a tutorial explaining this in some detail (or any) would be great and things like export settings etc.
Here’s what I know about dithering…
Dithering is used when you’ve used audio files in your project that are 24bit or higher than the CD standard resolution.
(CD Standard is a resolution 16bit and a sample rate of 44,100 samples per second)
In a nutshell, dithering smooths out the quantization distortion by using noise that is inserted into the signal path.
So say for instance, you use 24bit samples for your a few elements like your drums. If you were to bounce your project without using dithering, you will find that your bounce will sound harsh compared to the original version. The reason this happens is because truncating audio from 24bit to 16bit creates quantization noise which is noise inserted into the signal path. Dithering is needed because it smooths or “blends” in the distortion noise that is created during the truncating process.
Think of it like Photoshop where you have a rough jagged image and you use a smoothing tool to make the edges more attractive to look at.
As a best practice, (although I haven’t mastered very many of my own tracks) I dither to be on the safe side. Also what you could do is bounce a few versions with and without it to see which one sounds better.
Hope that helps!
Awesome, J!
With Phil’s permission I’d like to post a link to perhaps the best explanation of dither I could find in my digital domain travels. Can I post a link to a manual guide with sound files? It isn’t a competitor, I’m sure. It’s a VST plug site.
J
yeah cool… go for it!
Super!
Go to the bottom of the page on this link and you’ll find the guide and sound file links for download. Great explanation!
[url]http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/[/url]