Which Format Do You Record In? And Why?, .wav, .aif, .sd2 ??? Options

[editbrain]

Which audio format are you recording you music to? and why?

[Francois Déchery]

in OS9 i used to record in sd2f, because i had no other choice in PT+samplecell. Now (in OSX) i use Aiff because it is compatible with most applications (samplers, synth, etc...)

[editbrain]

i am curious if aif is going to be the thing of the past. now with logic 7 having a choice for wav.

[dixiechicken]

Whatever format my apps work with.
Convert them later if I have to.

Cheers: Dixiechicken

[kaboombahchuck]

I have always used AIFF.

[editbrain]

so are there any advantages to using sd2 over aif? or wav over aif?
i was reading that logic 7 was having some problems with importing from a cd to aif. something about the file would only be noise. this is on the apple KB.

[dixiechicken]

You must make a separation between regular audio-files like
*:aif or *.wav or *.mp3.

and audio-files/soundbites from an sequenser /DAW such as DP-4 or Logic
(whatever format Logic uses).

The soundbites from (sound designer format ?) DP-4 also contains meta data such as
edits performed or tempo information and perhaps other region-info as well.

These kind of aufio-files are not directly compatible/comparable with aif and wav files as an example.

Most DAW:s and serveral other programs can export and comvert between various formats though.

Cheers: Dixiechicken

[Francois Déchery]

Not having to convert between formats when you want to use your samples in any application is really confortable and creative... On Mac, AIFF is nowadays defacto the best compatible format. SOme apps read wavs, others (rarest on OSX) read sd2, but all read AIFF.
Also the advantage of AIFF versus SD2 is that both formats can store regions definitions inside the audio file, but only AIFF can store the base note of your sample, which is really convenient when you import a muilti sample instrument on a virtual sampler which smartly recognize theses base note informations encoded inside the AIFF files to automatically spread your samples on the keyboard map.

AIFF is the right choice if you want to avoid spending time to convert samples before being able to use them, and to offer the most features.
IMHO, the less time you spend on technic (converting, importing...) , the more time you can spend to be creative, which is the essence of music.

Of course, if you are working on a multiplatofrm environnement , often switching between macs and PCs, WAV would be the best choice.

[damann]

can i just add that logic 7 supports the new apple loops format
if you're saving an audio file as a "loop" or "break"
this is the best way to save your file!
apple loops takes the rex file format into the future by incorporating meta-data that allows you to load your "loop" into logic or garage band as a file that automatically makes the loop conform to the tempo of your composition without having to slice the loop
this is worth bearing in mind...

[damann]

also,
sd11, nowadays, is almost exclusively a pro-tools format, in as much as it's the only format that treats stereo files as dual mono/split stereo!
so, if you're using pro-tools hardware, this is the format for you, otherwise aiff (audio interchangeable file format) is the most universal

presuming that you use a mac...

This post has been edited by damann: Wed 17 Nov 2004, 00:32

[FinnB]

AIFF (big-endian) vs. WAV (little-endian) are both PCM formats. See:

http://www.cs.umass.edu/~verts/cs32/endian.html

PCM = no digital data compression, just how loud is the signal each time checked.
The sound signal level is measured in bits. More bits = better "picture" of the sound.
More often a check is done (higher sampling rate in kHz) = better picture.
How regularly each check is done (converter clock quality) = better picture.

So, are there any audible differences between various PCM formats? I don't think so...

[wfplb]

If source audio files comes from Quanta, using only AES31 BWF Monophonic tracks (Little Endian)
Metadata (e.g. scene & take & comments, in and out points etc.) is delivered as ALE lists and embedded in the AES31 description field that Avid v11, Xpress-DV and FCP import....

In that case WAV seems to be the best choice ... Maybe !

[dixiechicken]

I believe that DP-4.5 directly supports both rex-loops as well as Apple-loops.

The new BDE (Beat Detection Engine) can be of great help here - depending both on your own skills as well as the actual audio material of course.

Cheers: Dixiechicken

[The Guitar God]

i record in AIFF and MPEG4 because you can edit the stereo easily, but I convert them to AAC in itunes to keep file sizes down, and if i want to put them on the net i just make them mp3s

This post has been edited by The Guitar God: Sun 5 Dec 2004, 13:05

[crevette]

All formats are fine to work with... I regularly use "Broadcast Wave" in nuendo, since it's format encodes information relative to timecode.
ie: if i take a broadcast wave file from a session and import it in another session, the sound clip can be asked to return to it's original timecode position... very usefull in timecoded sessions...

This post has been edited by crevette: Sat 19 Feb 2005, 15:37

[damann]

o.k, who'se using OMF?

is it just a movie thing?

how do we future proof our masters?

with DVD audio, super audio etc we need to look at file formats of the near future and make sure that we provide masters of our music that can fully benefit from these advances in digital audio integrity.

which formats are we talking here?

[crevette]

OMF : Open Media File

Mainly used for film sound indeed.
This file can carry multiple sound tracks but also multiple video tracks..
It is meant to exchange audio/video tracks between video editing apps and sound apps ... for example exporting the sound from a film edit to go to the mix ... when you receive the omf you have all the tracks and clips from the edit session... most importantly it allows the mix engineer to have "handles" on the sound clip: enlarge the sound clip when necessary... it is hardly applicable for music since it only exports the sounds and their clip volume ... no track settings / pluggin information etc ... furthermore it is designed to work exclusively in 44.1/48 kHz @ 16 bits...
Versions available OMF 1.0 and OMF 2.0 ... Mostly used is v.2.0 since v.1.0 is often a little buggy ...

ciao !

[DANO10]

Hello Damann,

I recently did a complete album on DP 4 from OMF files. It was a project that was started on PT, saved as OMF files and sent to me. When I received the tracks, I was up and running in fifteen minuets.

The project was audio only, converted at Universal Studios' audio department to OMF files. There were no plugins, efx or fades, but the OMF files loaded in sync with the proper track names. No problem.

DANO10