I need to bounce some tracks to disk with effects printed because I am running out of processor capacity. My questions is when and why is the 3.5db bounce needed? Also do you lose any quality when bouncing? I am keeping everything in the 24bit domain as I still need to work the files in the 24 bit mix. They will be dithered and sample rate converted when the final mix is complete.
Comments
Some people have reported a "narrowing" of the stereo field afte
Some people have reported a "narrowing" of the stereo field after a bounce... other people seems to think bouncing is totally fine.
In my limited tests, I have yet to hear any sort of sonic degradation in a bounced file within DP. On the flipside, it seems intuitive to me that more digital transfers = more possibilities for bad stuff to happen... so I generally avoid bounces and transfers unless they are absolutely necessary. I have definitely gotten into trouble making third and fourth generation digital copies, thinking they were gonna be identical clones of my source audio... wrong! Between rounding, dithering, truncating, error correction, interpolation and all the other garbage that can befoul your audio, I'd say be very cynical, and always use your ears. :)
use -3 option when you're bouncing a stereo track to a single mo
use -3 option when you're bouncing a stereo track to a single mono track
Just make sure dither is unchecked (under the audio menu). You don't want to add dither to something that's remaining at 24 bit..right?
I have no complaints about the sound of bounced tracks but I'm sure you could find a purist here and there who'll avoid it. I've done double bind tests trying to hear the differance between the original and the bounce and I can't hear a differance but that's not to say someone else would do better.