Tag: sample rate when recording

What is the sampling rate (sample frequency)?

Differences in sound quality and how to check! It also explains the settings that need to be taken into account!
Sampling frequency setting Sound quality

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The sample rate is mentioned in DAW and audio interface settings. How should I set it?
I googled “sampling rate”, but I don’t understand all the difficult words…
The higher the sample rate, the better the sound quality?
I’m curious!

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For those people, I would like to explain in a way that is easy to understand even for beginners, from the meaning of the sample rate that always appears when starting DTM, the relationship with sound quality, the confirmation method to the setting method. .

Please refer to that.

Table of Contents [ Close ]
1. What is the sampling rate?
2. Does the sound quality change depending on the sample rate?
3. How to check the sampling rate?
4. How should I actually set the sampling rate?
5. Points to consider in addition to the sampling rate
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1. What is the sampling rate?
Sampling frequency setting Sound quality
The sample rate is a frequency that indicates how accurately the sound is captured.

Sampling Rate, Sampling Frequency Also sometimes called Sampling Rate in English.

The higher the value, the more accurate the captured data will be.

Of course, if you want to import sound to your computer, you have to convert it to data. Capturing sound data is called sampling.

* Currently, sampling refers primarily to capturing existing sounds. (Use of existing music, recording material, etc.)

Rate means fee or commission in Japanese.

In other words, sampling = capturing sound data. Rate = rate, commission

Literally translated, “sampling rate = sound data capture rate. It will be a commission.”

In other words, the sample rate indicates how accurately the sound is captured.

For example, if the sampling rate is 48kHz, the data will be taken by dividing it by 48000 times per second.

The higher this value is, the finer the sound will be sampled.

It may be easier to understand if you think of the version where each block of pixel art is a sound.

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2. Does the sound quality change depending on the sample rate?
Sampling rate loads sound quality
A common question is whether sound quality changes with frequency.

Of course it will change.

However, beginners and those without expensive equipment won’t notice much even if it changes.

Then I’ll show you how to check it!

Sample rate and bit rate

Recently, sample rates and bit rates have become even more common on music distribution sites and music players. Are there many people who don’t know what it’s like, even though they hear it often?

So this time, I will explain sample rate and bit rate in an easy to understand way!

Please note: to explain it in an easy to understand way, there are some parts that are strictly different. note that.

1. Reasons sample rate and bit rate exist in the first place
Sample rate and bit rate are terms that come up when digitizing and digitizing audio. Audio devices such as headphones and speakers typically transmit analog audio signals. Sampling rate and bit rate are terms that appear only in the digital case, so they have almost no relation to analog audio signals.

The reason that sample rates and bit rates appear in the digital world is that there are problems converting analog signals to digital. Analog signals are constantly changing and it is not possible to accurately record the changes.

That’s where sample rate and bit rate come into play. Records the value of a constantly changing analog signal at regular intervals. An audio file is a collection of records as a piece of data. By making this digital audio file, it can be handled on a computer or smartphone and exchanged as data.

By the way, the log is the analog audio data log. However, in the case of vinyl, the original sound cannot be accurately recorded and there will be some differences. The slight difference shows up as the discs own sound quality.

2. What is the sampling rate?
I wrote that by digitizing in 1., I will record how much the value is at regular intervals. If you explain the sample rate in one word, it means “how often you are recording”.

Sampling rate is often expressed in the base unit of “kHz (kilohertz)”. As you know, “kilometer” is the same as “kilometre” and “km”, which means 1000 times. On the other hand, “Hz” indicates how many times it vibrates per second. In the case of sampling frequency, there is no problem in understanding how many times a second is recorded.

That is, in the case of 48kHz, it is recorded 48,000 times per second.

Basically, the more you record during 1 second, the closer it is to an analog signal, so the sound quality will be higher. However, the amount of data will increase proportionally, so it needs to be balanced.

The “Nyquist frequency” is an index that determines the balance. To briefly explain what it looks like, half the sample rate is the loudest pitch that can be produced at that sample rate.

In other words, in the case of a sound source with a sampling frequency of 48kHz, it is possible to record sounds up to 24kHz, which is half, and it is not possible to record sounds higher than that.

Since humans can basically only recognize sounds up to 20 kHz, it doesn’t make much sense to increase the sample rate too much. However, recent research says that “I think I actually feel it in the part that is not my ear.” However, it is a difficult part because there is a limit to the high-pitched sound that audio equipment can produce.

