Let's talk about 96 kHz. The term stirs up a variety of thoughts and feelings among us all who are involved in music production, especially hard drive speed and plug-ins, and the overall sound quality of 96 kHz versus higher or lower sample rates.

In this article, I will share my experience and explore the advantages and challenges of working at 96 kHz. I’ll also suggest a few ways you can prepare yourself to get the most out of choosing 96K as your format.

When Is 96 kHz Cool?

I started using 96k when I was the Chief Engineer at Wonderland after we had upgraded from our TDM 888 system to our Digidesign HD 192 I/O system; so I've been doing it for a some time now (you can use the Digidesign Digi 003 Rack which is 24bit/96khz). When I record acoustic instruments like acoustic piano or saxophone, 96 kHz can delivers great detail... you can hear the nuance and detail of the instrument better than you can at lower rates. That was the first benefit that I notice.

Now here is your challenge, you have to have a good hard drive in order to keep up with the power. I like using the G-RAID mini 500GB/ 7200RPM External eSATA / FireWire 800 FireWire 400 (external) / Hi-Speed USB Hard Drive it's a long name but it hearty and reasonably priced.

Here is a question that I got asked the other day, between 192k vs 96k which do I choose? My answer was, "I can hear a difference between 192k and 96k but in my opinion, it is not enough at this time to convince me to use 192k over 96k". So if you are going hi-resolution, 96k is wonderful right now.

A little more info on Drives

You got to have a good fast drive. Drives need to read and write the additional information contained in hi-resolution audio files while still keeping up with the session. When working at 96 kHz make sure that your drive is capable of operating at 7,200 rpm, to insure that you can keep up with every thing going on in your session. Remember the more edits you have, the harder your drive has to work to access the audio. Consolidate your files as much as you can, which will be one of my next article's... so stay tuned.

The speed at which the disk spins is one part of the equation and the other is the speed at which the disk drive communicates with the host computer. Today’s external 7,200 rpm drives can come in several flavors, each with its own transfer rate. USB 2.0 can transfer data at up to 480 Mb (Megabits)/second; FireWire 400 transfers at up to 400 Mb/sec; and FireWire 800 transfers at up to 800 Mb/sec. Of course, not all computers support each type of technology which is why I suggested the G Technology drive for its versatility. Also remember the actual transfer rate that a host computer delivers can vary too according to a number of factors and I am not even going there right now. So what type of external hard drive is right for hi-res work? Once again, the rule of thumb is that speed is a good thing.

96 kHz Plug-ins

Once you’ve got audio recorded at 96 kHz, you face another potential challenge: plug-in support. Even if you’ve got a collection of plug-ins that can handle the extended frequency range, you’ll need the power either in your host computer or in a Pro Tools|HD system to do the processing required for 96 kHz audio.

I have talked to some DSP Engineers about using plug-ins at the higher sample rate. The answer is that you need two times the processing power and memory to work at 96 kHz. With every addition or multiplication, the system has to do twice as much math. Some plug-ins sound better at 96 kHz opposed to the lower 44.1 or 48 kHz sample rates and there are some filters and EQ that will run much clearer at 96 kHz opposed to 48 kHz. When it comes to tricks of the trades in mixing, like distortion and bold compression, 96 Khz sounds much better. I also noticed that with some of the common stuff, like low-pass filters and some EQs, that it did not make that big of a difference.

In Conclusion

Should you start doing all your recording at 96k? For me and my client base, we are always open to all the file formats and will continue to use them on an as need basis. 96k truly sounds better and will become the way all our products eventually will be created and delivered. Until then, work in the format that is best for you and your fans, because at the end of the day the fans are the ones that buy your products and support you the most.