Tracks recorded at different bit rate, is it fine?

[Marcello]

Hi there,

 

I just realized some tracks were recorded at 16 bit-rate and others at 32, I have no idea why, I didn't change the bitrate.

Now, is it just fine to have some tracks recorded at 16 and some at 32 in the same project? Or should I record it again with the same bitrate?

Also, how to check at which sample rate was recorded in cakewalk? I'm having doubt also about that now, it should be at 44100

[Marcello]

[HOOK]

I'm pretty sure it'll be fine with multiple bit depth.  But sampling rate would be a problem.

Edited November 30, 2023 by HOOK

[Glenn Stanton]

as HOOK noted - the bit depth should be ok -- except -- the 16-bit may be lower quality or have some clips etc depending on the material and how it was recorded. if your project is 32-bit the 16-bit will be padded with the lower bits set to zero until you hard edit them (like bounce to clip) when the new files should become 32-bit (as any processing which then impacts the lowest 16 bits will become non-zero).  if there was a sample rate difference - those should have been altered when you added them otherwise you'd get a warning if somehow you slipped them in (not easy so unlikely).

 

[Marcello]

19 minutes ago, Glenn Stanton said:

as HOOK noted - the bit depth should be ok -- except -- the 16-bit may be lower quality or have some clips etc depending on the material and how it was recorded. if your project is 32-bit the 16-bit will be padded with the lower bits set to zero until you hard edit them (like bounce to clip) when the new files should become 32-bit (as any processing which then impacts the lowest 16 bits will become non-zero).  if there was a sample rate difference - those should have been altered when you added them otherwise you'd get a warning if somehow you slipped them in (not easy so unlikely).

 

I see, how to check at what sample rate the track was recorded?

[msmcleod]

33 minutes ago, Glenn Stanton said:

as HOOK noted - the bit depth should be ok -- except -- the 16-bit may be lower quality or have some clips etc depending on the material and how it was recorded. if your project is 32-bit the 16-bit will be padded with the lower bits set to zero until you hard edit them (like bounce to clip) when the new files should become 32-bit (as any processing which then impacts the lowest 16 bits will become non-zero).  if there was a sample rate difference - those should have been altered when you added them otherwise you'd get a warning if somehow you slipped them in (not easy so unlikely).

 

Everything is converted to either 32 bit float or 64 bit float internally for mixing, so as long as the 16 bit files sound good to start with, you'll not have any quality issues.

The only thing you lose with 16 bit is dynamic range - but even with 16 bit, the dynamic range is huge.
 

[Glenn Stanton]

3 hours ago, Marcello said:

I see, how to check at what sample rate the track was recorded?

view file explorer properties:

 

2116/2 (stereo) / 24 (word length) = 44.1