[LAU] 48k vs. 44.1k

[Fons Adriaensen]

On Sun, Jan 06, 2013 at 08:37:11PM -0800, Len Ovens wrote:
 
> On Sun, January 6, 2013 5:55 pm, Ralph Bluecoat wrote:
>
> > A 48khz sample rate is used (almost exclusively) in
> > the film industry for synching audio to visual media rather than pure
> > audio. Games, movie, and television audio are in a 48khz format at
> > minimal.
> 
> The pro audio world as represented by this list seems to disagree at least
> to some extent. 96k sounds nice and is used in live work like mixing and
> such mostly because of it's lower latency.

48 kHz is the standard rate in audio broadcasting as well, apart from
TV and movies. 

Something like 25-30 years ago,when I was working at BRT, the Belgian
public radio/TV network, the first radio studios were being converted
to digital. All 48 kHz, even if the only digital signals at that time
were from the CD players - they were just resampled before entering
the mixer (this required an expensive 1U rack equipment for each CD
player, don't remember the type or brand). DAT players were only added
later.

About a year later the music studios went digital, again all 48 kHz.
Can't could the number of CDs I mixed there. 

Even that long ago 44.1 kHz was considered 'legacy', an unfortunate
compromise made for pragmatic reasons when the CD format was defined.
There's really no reason why it should still be used today.

Ciao,

-- 
FA

A world of exhaustive, reliable metadata would be an utopia.
It's also a pipe-dream, founded on self-delusion, nerd hubris
and hysterically inflated market opportunities. (Cory Doctorow)