2. What is a bit rate?
When it comes to how often the sample rate is recorded, the bit rate is an indication of how much value there is at the time. Bit rate is basically expressed as “bit”. Since it is a drive that appears on a personal computer, it can be an unpleasant drive for those who are not good with personal computers.

However, the bitrate is easy. Imagine the horizontal line on the graph. The bit rate is the precision with which this horizontal line is prepared. It means that 1000 pieces are prepared in 1 bit. I think this makes it easier to understand.

The value of how much represents the bit rate indicates the volume. In other words, the higher the bitrate, the higher the volume, and subtle changes in volume can be recorded. It’s okay if you remember a lot about bitrate.

Understand sample rate

This “sample rate” is always involved when creating a new project or when exporting audio.

The sampling rate seems to be difficult… Which one should I choose after all?

Of the various options, which sampling rate should be selected as the “correct answer”?

If you make a mistake when choosing the sample rate first, the song you made may be ruined, so today I will learn the basics about this sample rate and use it for everyday music production.

After reading this article, you will find that:

Knowledge of sampling rate required for DTM
Which sample rate to choose
Differences in sound quality depending on the sample rate and advantages/disadvantages
How to check the sample rate
Aside from difficult stories like “aliasing” and “Nyquist frequency”, I have summarized only the knowledge that is absolutely necessary to do DTM, so even those who say “It’s a pain to talk about numbers…” should definitely use this . knowledge Let’s remember!

Now, let’s start with the basics of sample rate.

Table of Contents
What is the sampling rate?
Let’s hear the difference in sound quality depending on the sample rate
The higher the sample rate, the better?
The reason why the change in sound quality is difficult to understand above 44.1 kHz
Three reasons why a 44.1 kHz sample rate is enough
The higher the sample rate, the higher the CPU load.
After all, the standard sample rate in the music industry is 44.1 kHz.
You can also request mastering if you have a minimum of 44.1kHz.
Two ways to check the sample rate
For audio files, right click to check
How to check from your DAW preferences
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What is the sampling rate?

Sound is represented by such a waveform.

You can see a similar waveform even if you zoom in on the audio file in your DAW, but first let’s make this the waveform of the sound in the real world (analog world).

We take this to a computer and listen to it on a speaker and edit it, so we have to bring the sound as data into the digital world. (Convert DA)

At that point, a process called “sampling” is required, but this is not a particularly difficult story, and it is necessary to cut a cross section of sound tens of thousands of times per second and digitize analog data. .

And this “how many times per second do you sample?” it is expressed by the number “sampling rate”.

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If the sample rate is 1 Hz, it means sample once per second.

So at 44.1kHz (44,100hz) CD sound quality, you’re sampling 44,100 times per second.

Next, let’s take a look at the waveform of sound reproduced in the digital world.

This part is the sampled part, and the more points there are, the more accurately the original sound can be reproduced.

In the figure above, the points are connected by a straight line, but a relatively smooth curve is still maintained at this point.

So what happens to the waveform if this point (sample rate) is low?

What is sample rate/sample frequency?

Sampling rate Sampling rate is the number of sampling processes performed per second in an AD converter that converts an analog signal to a digital signal.

The unit is “Hz”, and the higher the value, the faster the analog input signal can be converted to a digital value, resulting in higher sound quality. However, the amount of data grows proportionally, so choose the right frequency for media and devices with limited storage capacity.

It is said that in order to accurately record and reproduce a certain sound, it is necessary to sample at a frequency that is approximately twice the frequency of that sound. The sample rate used on music CDs is 44.1 kHz. In this case, the voice waveform is shredded 44,100 times per second, and the voice information at each time is converted into digital information.

Human beings generally have 20 Hz for individual differences, but they can perceive sounds from around 15 kHz to 20 kHz as sound, and this frequency band is called the audible range.

Difference Between Sample Rate and Bit Rate
Sample rate and bit rate are used to describe the sound quality before and after the compression of the audio data.

The sampling rate is a value that represents “the number of sampling processes performed per second”.
For example, at the standard sample rate of 44.1 kHz, that means sampling 44,100 times per second.
The higher this number, the smoother the sound and the better the sound quality. In other words, the numerical value of the sample rate represents the quality of the sound.

On the other hand, the bitrate is a value that indicates “at how many levels the volume is rendered”.
For example, in the case of 16 bits, which is the standard bit rate, the amount of information is divided by 2 to the 16th power (= 65536 steps). If the number of bits is low, the sound quality will be uneven, and as with the sample rate, the higher the bit rate value, the more information can be reproduced and the sound quality will be better.