From the course: Pro Tools 2021 Essential Training: 101 - The Basics

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Converting audio to digital format: Bit depth

Converting audio to digital format: Bit depth - Pro Tools Tutorial

From the course: Pro Tools 2021 Essential Training: 101 - The Basics

Converting audio to digital format: Bit depth

- [Instructor] To record audio, Pro Tools will sample, or measure, an incoming audio signal at a minimum rate of 44.1 kilohertz. Measuring the electrical signal thousands of times per second is only half of the battle though. In binary, each digit can represent only two possible numbers, zero or one. In order to represent a number larger than one, we need to use a string of multiple binary digits, or bits. Now the question is, how many bits do we need to represent the measured voltages The more binary digits we use, the larger the number we can represent. Let's consider an example in which we want to represent values on a scale from zero to 15. from zero to one. By adding a second binary digit, we can represent values up to three. But we want to get to 15, so let's add another binary digit. With three binary digits, we can represent eight possible values ranging from zero up to seven. We still haven't gotten to our goal yet, so what do we do? we can represent 16 different values As…

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