Audio File Conversion Issues

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I am aware of the issues one can encounter editing the bit depth and
sampling rate of audio files on a mediocre DAW. What I am trying to
deduce are the anomalies, issues and negative attributes that are
introduced by converting file types.

Example:
In Sound Forge, saving a WAV file off as an AIFF or SD or SDII files.

Your input is appreciated.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"R Speck" <hh@hh.com> wrote in message
news:5g3ln0led5s3ti3pvr5nas7a3de424mafh@4ax.com...
> I am aware of the issues one can encounter editing the bit depth and
> sampling rate of audio files on a mediocre DAW. What I am trying to
> deduce are the anomalies, issues and negative attributes that are
> introduced by converting file types.

There is one file type to avoid which is Sound Designer II. It requires a
Mac-only disk format (the resource fork) that has been obsolete for ten
years and probably won't even be compatible with new Macs in a very few
years.

--
Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
615.385.8051 http://www.hyperback.com

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"R Speck" <hh@hh.com> wrote in message
news:5g3ln0led5s3ti3pvr5nas7a3de424mafh@4ax.com...
> I am aware of the issues one can encounter editing the bit depth and
> sampling rate of audio files on a mediocre DAW. What I am trying to
> deduce are the anomalies, issues and negative attributes that are
> introduced by converting file types.
>
> Example:
> In Sound Forge, saving a WAV file off as an AIFF or SD or SDII files.
>
> Your input is appreciated.

By coincidence, last week I had the occasion to test this. I made a copy of
a .wav file, inverted its polarity, and saved it as an AIFF file. I then
imported it into a program which has intermittent problems reading 32-bit
..wav files (that's an issue for another thread), which automatically
converted it back into a .wav file. Finally, I re-imported the newly created
..wav file (on which I had done no operations) into a multitrack program
along with my original file and played them back simultaneously.

Result: nada. Nothing. Zilch. The two opposite-polarity files nulled
perfectly.

My conclusion: at least in CoolEdit/Audition and DC-SIX, saving a file in
..wav or AIFF makes no substantive difference whatsoever. Just different ways
of writing identical data.

Peace,
Paul