Lin Dither settings/preset for highly dynamic classical music?

WaveLab
1

I’m working on an album of very gentle renaissance music for lute and viola da gamba. When rendering a DDP using the Lin Dither plug-in to dither to 16-bit, there is actually quite a noticeable difference depending on the preset I choose. The preset “Universal [perceptually quieter] 16-bit” doesn’t translate this recording very well, particularly the perceived space or ambience of the church recording is affected in a way making the result appear a bit dull or dry. When trying the preset “Good Choice for Low Amplitude Detail – 16 bit” it seems to preserve the ambience better. I haven’t noticed such a difference in the past depending on the dithering settings, but perhaps this is due to the delicate and dynamic nature of this particular music. The only difference between presets seems to be the noise shaping algorithm. Does anyone have practical experience or knowledge of the various settings/presets of the Lin Dither in relation to highly dynamic classical music? The LUFS is around -20 dB for the full album and the true peak is around -1 dB. I would be grateful for any tips or recommendations regarding the Lin Dither settings/presets for this particular use case. Thanks!

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Go by ear! or use some other dither plugin maybe check this link

regards S-EH

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For classical i mostly go with Triangular, No Noise Shaping (NNS) or POW-R3.
It depends on what sounds best and what sounds best… depends on the program.

I like Triangular NNS when there are many low level passages and i like POW-R3 for the results with Bass but as said above, it depends.

Sorry, this doesn’t help much.
If i was mastering your recording i would know what dither setttings to use because i would be listening to the results.

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Thanks for the suggestions! I hadn’t tried the NNS approach before, so I did that to compare it with the various noise shaping options. Ultimately, I opted for the preset ‘Good Choice for Low Amplitude Detail – 16-bit’, which uses PS4 for noise shaping, as it produced the best results for this particular programme material. The musicians also noticed the difference and seemed to prefer it.

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