drop it on your foot?

hurts so good.

>

[ekwipt]

I've read that people trying to up-sample on Traktor on the with 16/44 to 24/48 causes bad sound, can anyone chime in on that?

I only use 16/44 files in Traktor, I've been a big supporter of no MP3s in my DJ sets, mostly for what the article talks about, future proofing, MP3s shouldn't be used anymore.

[djproben]

I've read that people trying to up-sample on Traktor on the with 16/44 to 24/48 causes bad sound, can anyone chime in on that?

I think on slower computers it can be distorted because it's more processer intensive. The hardware makes a difference; some sound cards aren't quite as graceful about different rates as others.

This http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html is a good article on why anything above 16/44 is overkill and could actually distort the sound by bringing in artifacts. Producing is one thing but for recording vinyl or listening to music there's no point. I might sometimes record in 20/44 ALACs when archiving rare vinyl but I can't imagine I would hear the difference in an ABX.

I only use 16/44 files in Traktor, I've been a big supporter of no MP3s in my DJ sets, mostly for what the article talks about, future proofing, MP3s shouldn't be used anymore.

MP3s are still the only format with decent tag support across a wide range of programs. 320 MP3s are fine as far as I'm concerned sound-wise but if I were to start my music collection all over again I would go lossless. I'm not re-ripping my CDs and vinyl, and I'm certainly not paying dance music stores a premium for lossless. I don't think MP3s are going anywhere, and their sound quality at 320 CBR is well above anything you need for the dancefloor. For archiving other kinds of music I go lossless as often as possible (assuming I am recording off the vinyl or CD) but I see no point in buying WAVs that are hard to deal with tag-wise for over-compressed dance music that may only see a few months of action anyway.

I'm not necessarily advocating this approach btw... my music collection is a total mess of different formats poorly organized etc...

[ksandvik]

AIFFs actually also support metadata tagging. As for WAV format, the chunking could be used but so far no de facto standard has appeared. You could put metadata to WAVs in iTunes but it it stored in the database itself.

Anyway, for WAVs just put most important info into the file name: <artist>-<track>-<bpm>-<style>.wav. Job done.

[Shishdisma]

AIFFs actually also support metadata tagging. As for WAV format, the chunking could be used but so far no de facto standard has appeared. You could put metadata to WAVs in iTunes but it it stored in the database itself.

Anyway, for WAVs just put most important info into the file name: <artist>-<track>-<bpm>-<style>.wav. Job done.

Also, IIRC, outboard music managers like Rekordbox don't use conventional tags, but exports their own metadata compilation.

I think on slower computers it can be distorted because it's more processer intensive. The hardware makes a difference; some sound cards aren't quite as graceful about different rates as others.

This http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html is a good article on why anything above 16/44 is overkill and could actually distort the sound by bringing in artifacts. Producing is one thing but for recording vinyl or listening to music there's no point. I might sometimes record in 20/44 ALACs when archiving rare vinyl but I can't imagine I would hear the difference in an ABX.

Also to my knowledge, this stems from shitty SRCs/SRC algorithms. People knock DJMs for being expensive, but their entire current install line rockets right up to 96khz no problem. And since it's an output, it actually can make a difference, e.g. the AA filter.