Re: [ARSCLIST] Digital File Specs and StoryCorps

["Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 09:29 PM 2008-02-01, Eric Jacobs wrote:

> A more interesting question is whether to use 24-bit or 16-bit
> for transfer of poorly recorded oral histories on cassettes.
> Certainly 24-bit makes a difference on recordings of music,
> even those recorded poorly.  We always do 24-bit transfers,
> even at 44.1/48 kHz SR.  Removal of environment noises in the
> background of the recording will benefit from 24-bit.  Even
> nuances in the speaker's voice will be more apparent at 24-bit.
> However, if the recording is relatively free of background and
> ambient noise, and the words are more important than the
> details of the speaker's voice, then 16-bit transfers can be
> perfectly acceptable.

Hello, Eric,

This is a good question. Our solution to this is to ingest at 24 bits 
because that way we have substantial additional leeway to allow for 
peak levels on the tape without running the risk of digital clipping. 
Many oral histories with peaks come in 6-10 dB below 0 dBFS (some 
even more). If we were doing 16-bit transfers, we'd be tempted to 
re-transfer something that was down almost two bits from full-scale, 
but with 24 bits, we can normalize the level (generally across the 
full file or cassette side) and then use noise-shaped dithering to 
create clean 16 bit files.

In the first few years in this business (1998-2002), all of my ingest 
work was done at 44.1/16, but in 2002 or early 2003, I purchased an 
RME Multiface and haven't looked back. I have re-digitized a few of 
the "crown jewels" of my own collection at the higher resolution, but 
the 44.1/16 transfers I did still hold up well.

Goran Finnberg and the latest reports from the Boston Audio Society 
indicate that 44.1/16 is indistinguishable from higher-resolution 
formats for release. There are good reasons to create material in 
higher resolutions.

One of the major annoyances of the 44.1 kHz sample rate is that it is 
different from the 48 kHz sample rate used in most video applications 
(although some video applications apparently use 32 kHz sampling 
rates). It would have been nice if 48 kHz could have become the standard.

Cheers,

Richard


Richard L. Hess                   email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada       (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.