Ableton Forum

I know that I need dithering effect when I use 24bit file in my song.
But what about 16bit?
Do I need to dither too?

I mean all the DAW process signal in 48bit.
If that means that Live does the dithering when it renders file back to 16bit?

I am sort of confused.
Please help me out here.

A DAW processes at 32Bit. You only ever need to dither if you are REDUCING bit depth.

So if you have a 32bit file and want to make it 16 bit; dither and noise shape your 32 bit file, then[b/] reduce it's bit depth. This must be the very last process.

The only time you should need dithering is when you downsample. Don't worry about the upsampling and internal sample rates of how your DAW works or the VST/AU. Just remember if you are downsampling your project (e.g. render to CDROM redbook - 16bit from a project sample bit depth that is higher) you'll want to dither. BTW it's not required you just achive a nicer end result.

dancerchris wrote:The only time you should need dithering is when you downsample. Don't worry about the upsampling and internal sample rates of how your DAW works or the VST/AU. Just remember if you are downsampling your project (e.g. render to CDROM redbook - 16bit from a project sample bit depth that is higher) you'll want to dither. BTW it's not required you just achive a nicer end result.

Dont confuse Samplerate with bitdepth. But what you say is true just swap out ¨downsampling¨ with bitdepth.

Once again you only need to dither when your exporting your mix to a 16 bit file. And no live dosent dither for you. You need something like ozone or a standalone mastering package like wavelab.

Or you could just export in 24 or 32 bit from Live and dither/reduce bit depth in audacity (free sound editor).

Thanks,guys.