Thread: Dither question
View Single Post
Old 03-07-2020, 07:18 PM   #2
Heart Doctor
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Munich
Posts: 241
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy James View Post
... it was recorded in 24, reduced to 16 for mixing, then back to 24, for you to master. And dither was never used.
Dither noise should have been added before truncating to 16 bits. Because the files have been truncated without dither, the quality has been reduced ever so slightly. However, it is unlikely that you will be able to hear the truncation distortion that has been added.

When the recording was brought from 16 to 24 bits, no damage has been done. Dither noise must only be added before reducing the word length.

HOW TO PROCEED:

There is no way to remove the slight damage that has been done to the recording. Adding dither after truncation is useless and only increases the noise floor.

Just don't worry about it. There is no way to repair the damage, and the damage is most likely inaudible anyway. Treat the recording as if it had been processed properly all the time.

After mastering at 24 bits, you only need to add dither noise if you want to reduce the word length. For an audio CD, you must add 16-bit dither noise and then truncate to 16 bits.

MP3, AAC and OGG can be created directly from the 24 bit master without adding dither.
Heart Doctor is online now   Reply With Quote