mswlogo;538990 Wrote: > RE: 3) Don't assume attenuation is only achieved shifting things down > digitally. You can have soft full scale data. Read up on Compression > and Expansion. Even if Fading is done purely by digital amplitude why > would you want to operate always "Faded" (attenuated digitally). > >
I need to clear a few things up here: 1) Since the 90's (maybe a bit before) virtually all mixing & mastering has been done on hardware/software Digital Audio Workstations. These devices operate exclusively in the digital domain (but of course can integrate legacy analogue processors via DAC/ADC insert points and analogue sources such as mics via ADC's). 2) In the digital domain there only sample values as raw material. Just numbers. All you can do is change their value up or down. 3) the only way to reduce the level of something in the digital domain is to reduce the sample value. 4) Fade-outs and track-levelling are achieved by reducing sample values. 5) Compression, expansion and limiting also simply adjust sample values (in non-linear ways). None of these are used to achieve a fade-out. A fade-out is exactly the same as reducing the volume on a squeezebox or other device with digital level control. 6) There is no such thing as "soft full scale" - except in the context of a studio processor that prevents clipping of over full-scale digital (basically a type of digital limiter). This is simply a device that lets you run tracks at high digital level (ie maximising the use of the MSB's) thus maximising SNR without risking digital clipping. Nothing to do with fading/balancing. The bottom line is this: apart from tracks that have been limited to hell (loudness wars) the most significant bit is rarely used and the average sample level is well below the top 3 bits... this is true of both individual tracks and the overall mix. So "24-bit" is a complete illusion - in practice the "music" is mostly stuck somewhere in the middle 16 bits! In 16-bit (1980's) you can imagine a similar, but worse, situation... I've used digital mixing desks, processors and DAW's extensively and am very familiar with the issues of managing SNR and sample resolution in practice. -- Phil Leigh You want to see the signal path BEFORE it gets onto a CD/vinyl...it ain't what you'd call minimal... Touch(wired/XP) - TACT 2.2X (Linear PSU) + Good Vibrations S/W - MF Triplethreat(Audiocom full mods) - Linn 5103 - Aktiv 5.1 system (6x LK140's, ESPEK/TRIKAN/KATAN/SEIZMIK 10.5), Townsend Supertweeters, Blue Jeans Digital,Kimber Speaker & Chord Interconnect cables Kitchen Boom, Outdoors: SB Radio ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phil Leigh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=85 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=77725 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
