I have a niggling
problem that I need to address once and for all. A sound-design project
with several hundred audio files in use has somehow ended up as
48kHz/16‑bit. If I recall correctly, this project was created by opening
up OMF files transferred from Final Cut, consisting only of location
recordings from a sound recordist.From what I gather, 44.1kHz/16-bit is
all that is required for transfer to the mixing studio, so how do
I safely resample from 48 to 44.1 kHz? By safely, I mean no
‘lossy’ conversions.
Via SOS web site
SOS
Technical Editor Hugh Robjohns replies:
There’s a good reason why the
audio files from Final Cut are 48kHz files: anything associated with
video must have a sample rate of 48kHz, because there must be an integer
number of samples per video frame, and 48kHz is the universal format
that allows that at all the common frame rates. Your sound recordist
obviously knows this and has supplied the source files with the correct
and expected sample rate. The Foley studio and dubbing theatre will also
both work exclusively at 48kHz.
With this in
mind, whether you work in Logic, Pro Tools or any other DAW, you will
need to create a project at 48kHz and set up all your associated systems
to work at this rate. Personally, I would also run the project and
generate the output files at a 24‑bit word length to avoid degrading the
16‑bit source files.
Of course, it’s possible
to convert 48kHz files to 44.1kHz for your audio project and then
convert them back again at the end of the project, but this is
a pointless and unnecessary step and — in theory, at least — the
conversion would also lose you a little high end. However, if you’re
importing tracks or samples from audio CD, it’s perfectly acceptable to
up-sample to 48kHz (which most DAWs would do automatically), because
there’s no high end there to lose!
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