Bit Depth - Adobe 22012057DM - Soundbooth CS3 - PC User Manual

Sample rate Quality level
11,025 Hz Poor AM radio (low-end multimedia)
22,050 Hz Near FM radio (high-end multimedia)
32,000 Hz Better than FM radio (standard broadcast rate)
44,100 Hz CD
48,000 Hz Standard DVD
96,000 Hz High-end DVD

Bit depth

Bit depth determines dynamic range. When a sound wave is sampled, each sample is assigned the amplitude value
closest to the original wave's amplitude. Higher bit depth provides more possible amplitude values, producing greater
dynamic range, a lower noise floor, and higher fidelity:
Bit depth Quality level
8-bit Telephony
16-bit CD
24-bit DVD
32-bit Best
192 dB
144 dB
96 dB
48 dB
0 dB
8-bit 16-bit
Higher bit depths provide greater dynamic range.
Audio file contents and size
An audio file on your hard drive, such as a WAV file, consists of a small header indicating sample rate and bit depth,
and then a long series of numbers, one for each sample. These files can be very large. For example, at 44,100 samples
per second and 16 bits per sample, a file requires 86 KB per second—about 5 MB per minute. That figure doubles to
10 MB per minute for a stereo CD, which has two channels.
How Soundbooth digitizes audio
When you record audio in Soundbooth, the sound card starts the recording process and specifies what sample rate
and bit depth to use. Through Line In or Microphone In ports, the sound card receives analog audio and digitally
samples it at the specified rate. Soundbooth stores each sample in sequence until you stop recording.
Amplitude values
256
65,536
16,777,216
4,294,967,296
24-bit 32-bit
Frequency range
0–5,512 Hz
0–11,025 Hz
0–16,000 Hz
0–22,050 Hz
0–24,000 Hz
0–48,000 Hz
Dynamic range
48 dB
96 dB
144 dB
192 dB
SOUNDBOOTH CS3 15
User Guide