Hoping for help on an audiobook project that was recorded in 16bit wav format. In Cubase, I am exporting chapters direct to mp3 (320kbps, 44.1khz). My understanding is Audible and other companies will re-encode the files to 64kbps.
That being the case, should I add dither to my straight-to-mp3 exports from within Cubase?
I can’t find an answer to this specific situation anywhere on the web.
Thanks in advance.
Dither is only ever needed if you lower the sample rate.
You didn’t say what the sample rate of the original 16 bit files were.
you want to say bit rate right?
he said it was recorded in 16bits :
Whether to Dither?
When to add dither is a subject of some confusion and even controversy. The simplest way to look at it is that you should always dither when going down in bit-depth. So, if you’re going from 24-bit to 16-bit, you should dither. If you’re going from 32-bit fixed point (not floating point) to 24- or 16-bit, you should dither.
However, if you’re bouncing your mix to a data-compression codec like MP3 or AAC, dithering is not necessary. They’re both formats that introduce artifacts into the signal that dither won’t remedy.
The best thing you can do when encoding lossy codecs like MP3 and AAC is to use the highest bit-rate you can and still achieve the file size that’s required for your streaming platform. Don’t confuse bit-rate with bit-depth. Bit-rate measures transmission speed for streaming. You’ll most often see it expressed in kbps (kilobits-per-second) or mbps (megabits-per-second). The higher the bit-rate, the better the quality, and the larger the file size.
Thank for the responses.
-original files are wav 16bit, 44.1khz.
Audible requires mp3 192kbps or higher, 44.1khz. The distributors will then re-encoded to 64kbps.
Flavius, I saw that Waves post about no dithering while exporting to mp3, but others on the web have commented that info was wrong/incomplete.
sorry this is not corret
Whether to Dither?
When to add dither is a subject of some confusion and even controversy. The simplest way to look at it is that you should always dither when going down in bit-depth. So, if you’re going from 24-bit to 16-bit, you should dither. If you’re going from 32-bit fixed point (not floating point) to 24- or 16-bit, you should dither.
Yes. Misread
no, its not incomplete. if you are exporting to mp3 you dont´need dither
what i don´t understand is why they are re-enconding a mp3 to another mp3, this is crazy
I agree, but the company only accepts mp3 files, which will then be re-encoded by companies like Audible, i-tunes, etc.
So just to clarify, no dithering needed while exporting direct to mp3 320kbps, even if the files will be re-encoded to 64kbps?
MP3 doesn’t have “bit depth” it have “bit rate”
just make sure your .wave file is not peaking above -1 dbfs (true peak) before exporting it to mp3
Limiter is the last plugin on master bus, raising the overall level of the audio, and limiting peaks to -3.4 dbfs.
Thanks again for your responses and time.