Question about 48 to 44.1 kHz conversion

jamacy77

jamacy77

Member
Question to audio experts 48 conversion to 44.1 kHz:

I'm recording my new album and want to use the Axe Fx XL as my main guitar sound. All the other musicians already recorded using 44.1kHz. I know that the AxeFx works on 48 kHz on Logic.

Do you guys experience any loss in quality when converting from 48 to 44.1? I'm not an expert but want to make sure I'll have a top quality recording.

Thanks for any input.
Peace
 
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I didnt notice any loss in quality converting any files, but i dont have any special tools to compare, just my lugs (sorry the northern English in me, i meant 'ears') and it sounded fine
 
Chris@AxeFxTutorials said:
are you going to record with a digital connection or with an analog connection to your recording setup?
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Hi Chris, I'm not sure if I understood your question, but I'm connecting the Axe Fx via USB directly into my MacBook Pro and use it as an interface. Makes sense?
Thanks for your time and kindness :)
 
The quality of the sample rate conversion from a 48K track to a 44.1K track is completely up to the software you use to sample rate convert.

I'm assuming you will track at 48K then import your tracks into a 44.1 session?
 
barhrecords said:
The quality of the sample rate conversion from a 48K track to a 44.1K track is completely up to the software you use to sample rate convert.

Thanks.
I'm assuming you will track at 48K then import your tracks into a 44.1 session?
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That's correct. I will track the guitar at 48K then import the tracks to a 44.1 session. I hope that's an okay thing to do. I'm using Logic ProX.
Any suggestions / thoughts?
 
jamacy77 said:
That's correct. I will track the guitar at 48K then import the tracks to a 44.1 session. I hope that's an okay thing to do. I'm using Logic ProX.
Any suggestions / thoughts?
Click to expand...

Try using USB at 48K and then analog at 44.1K.

Import both into the 44.1 session and see which you prefer.

Sample rate conversion is a broad topic and it will really be up to your ears to determine which is better for you and that project.
 
Converting SR in software usually works out fine and I can't ever seem to hear the difference with today's tools, but that doesn't mean that I'd necessarily look to do it multiple times going back and forth if I can avoid it. Just my opinion.

If it were me and have a decent audio interface I'm going to record with the balanced analog out of the AxeFXII with the interface at 44.1kHz in this scenario. To me if everything else is already 44.1kHz and I'm recording I'd likely have to convert everything else to 48kHz to make sure that everything is timed and aligned correctly.
 
Work in 48kHz if you can - but 44.1kHz is the Red Book standard. It's CD quality.

If anyone here can hear digital artefacts in CDs, then they're the first human to be able to do so. 44.1kHz is fine. Guitars don't even put out much energy at all at a quarter of that rate.
 
SRC, nyquist, blah blah blah... yeah, probably too broad to discuss here. Regardless, going down from 48 to 44.1 (handled by any modern DAW) is a non-issue. :D
 
All DAWs can convert the sample rate of a project from 48k to 44.1k and the reverse without any audible loss of quality.

Don't worry about it. Just convert (but try not to do it too often).

But make sure to pull the master volume on your PA or monitors down before you hit the convert button (or change the drivers), as changing the sample rate might create a loud pop noise.

I actually scared the shit out of my band mates several times because I forgot about that...
 
I am sure there will be many that have their own opinion based on their own experience on this issue. The industry standard is 192k when recording, the higher the frequency the better the actual recording is. It is always best to capture what you record at the highest possible rate to record as much of the actual information as possible with the least amount of holes. After that, you can export it to whatever frequency you want, it is something that you will have to experience and experiment with. Each recording is unique, however there is a loss anytime you compress something from the original format no matter what.

But I think you also have to remember that the music industry is changing, people are drifting away from Cd's, Dvd's, and even blu-ray, to a more digital electronic format. If you keep everything in it's original wave format you maintain the original recording rate. Then you can always decide later if you want to downgrade what you recorded or not.

Here is a cool list of all the current Audio codecs with the technical specifications for each that might make it easier to compare with each.

Hope this helps some
 
With your project at 44.1 and the Axe (as audio interface) at 48 it will up and down convert for you automatically. You don't have to do anything. Just punch record and go. However... it is possible to get some latency.

I have many old projects at 44.1 and for this reason I use a 3rd party interface (Saffire or Babyface) and the balanced analog outs of the Axe. Sound remains pristine, zero issues and I am able to utilize the monitoring software that comes with the interfaces.
 
Zwiebelchen said:
For home recording, this does not matter.
All you do by going beyond 48k is adding pointless filesize to your .wav raws in your project folder.
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This.

http://lavryengineering.com/pdfs/lavry-sampling-theory.pdf
http://www.wescottdesign.com/articles/Sampling/sampling.pdf

Can't find the reference at the moment (it may have been a post by Lavry himself over at the g-slutz forum), but iirc the ideal/optimal sample rate was somewhere in the 60+k range. There's also data that points to higher sample rates (96k+) actually having a negative impact on sound quality.

44.1 is great, 48 is great, 88.2 is great, so is 96. Pick one, don't worry about sample rate conversion, have fun, record a hit single, don't forget to mention the FAS forum in the liner notes. :)

EDIT -- sorry, I'm tired and dopey. It's right there on page 1 of the PDF where Dan Lavry states the optimal sample rate of 60k.
 
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