Changing the bit depth

Bit depth refers to the number of bits used to represent a sound. You can increase or decrease a file’s bit depth.

Increasing bit depth

Increasing the bit depth does not improve the quality of a file, but it allows subsequent processing to be performed with increased precision.

1.Open a file with a small bit depth.

2.From the Process menu, choose Bit Depth, and then choose Bit-Depth Converter from the submenu. The Bit-Depth Converter dialog appears.

3.From the Bit depth drop-down list, choose a larger value and click OK.

Note: When increasing a file’s bit depth, the Dither and Noise shaping controls should be set to None and Off, respectively.

Decreasing bit depth

To maximize storage space, larger sound files (24- and 16-bit) are frequently converted to smaller (16- and 8-bit) files. However, representing a sound file at a decreased bit depth results in audible distortion referred to as quantization error.

1.Open a 16-bit file.

2.From the Process menu, choose Bit Depth, and then choose Bit-Depth Converter from the submenu. The Bit-Depth Converter dialog appears.

3.From the Bit depth drop-down list, choose 8 bit.

4.If desired, choose an option from the Dither drop-down list. For more information, see Dither on page 103.

5.If desired, choose a Noise shaping type. For more information, see Noise shaping on page 103.

6.Click OK.

Note: There are no rules regarding maintaining audio quality when decreasing bit depth. Experiment with the Dither and Noise shaping controls to determine the optimum settings for each audio file.

102 CHAPTER 5