sample rate conversion 48->44.1 .. my kick is more metallic

[julienb]

hello,
exporting my last track, I found something strange: I'm using a bass drum 808-like, round, bass. It is 44.1khz sample rate.
ok


if I convert it to 48khz, it sounds nice.
if I listen it at 44.1 ... there is a "kind of" aliasing artifact or something that makes it a little bit more metallic...

I found that because I had to import it to soundcloud and I know that 44.1khz is the nominal frequency for this hosting site.



did you already get it with bass drums part ???

[mr.ergonomics]

strange, can you provide a sample? maybe we can figure it out what's wrong.

[julienb]

it is listenable here: http://soundcloud.com/protofuse/binary-digits

there is a difference between the streaming version and the downloadable version.

[3phase]

hello,
exporting my last track, I found something strange: I'm using a bass drum 808-like, round, bass. It is 44.1khz sample rate.
ok


if I convert it to 48khz, it sounds nice.
if I listen it at 44.1 ... there is a "kind of" aliasing artifact or something that makes it a little bit more metallic...

I found that because I had to import it to soundcloud and I know that 44.1khz is the nominal frequency for this hosting site.



did you already get it with bass drums part ???

sure... why not wth the bassdrum part? its a complex and energetic sound...


have you ever compared high end converters with normal good rme or motu ones?

you might be surprised in which freq range they have the biggest benefit

[julienb]

I'm sure you're right.
but in that case, I only want to convert it for soundcloud
when perform, that sound that goes out of my laptop if ok (and I probably add a motu as midi/audio external interface)

new info: I listened the streaming on my iphone this morning: the sound is clear and ok
so I guess my reference system (I mean winamp or other stuff when I want to do a final listening session) isn't reliable

all the best 3phase, and thanks.

[Angstrom]

How is this samplerate conversion being performed?
When you play the 48khz version at 44.1 are you playing it in Live?
If so, make sure HiQ mode toggle is active on clip.
Also, for safety's sake -activate the SR convert quality toggle in preferences

if default is not set to HiQ, then clips may sound bad when shifted. HiQ mode eliminates most of the aliasing.

[julienb]

How is this samplerate conversion being performed?
When you play the 48khz version at 44.1 are you playing it in Live?
If so, make sure HiQ mode toggle is active on clip.
Also, for safety's sake -activate the SR convert quality toggle in preferences

if default is not set to HiQ, then clips may sound bad when shifted. HiQ mode eliminates most of the aliasing.

I'm using sample in simpler, and as Tobias wrote to me, only sampler has settings about SR.
so I'll use sampler and post about that ... this evening


thanks a lot !

[ze2be]

Other then that, id say stay clear of 48khz in the future! 44.1 is fine, or optionally go with 88.2.
Going from 88.2 to 44.1 is exactly 1/2, and it aligns all the data, thus creates less aliasing etc, then what youd get with 48 to 41.1 conversion, or 96 to 44.1khz.

This is if your goal is digital music on the net or CDs, where 44.1 is the standard.
For DVDs, TV and Movies, it can be different. But the same applies to other resolutions as well.

[julienb]

guys.. my "reference" point wasn't the good one.
the file is very ok, even if I don't manually handle the SR conversion...

it was a sound-card / driver pb!
grrr!

[leedsquietman]

Some converters and sound cards playback or do a better job at 48 Khz compared to 44.1 Khz and not just Creative Soundblasters.

BTW - is you need a SRC, Ozone's SRC or Voxengo's R8 Brain will give you better results than using Live or other DAW SRC. They are pristine and used by a lot of mastering engineer's when SRCing 24/96 to other bit/sample rates, including 16/44.1 for CD etc.

[julienb]

I forgot to tell something, the same streaming listened on my iphone, or on my firefox (or opera, or ie) on my laptop the quality is different!

on my iphone, no metallic kick drum artifact
on my laptop, metallic kick drum artifact




btw, with soundcloud, there is an option to make the file downloadable.
it is a workaround, but it works.
I just hope this f...ing metallic kick drum artifact is listenable only on my laptop

[Cort3x]

When I stream it, the tune certainly sounds different in my headset (Sennheiser HD280 Pro) as opposed to how it sounds in my speakers (shitty tv speakers). The initial 4/4 kick sounds fine, but when the kicks start occuring more often and in a less straight-forward rhythm - at around 00:30 and onwards - they become "clicky" on my tv speakers, and stay subby in my headset.
This, as well as other artifacts, has made me aware of how badly I need proper monitor speakers - I'm planning on buying Dynaudio BM5A's in the near future.
What it tells me about your tune is that you've probably chosen sounds that work in a frequency range that poor hardware has problems reproducing. I have no idea whether this is a widespread problem, though, and whether you should try and re-mix or re-tune the sounds to different frequencies, so that you can ensure yourself that the audience will hear the proper stuff and not a load of metallic or clicky artifacts. This is stuff that I'm thinking about a lot myself, and I think it's why we have mixing and mastering engineers - it's probably a science that requires quite a lot of time and effort to become familiar with.

I like it when the tune develops later on, when the synths come in =)

[julienb]

What it tells me about your tune is that you've probably chosen sounds that work in a frequency range that poor hardware has problems reproducing. I have no idea whether this is a widespread problem, though, and whether you should try and re-mix or re-tune the sounds to different frequencies, so that you can ensure yourself that the audience will hear the proper stuff and not a load of metallic or clicky artifacts.
I like it when the tune develops later on, when the synths come in =)

hello and thanks.
the only strange artifact seems to be the metallic things. no clicks anymore.

I'm quiet sure the conversion issue is/was my audio card on my PC.
I mean, the sound is very ok for me when streamed on the iphone (for instance) ; I mean, it is like the original one.

strange...