"Ric Oliva" wrote in message
...
Ok, so I understand that 44.1k is 44,100 samples per second and 48k is
48,000 samples per second. Obviously 48,000 is better.

Correct. The more samples of a waveform you can gather, the easier it is to
reproduce it.

I'm not exactly
sure what bit rate is though? CDs are 16 bit, DVDs are 24. What exactly
does that mean though?

That's not bit rate, but rather bit depth.

MP3 files and other audio file formats are often saved in a format
determined by "bit rate", so as to determine the number of bits per actual
chunk of time--hence, an HTTP download of an MP3 file can be streamed with
highest quality possible if the bit rate is predetermined.

Bit depth, however, is the vertical sampling resolution of an audio sample.
As you know, 44kHz sample rate is the number of samples per second. On a
horizontal waveform drawing, this is the horizontal resolution (think screen
resolution on your monitor, 640x480 vs. 1024x768). Bit depth is the number
of bits of information per sample, or the vertical resolution.

For example, in an 8-bit sample bit depth, a waveform's amplitude in a
particular sample can be in any of 256 possible positions (2*8 = 256).
Obviously, that's a very small number of possibilities. So a 16-bit sample
bit depth the resolution is much higher: 65536.

Bit rate is determined by the two resolutions combined. Theoretically, an
MP3 file saved with a 64kbps bit rate means that the file must be downloaded
from the Internet at a rate of at least 64 kilobits per second in order for
it to be streamed through the MP3 player without hiccupping.

Another question - if I'm recording a project to audio CD, is it better to
just record at 16/44 since that's what the CD will be anyway, and I can
save
system resources? or should I do 24/48 and then dither it down,
essentially
changing what I originally heard?

In general, with audio it is better to sample at high depth and resolution
and then downgrade afterwards than it is to stay true to the final output.


Jon