KVR Audio

chaibuka · Post by **chaibuka** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:35 pm

if I use a dithering plugin set to 16 bit on 24 bit wav shouldn't it produce a 16 bit file or how do I get a 16 bit file

voidar · Post by **voidar** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 8:30 pm

Irrespective of the application you are using, can't you choose that when saving/exporting/rendering?

Your ditherer has nothing to do with storing files.

chaibuka · Post by **chaibuka** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:30 pm

thanks

iain_morland · Post by **iain_morland** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:40 pm

dither it down to 16 bit before saving it in your host as a 16 bit file. until you save it it will still appear to be a 24 bit file - this is normal.

the dithering makes it safe to save the file at a lower bit rate because it removes the extra bits, so your host doesn't just truncate those bits when you do save the file at another rate.

for a good explanation (better than this!) visit the ozone site and download their free dithering guide.

TonyC · Post by **TonyC** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:57 am

iain_morland wrote:dither it down to 16 bit before saving it in your host as a 16 bit file. until you save it it will still appear to be a 24 bit file - this is normal.

It actually still is a 24 bit file, but with dither added. It's not 16-bit until you truncate it by saving it as a 16-bit file.

iain_morland wrote:the dithering makes it safe to save the file at a lower bit rate because it removes the extra bits, so your host doesn't just truncate those bits when you do save the file at another rate.

Applying dither does not remove any bits, it just adds random noise. You choose 16-bit dither because you know the target file will eventually be in 16-bit format after dithering and truncation. And talking about bits... it's depth, not rate.

iain_morland · Post by **iain_morland** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:23 am

Apologies, you are quite right TonyC, it's depth not rate!

I see what you mean about dither per se not removing any bits. Sorry, I wasn't clear - I was thinking of Waves L2 which quantises as well as dithers. Elephant can do this also. In those cases, the plugin "removes" the extra bits by setting them all to zero. Still, the host has the final call on the bit depth at which the file is saved.