What in God's name is a legal file? Isn't that when it's 8.5"x14" versus 8.5"x11"?

wow...

great forum, eh ???

really serious input, I see

mf

Well, thanks for answering my question.
Seriously - what in god's name do you mean by legal file?
Perhaps if you wrote a coherent post, you'd get meaningful answers.
You use the term "legal" a number of times in your post and it's a term that I've never encountered after 20 years in the business.
Now, how about you answer my question and I'll try to decipher the rest of your post.

And yes, based on what I could discern from your first post, a single stage of dithering is always preferred to multiple stages of dither.

When you record at 24 bit, you're mixing effects and effecting volume envelopes at a 32bit float level anyway (thanks to the 32 bit processing native to your OS, processor and DAW program.) Even if you "record" at 32 bit, you're actually recording at 24 bit and appending 8 '0's at the end of your word. This is due to the limitations of your AD converter. Most AD converters operate at 24 bit (many technically less. Exceptions would be DXD or 1 Bit (DSD or Delta Sigma) converters) and output a 24 bit word.

When you mix in the DAW, those 8 slots are filled up by valid information. The DAW, if told to render the file to 24 bit, will dither the signal. Then, if you render again, you are adding another layer of dither. This is two separate noise prints laid on the same file at different amplitudes. If you're using the same noise shaping profile, it's likely you're hearing the effects of some bunching up of some noise in key frequencies.

Short version of the story:
Dither once.

Now, seriously - what do you mean by "legal" and "legal file?"

Let's hope legal in this case means "compliant to the established standard."

I thought dithering was only when you master in 24bit and then the medium your were transfering the master to was at a lower bit rate

Nope...
Dithering is changing any bit depth to a lesser bit depth.
It is the process of adding a base level of (often shaped) noise to a digital signal to mask the presence of digital noise from truncation of a bit length.

But yes - you need to dither when going from a 24bit master to a 16bit target (CD, etc.).

Did he mean legal software? i.e.,that he bought the software he was using?

[forgot to come back...sorry.]

legal means the signal (of the finished product) is at or below the 0dB ceiling...i.e., not clipping.

I heard the term once from an engineer at OasisCD...replication houses used to reject premasters that clipped.

thanks for all the additional info,

mf