The Riffworks 32-bit blog

Welcome to the official Gator-Studios.com Riffworks 32-bit blog!

Okay here’s the breakdown on the new release!  2 big big improvements to Riffworks with this one:

- 32 bit option for both recording and exporting

- a way better master limiter compressor

32 bit on input - I explained a lot of of this on the GatorForum here, but a quick summary is in order.  Capturing your input up to 32 bit (most interfaces will do 24) will capture your input audio more faithfully to the analog source.  On it’s own, it’s a subtle difference, though many people can tell.  When it’s all added up in a mix, that extra resolution keeps things clean instead of things starting to get muddy.

32 bit on export – Riffworks has always used a 32 bit mix engine, but previously exported at 16 bit only for wav files.  That’s great if you go straight to a CD with the WAV, but most folks want to master it first.  Ever notice that things sounded better in RiffWorks than with the exported WAV?  That was the difference between 16 and 32 bit.  You want all that resolution until you’re forced to drop it to 16 bit, after mastering.  That gives the best result, and is how everybody else does it.   FYI 32 bit export won’t make any difference on mix-to-ogg or uploading to RiffWorld, but recording in 32 bit should give a little improvement to the overall mixdown.  If your computer can swing it, do it!

Guess what…those old songs you did back when we only had 16 bit on input?  They’ll sound better with 32 bit export too, and are worth remastering.  Again I explained this in the GatorForum post above, it’s all about the math.  A bunch of 16 bit files sound better when there’s 32 bits of math in which to mix them together, the errors are less and the sound is better.  And for you mathematically challenged, it’s not double the resolution, it’s the difference between 65K and 4.2B slots for the sound to be represented.  HUGE!

Exporting at 16 bit before mastering took a little off of things, though I would say we’ve gotten great quality results even with that limitation.  Check out the studio MySpace page, see what you think…it’s not the medium so much as the dude working the medium!  Think back to stuff you hear from the 60′s…the recording medium was a definite limitation on the sound, but the performances, signal chain etc. were carefully done.  Those people would have gone nuts for 24 tracks of 16 bit digital.  I say it too many times, but will keep saying it…it’s what goes in that counts the most!  For all the tutorials, overviews and guidance on engineering, I think pounding this point has been my biggest contribution to the RiffWorks community

New master limiter / compressor – Most of you guys will go bonkers over this one…Dug and crew have finally re-coded the master limiter / compressor so your tracks can top out at +0db (or real close) just like “real” music!  They also did a great job changing the algorithm, knocking out most of the pumping and breathing, especially compared to how it was in the Golden Age of Riffworks.  Soon over pumping songs will become a RiffWorld memory (we’ll associate it with RiffCaster…do they still use that term?).  The compressor algorithm has also been redone on the effect Compressor – hopefully people will learn to use the compressor as a compressor, instead of because when you turn it on it raised the volume!

I’ve played with this in beta and it does a far better job than the old one.  You can crank it full to the end for ultimate RiffWorks loudness, and I know some of you will do just that!  Do me a favor…don’t do that.  I would recommend being reasonable with it.  Having it bounce in and out of the red usually gives a decent sound.  Having it pegged in the red just sounds like louder crap.  This is a great addition for posting direct to RiffWorld, though I haven’t tried it to see if the new tracks are louder than the old or if they do something to limit it on the server.

One big note:  You folks with older computers, 32-bit is going to chew up more processor, memory and hard drive.  Try it, but if you start having pops and crackles (okay for breakfast, not so good for mixing), you’ll have to hang with the 16 bit option.

 All these enhancements are great, but won’t change your ability to get a good mix or master though.  The toolbox got better but it won’t make you hear things more accurately or apply the effects at the right time.  For people that know what they are doing and equipped to do it, the results will be that much better.  For those that don’t, the results will hopefully be less painful.  There’s something for everyone this holiday season!

These new goodies really help bring RiffWorks along as a songwriting and recording tool.  I used to export tracks individually out of RiffWorks to take advantage of a higher bit-depth mix engine, and now that’s taken care of inside.  I finally took to doing all my recording in a DAW to take advantage of the higher bit-depth, because at the end of the mix that extra headroom really adds up and keeps the air in things and the mud out.  I will have to relook at my workflow to see if it makes more sense now to do some of the recording inside RiffWorks again, now that there’s no penalty.  It’s still the best songwriting software out there for me!

Well, I guess that puts me out of business, eh?  Sure.  For casual tracks, knock yourself out!  This is a great improvement that will make a lot of folks happy.  If you are mastering yourself, still run your 32 bit exported copy without hitting the red light at all, keep the limiter out of the equation until mastering.  You have lots of headroom now, take advantage of it!  FWIW I did take 5 minutes to run a couple exports out of RiffWorks, one without hitting the red light, and one cranked full.  Then I took a quick shot at mastering the low one, and it was pretty easy to make it both louder and better sounding by properly mastering it without much effort.  This new capability does not replace mastering, it gets you more of what you expect out of RiffWorks. 

So…for messing around, posting songs, getting feedback and having fun recording, this is all you need.  For those serious projects, “best song in the world” songs, “that CD I always wanted to record”, and those you plan to sell at your gigs and on iTunes/Amazon/(or even Gator’s General Store ) get it mixed and mastered properly…if not here than somewhere.  You owe it to yourself to have the proper expertise, environment, “fresh ears” and impartial perspective to add the needed touch in the engineering phase.  Look at what you’ve already spent to this point on guitars, interfaces, computers, software…and the time you’ve put into carefully writing and recording.  Consider the time you spent on your last track trying to get the mix right…you probably could have recorded another song or two with that time.  Is it really that much to get the final steps done properly?

We’ve worked hard over the last 3 years to banish the phrase “sounds pretty good considering it was done in RiffWorks” from the world.  It used to be a common theme, but I think we got past that some time ago.  We’ve been helping folks understand how to take great care on their end with recording, and showing that RiffWorks is plenty capable of producing great results.  For all the CD’s that have been printed and sold around the world, tunes on iTunes, songs that been forwarded at places like Taxi for commercial placement…they’ve all held their own with the “big” boys.  Heck, even the projects we’ve engineered that required major surgery came out sounding okay.

Some people think we’re crazy to primarily focus on RiffWorks users, but it’s a great ecosystem we are proud to be a part of.  It’s not just about crunching tracks and spitting out a mix, it’s about helping you get the best result you’re looking for and showing you how to do it.  It’s why we do all the mixing inside of RiffWorks and give the RWS file back, so you can see how it was done.  It’s why we take the time to try different things in the mix, to let you see if you might like something better you hadn’t thought of.  It’s why in the end you get back what you want to hear, not what some engineer tells you that you want to hear. 

It’s a lot harder to do things this way, but we’re on a bigger mission than just being another studio on the ‘net.  RiffWorks is a creative outlet for so many (including me!), and lets just about anyone write and record to their heart’s content.  That simplicity will enable the next generation of great music, which might otherwise never have happened.  To the world, it will come out of nowhere, just another “instant” success but we’ll all know better.  It doesn’t take a Todd Rundgren to validate what you are doing with RiffWorks, it takes you!  Will you write the next “best song in the world” with RiffWorks?  We’ll be looking forward to it.

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