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#432950 - 10/08/03 05:57 PM

dithering within ProTools

Select Sound
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Registered: 10/08/03
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When bouncing to disk from a 24 bit, 44.1 kHz multitrack session I use Waves L2 on the last insert of my master fader. If I set quantize to 16 bit and apply dither with L2, ProTools still goes through the conversion process, which I choose to convert after bounce. Is L2 responsible for the conversion or is ProTools?

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#432951 - 10/09/03 02:37 AM

Re: dithering within ProTools

AEW
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Registered: 06/04/01
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I get a different answer when asking this same question. But this is how I'm doing it.
Waves L1 dither on master fader.
Dither during bounce
In preferences....disable Digi dithering.

This works

Nick

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#432952 - 10/09/03 12:23 PM

Re: dithering within ProTools

tld
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Registered: 04/02/01
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The dither in the preferences has no affect on Bounce to Disk. The only dither you'll get during the bounce is from whatever dither plugin you use.

When you set the IDR on your L2 to 16 bit, it's dithering to 16 bit, but the output is still 24 bits with empty (zero) bits in the 8 least significant bits. When you tell Protools to bounce to 16 bit, it's only truncating those 8 unused bits...it performs no dither. The 'Convert after Bounce' option simply controls whether Protools will a) Bounce temporarily to 24 bit and trunacate after (the Convert After Bounce option) or b) truncate the unused bits as it's bouncing.

I generally use Convert After to minimize the amount of processing that must take place during the bounce.

Hope this helps.

Tom

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#432953 - 10/11/03 01:14 AM

Re: dithering within ProTools

Loopy C
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My understanding is that the dithering option pertains to Audiosuite plug-ins and bit depth handling in their processing (I would think this is better left on). I too use the Apogee or POWr dither on master fader as I bounce to 16 from 24, works fine.

_________________________
Chris R. Gibson
aka Loopy C
Micworks
Ken Tamplin Mastering

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#432954 - 10/11/03 02:16 AM

Re: dithering within ProTools

AEW
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Registered: 06/04/01
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Loc: Sydney,,AUSTRALIA

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"My understanding is that the dithering option pertains to Audiosuite plug-ins and bit depth handling in their processing (I would think this is better left on). "

This is what I mean. Everyone tells a different story. I uncheck the dither in preferences thinking that I could be dithering twice. So what is the big deal leaving this option checked? (said in the nicest way)

Nick

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#432955 - 10/11/03 02:45 AM

Re: dithering within ProTools

Rail Jon Rogut
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Registered: 08/23/00
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Loc: Los Angeles,CA,UNITED STATES

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Tom & Chris are both correct.

Rail

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#432956 - 10/11/03 07:58 PM

Re: dithering within ProTools

Alécio Costa - Brazil
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Registered: 07/21/02
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I love Power Dither TDM at level 3.

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#432957 - 10/12/03 07:29 PM

Re: dithering within ProTools

Loopy C
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Loc: Valyermo,CA,UNITED STATES

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Quote:

Originally posted by AEW:
"My understanding is that the dithering option pertains to Audiosuite plug-ins and bit depth handling in their processing (I would think this is better left on). "

This is what I mean. Everyone tells a different story. I uncheck the dither in preferences thinking that I could be dithering twice. So what is the big deal leaving this option checked? (said in the nicest way)

Nick

Anytime you run a mathematical operation on a FILE (as Audiosuite is FILE based) you can generate large numbers. Some process needs to handle these extra generated numbers to return to session bit depth. This is the dithering option. With it unchecked these extra numbers are not considered and truncated off. Repeated operations under this circumstance will certainly reduce the amount of original information in file (in other words it will really F it up!). I have never heard of a good reason to have it off unless your goal is to work with 2-bit files (joke implied)
$;\)$

_________________________
Chris R. Gibson
aka Loopy C
Micworks
Ken Tamplin Mastering

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