Quote:
Originally Posted by peeder  False. If you trim 80db off of 24-bit fixed point audio, save to a 24-bit file, and then add 80db of gain, you have only 144 - 80 = 64db of dynamic range left. Your audio is then only effectively 10.7bit, and you will have a similar noise floor to cassette tape.
You should know that posting in a mastering forum. |
This is getting pretty far afield from the reality that posed the original question. In particular, as long as the normalization was positive (added gain) there is no truncation error--the bit depth is not affected.
There will be rounding errors in the low-order bits, but the same thing happens when you have a fader or any other gain widget in-line in your DAW. Put another way, the impact of normalizing is *exactly* the same (save for its permanence) as adding a submix fader in your DAW. If you don't worry about one multiply there, don't worry about one multiply here.