Dither? Noise Shaping?

n-Track Studio Discussion Forum
1

I need an education

2

Is there a simple explaination for Dither and Noise Shaping? If so, how would I apply that using N? I do see the check boxes when mixing down, but ignore them because I’m clueless.

Thanks in advance.

3

Here’s a great primer, even if you don’t have Ozone.primer

4

The Ozone primer is really quite excellent. If after reading it you still are confused, stop back here. Not to blow you off, but the Ozone primer explains as well if not better than any of us could.

5

Thanks guys, I’ll check it out!

6

Meanwhile, if you set N to 1 or 2, with noise shaping, and forget about it, you’ll do fine.

However, if you get your mixes to the exalted state, and are listening on high quality gear, and want to take that next step towards the holy grail of “open, clear” sounding mixes, experiment with different settings and different tools (i.e., other than n-Track) for dithering.

MHO: if you’re not using noise shaping, it’s just a matter of whether the random number (white noise) generator is good enough for audio. That’s easy to test – sometime I’ll post an example of N’s white noise. It sounds white enough to me, as good or better than any real static I’ve heard and better than what I have to listen through would show anyway. But with noise shaping, there are lots of possibilities, and many folks prefer tools other than n-Track for high quality noise shaping.

Also, I believe that most mixes have enough natural noise in them (contributed by the background noise in the tracks) that we don’t need dithering. However, if that background noise is ugly enough, we might want much higher dithering levels to hide it. But that’s a very different use of dithering than the normal case where we’re overcoming an attribute of digital processing, and in that case I doubt you’d want noise shaping either.

It’s pretty esoteric stuff, and it really doesn’t matter much until your mixes sound pretty darn good. (As the saying goes, you can’t polish a turd.)

7

Thanks. I’m going to finish reading the Ozone primer and see what happens! :)

8
Quote (billthecat @ July 14 2005,10:48)
Here's a great primer, even if you don't have Ozone.primer

My favorite quote from that article:

Like other dither manufacturers, we're selling you noise. Even more difficult, we're selling you noise that you can barely hear, and in the case of some shaping algorithms (psychoacoustic ones) we're telling you not to turn up the level so you can even really evaluate it. All of this would make it pretty frustrating as a user to try to get a handle on whether any of this makes a difference, or if we're all just packaging up random noise and calling it a digital audio breakthrough.

:D
9

Like other dither manufacturers, we’re selling you noise. Even more difficult, we’re selling you noise that you can barely hear, and in the case of some shaping algorithms (psychoacoustic ones) we’re telling you not to turn up the level so you can even really evaluate it. All of this would make it pretty frustrating as a user to try to get a handle on whether any of this makes a difference, or if we’re all just packaging up random noise and calling it a digital audio breakthrough.

Darn, that made my night by a good laugh.

Pretty cool
Chiller