Dither may be one of the least understood effects available in recording software. However, it can be very important when used correctly, so it’s important to understand exactly what dithering is and how to use it.
What is Dithering?
Dither gets into some pretty technical areas of digital recorded sound, but we’ll keep this guide focused on what it actually does for your recordings, and when it should be used. Though it seems counter-intuitive, dither is actually the adding of noise to an audio track. This very low level noise cancels out (to our ears) small amounts of distortion caused by reducing the bit-rate of digital recordings.
When recording, you’re typically working in high resolution (24-bit resolution, for example), but most playback options are lower resolution. For example, a CD only supports 16-bit resolution playback. So when your songs are mastered to the lower resolution for export to CD, the loss in resolution comes through in slight distortion that can create a grainy sound on your songs.
Dither Smooths Out the Digital Noise
This unwanted grainy sound is specifically called “quantization distortion” or “quantization error,” and results because lower resolutions support less sound information -- particularly volume information.
The low level of noise dither adds essentially fills in the “holes” in your lower resolution audio track that cause that grainy and gritty sound. It smooths out the sound, providing a track that is nearly identical to the original source track.
When to Use Dither (and When Not To)
Because it is not well known by many, it can be tempting to play around with dither while you are recording. But dithering is meant to be used in the mastering process, not for individual tracks in your recording session. Adding even the slightest amount of noise to your recording is not ideal, since we spend a large amount of time in our home studios trying to get rid of any excess noise. As you can imagine, adding that small amount of excess noise to individual tracks will result in a larger amount of noise that won’t actually do anything to help your recording.
In fact, it is somewhat of an ongoing argument among engineers whether dither should be used in all cases in the mastering process. We think the real answer lies in what best serves each song, and that’s the approach we take to every song we work on during our online mastering process.
A High Resolution Future
The best solution to dither would be to require no dither at all. That would mean we have audio formats that support the higher resolution audio that wouldn’t result in quantization distortion in the first place. We’ve written about Neil Young's support of the Pono format which has a 24-bit depth. The problem comes in with the fact that though a higher resolution format is ideal, Mp3 players, smartphone and computer won’t support it, so we still have to deal with digital distortion.
But with digital audio always advancing, it’s likely we could see a widespread, high resolution solution sooner rather than later. Until that happens, you may want to keep dither in your plugin library.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
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2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
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4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
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7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
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