• LB82
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Topic: Sample rates for hybrid mixing with Adi 8 ds

Hello,

I am a happy owner of 2 Adi 8 ds and an Octamic 2 and I've always recorded and mixed at 44.1 khz/24 bits.
I've recently read all I could about the sample rates topic and came to the conclusion that probably it doesn't make a big difference recording at higher sample rates. But at the same time I think that if converters that go up to 96khz have been designed there must be a reason.

Any Rme users that would like to share their experiences on this? Have you ever went from to 44.1 to higher rates?
I have a hybrid mixing setup, I almost never do time streches or pitch shifting to recorded audio but I usually make 2 or 3 ad/da "trips" while mixing.

Thanks,
Lorenzo

2 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2019-08-29 14:39:58)

  • ramses
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Re: Sample rates for hybrid mixing with Adi 8 ds

I think more important is your personal experience based on testing with your setup (combination of room and equipment). If 88.2 or 96 kHz do not bring audible better results then simply stick to 44.1/24.

It also generates less stress for your system, because fewer data need to be processed in real-time esp if you use many tracks and/or VST/VSTi.

If you have a professional studio and/or your customers expect smth between 88.2/192 for their content, then you have additional requirements / business drivers to work with high resolution audio files.

Some people on recording forums claim, that some of their VST's work audible better with sample rates >= 88.2 kHz.

I can only recommend to test and to find your way somewhere between own experience and other people's expectations.

At the end it won't bring you any advantage to insist on something like 44.1 if your customer is of different opinion, see the current market of hires audio ...

If the work is only for yourself, then you are more flexible in your decisions then you can be pragmatic and simply not do something that doesn't bring you audible advantages.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14

3 Reply by LB82 (edited by LB82 2019-08-29 15:29:23)

  • LB82
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Re: Sample rates for hybrid mixing with Adi 8 ds

ramses wrote:

I think more important is your personal experience based on testing with your setup (combination of room and equipment). If 88.2 or 96 kHz do not bring audible better results then simply stick to 44.1/24.

It also generates less stress for your system, because fewer data need to be processed in real-time esp if you use many tracks and/or VST/VSTi.

If you have a professional studio and/or your customers expect smth between 88.2/192 for their content, then you have additional requirements / business drivers to work with high resolution audio files.

Some people on recording forums claim, that some of their VST's work audible better with sample rates >= 88.2 kHz.

I can only recommend to test and to find your way somewhere between own experience and other people's expectations.

At the end it won't bring you any advantage to insist on something like 44.1 if your customer is of different opinion, see the current market of hires audio ...

If the work is only for yourself, then you are more flexible in your decisions then you can be pragmatic and simply not do something that doesn't bring you audible advantages.

Thanks for answering. I record mostly other people and sometimes myself, no one ever asked me at what sample rate I was going to record, also no mastering engineer ever asked me for a specific sample rate.

Yes I've read many things on forums, also about plug ins working better at higher sample rates. I thought about writing here because I think it's a more serious forum than the ones I usually read and it's specific of the brand of converters I'm using, I thought that maybe some engineer could tell me some first hand info about the converters design.

I think I will try at 48 and see if I notice a difference, going to 88 or 96 only if it's really worth it because I'm on adat connection now and that would mean half the channels of ad/da and all the other consequent setup rearrangements

4 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2019-08-29 16:48:04)

  • ramses
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Re: Sample rates for hybrid mixing with Adi 8 ds

Eventually go MADI, then the amount of vanishing channels at double and quad speed is not so severe.

Not 100% sure but when correlating information heard over the past years:

I would experiment using 88.2 kHz as some people say, that it would create less artefacts when downsampling back to 44.1 / CD quality.

If you produce movies then working with 96/48 might be more applicable as 48 kHz seems to be a defacto standard for DVD's etc.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14
  • LB82
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Re: Sample rates for hybrid mixing with Adi 8 ds

ramses wrote:

Eventually go MADI, then the amount of vanishing channels at double and quad speed is not so severe.

Not 100% sure but when correlating information heard over the past years:

I would experiment using 88.2 kHz as some people say, that it would create less artefacts when downsampling back to 44.1 / CD quality.

If you produce movies then working with 96/48 might be more applicable as 48 kHz seems to be a defacto standard for DVD's etc.

I've heard the 88.2 to 44.1 thing, even if to me it seems like a too "primitive" way of calculating downsampling, meaning that I hoped that a computer can easely calculate 48 to 44.1. Anyway, that might work.

Going madi would mean spending a fortune (for my budget) for a new setup.
I will try 88.2, I'd still have 12 recording channels at the same time which is enough for a drum kit or a full rock band basic tracking