floprocker Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 I'm sure this is discussed often throughout this forum, but I couldn't find a straight up answer. I just got an Apogee Duet 2. Been using a Firepod since 2006, recording mostly 1-2 tracks at a time. Thought it time for a change! I've always recorded at 44.1k. The Duet 2 can go to 192k, which seems utterly ridiculous. Where should I be recording? I have an older iMac (2007) and a newer MBP running Logic 9 and OSX 10.7 Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ski Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Stay at 44.1K. Record at 24-bit. Even if you re-visit your tracks 10, 15, 20 years from now, they'll still sound just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 The Duet 2 can go to 192k, which seems utterly ridiculous. If it seems ridiculous... that's because it is. The only reason you see devices offering 192k sampling rate is a marketing reason (if your competitor offers 192k, good luck trying to explain to your customer that your product, which only goes to 96k, is just as good, let alone better). I would recommend 44.1 or 48k. If you're going to use a professional mastering engineer, or your work will end up being a soundtrack for a video, film, trailer, etc.. then use 48. If you're mastering your own stuff and intend to burn some CDs at some point, then work at 44.1k. Should you lose sleep over it? No. Is there a big difference between 44.1 and 48? No. Will spending time learning how to mix be a much better way to spend your time than to wonder whether to use 44.1, 48 or something else? You betcha. And I agree with ski, record in 24 bit (Preferences > Audio). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staleyolk Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Well dave and ski have already been here but heck why not... it all depends on what your doing musically and what-not. If you are recording a lot of live instrumentation or if you mainly arrange with sample library's is an important key factor here. If you are using sound library's you will note that the industry standard for recording these library's at high end studio's is 44.1 or 48k. And these library's sound great! Another thing to think about is if you are using these library's and "up-sampling" them to rates like 96k (which i've never done personally) can bring some noise into your sampling. (correct me if im wrong here guys) On the other spectrum of things if you steer away from virtual instruments and record a lot of live instruments a higher sampling rate can benefit your project. Higher sampling rates are more resource intensive: recording a live orchestra with your core2duo would not end well, but recording an acoustic guitar and vocalist with a couple vocal overdubs would work out quite nice. If it's for music keep it to 44.1 or double it to 88.2 Why? because CD's are at 16 bit 44.1 so your logic sessions for CD's should be at that rate or double it for the sake of down conversion with the least amount of rounding and quantization errors in the final stages of the music production process. If it's for film keep it to 48k or double it to 96k. Why? Easier to match up the music to the video (frame rates etc...) Top Dj's and producer's most deff. use higher sampling rates but they also know how to mix really well. So like ski and david already said work on your mixing. Hope that helps. choosing my sampling rate was a very confusing and troubled time for me. So I can understand what your going through. I'm happy to say though that I'm stronger than ever and am producing at 44.1 Ahhhhhhh and it sounds great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floprocker Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 Thanks guys. I appreciate your help! I mostly track-record original songs that include (real) drums, acoustic instruments, bass (line in) and electric guitars (line in, digital amps). I use a little bit of midi synths and piano, using Reason 5 rewired in. So from what I'm reading, should I start using 88.2? Another question - will my audio files be twice as large? I just want to capture exactly what is played in the cleanest and best way possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bchamorro Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 For example, if you're making electronic music (or any music) and you use samples that are in 44.1 then you should do your whole project in 44.1 someone correct me if I'm wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.