The ideal sample rate / bit depth

[Tone Deft]

For some reason i compare the sample rate to the frame rate of a film. and i know if i want my final result to be 24p, i'd rather shoot in pal at 25 frames than in ntsc at 30 frame, the process being less likely to distort to original picture,

totally wrong way to look at it. in fact if you do use your analogy that's wrong. it would be easier to go from 24 fps to 30 fps than from 24 to 25. reason being is that 24 * 1 1/6 = 30 whereas to get from 24 to 25 you have to do 24 * 1 1/24. 1/6 is an easier number to work with than 1/24. BUT it's not a good analogy so don't put too much into that.

anyway, stop thinking like that, with audio it's about Nyquist (sampling rate) and dynamic range (bit depth). with film it's perception of vision, totally completely different beasts.

im afraid the same might happen with frame rate and bit depht. it sounds simple but it aint... what if my audio rendered at 16/41000 starts to sound different if rendered at 24/48000? Can the process of resampling it alter the sound?

it can, but in your case that mostly has to do with the user because you're learning (nothing wrong with that.) keep it simple, leave it all up to the House, don't overthink it, maybe you can ask them for some real life one on one explanations.

[ionic]

24 bit is more than enough dynamic range

44100 covers the full audible frequency range

24 bit 44100 it is.

[CloudClod]

Better to use a higher sample rate for my work. Think about it. We say there are many different sounds on a mix, but at a given moment there is only ONE sound, and what you hear are the audible range for human hearing, and for each frequency you can name, there is an amplitude. That's it! So if you have 10 instruments, at 1Khz precisely at each moment will be at a precise amplitude. At the next instant, another. If you have 10 sources all with some 1 Khz activity, then you will get a more accurate picture if you add them all at 24 bit and 96Khz, and THEN average it out. Averaging at the end leads to a more precise result, just like in certain mathematical operations. Audibly, I think working at 96 the result is warmer, and in some cases the highs sound even brighter though I can't explain that. The thing to remember is how averaging can change things drastically depending on at which stage you do it.