7. Dithering Explained - Digital Audio Fundamentals

Ғылым және технология

In this video, we'll explore the concept of dithering and why we need it. Dithering is the process of intentionally adding noise to a signal during quantization to preserve low level information and prevent correlated distortion. The video tries break down this definition through image and audio illustrations.
Find the full playlist here: • Digital Audio Fundamen...
Content:
0:00 Dithering intro
0:45 Image dithering
2:59 Dithering to preserve information
8:10 Closer look
9:45 Dithering to prevent distortion
13:39 When and where to dither
Dithering Widget by Earlevel Engineering: www.earlevel.com/main/2014/03...
Tools used:
Audacity (Audio editor) - www.audacityteam.org/
Sonic Visualiser (waveform/spectrum analyzer) - www.sonicvisualiser.org/downl...
Reaper (DAW) - www.reaper.fm/
Izotope Ozone 8 Mastering plugin: www.izotope.com/en/products/o...
This video series explains the fundamentals of digital audio, how audio signals are expressed in the digital domain, how they're converted and transformed and the advantages of working with digital signals.
If you've got any questions, suggestions or recommendations, type them out here, or send me a message on any of my social channels mentioned below.
A lot of time was spent on creating this series, and I plan to do more. So please consider subscribing if you wish to be notified about more releases in the future. And if you feel generous: / akashmurthy
Check out the audio track in the intro and outro here: / tinderbox
Check out my music here: farfetchd-official.bandcamp.com/
Give me a shout here:
Facebook - / akash.murthy.319
Instagram - / thrifleganger

Пікірлер: 97

  • @TheJroddude
    @TheJroddude3 жыл бұрын

    This series is one of the best ways I’ve seen fundamentals be explained as of recent. I assumed this had millions of views, im shook. I know it’ll get there, keep up the good work

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for taking the time out to leave me a comment man!

  • @jchidley

    @jchidley

    3 жыл бұрын

    This is because the real explanation is complicated. Simple explanations are preferred, hence more popular. It doesn’t make the simple explanation right.

  • @spastor92
    @spastor923 жыл бұрын

    this series of videos are pure gold.

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    :)

  • @henriquecorrea9104
    @henriquecorrea91042 жыл бұрын

    Thanks from Brazil, you've help me a lot on my research, it's about to pre-diagnose lung diseases with machine learning, and knowing how the audio process works... well, that's a change maker! Thank you again!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    That's sounds very interesting and complicated! But I'm glad my videos were helpful! Good luck with you research..

  • @AllMyAlliesAreDead
    @AllMyAlliesAreDead3 жыл бұрын

    What a marvel of an educational video. The animation, accenting previously made points, careful explanation...it all together makes obtained information stick. Thank you for all the hard work that must went into making this series!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks so much for checking it out and commenting! It really validates the time spent on these videos!

  • @davidevans1420
    @davidevans14202 жыл бұрын

    Well done. You were able to bring us along without losing everyone in the usual details about dither. Thanks!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thank you if you thought that it was consumable and not boring!

  • @VirtuAI_Mind
    @VirtuAI_Mind5 ай бұрын

    Fantastically helpful and well done video. This saved me a lot of reading time. Thank you.

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    4 ай бұрын

    You're welcome mate!

  • @TheMasteringProject
    @TheMasteringProject3 жыл бұрын

    Superb!

  • @adityagojamgunde7152
    @adityagojamgunde71523 жыл бұрын

    Absolutely Beautiful. Please don't stop making videos like this.

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks man! I'll try to keep making more.

  • @lafarga2330
    @lafarga23303 жыл бұрын

    Your videos are superb. This video series should be the introduction to any audio engineering class!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you! :)

  • @javiervasallo6916
    @javiervasallo6916 Жыл бұрын

    Finally a good explanation.. awesome man, thank you!! I understood you better than Bob Katz :)

  • @MatheusHenrique0
    @MatheusHenrique02 жыл бұрын

    Man, this is pure quality! Definitelhy going to watch the entire series. Thank you very much!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks mate! I hope you like the rest of the series!

  • @papaya388
    @papaya3883 жыл бұрын

    Excellent video! I like how you explain in a clear and not overly complicated language, the speed and tone of your voice also makes it easy to follow along!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the feedback!

  • @rugbyman6
    @rugbyman68 ай бұрын

    really great video man , form the information, explanations, examples, and overall quality. thank you for your effort in this videos

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    8 ай бұрын

    Thanks so much for checking it out man!

  • @shyamm4680
    @shyamm46803 жыл бұрын

    Never thought that noise is useful until I saw this video. Great explanation!

  • @Fitzrovialitter
    @FitzrovialitterАй бұрын

    A really cogent explanation.

  • @Ghennesph
    @Ghennesph2 жыл бұрын

    wait how does this video have so few likes? This is top quality youtube here!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Getting there ;)

  • @ak78_at
    @ak78_at2 жыл бұрын

    Best explanation Ive ever seen , thx

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks mate! :)

  • @lazarlazar1000
    @lazarlazar10002 жыл бұрын

    This has to be the highest production value on a leture ive seen in my life. I honestly cant believe this isnt behind a paywall.

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Ah mate! That's mighty kind of you. It doesn't have to be behind a paywall for me, since I have other avenues of income. It makes sense that fundamental videos like this are more accessible, and more niche and specific implementation videos be behind a paywall.

  • @lazarlazar1000

    @lazarlazar1000

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@akashmurthy yeah i can understand that, still this is just miles beyond any other source ive sought to use, to learn on the subject. The dif between this series' take on Dither and other stuff thats available is unreal

  • @hacking_ai688
    @hacking_ai6883 жыл бұрын

    This is perfect, thank you very much for the detailed animation and your vivid explanations!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    You're welcome! Thanks for checking it out!

  • @Tyco072
    @Tyco0722 жыл бұрын

    Amazing video! For the first time I can HEAR what the dithering does and how it really affects the sound!

  • @yerbamate91
    @yerbamate912 жыл бұрын

    your videos will help me with a test next week, thanks!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Good luck with the test mate!

  • @motelflamingo
    @motelflamingo2 жыл бұрын

    The best explanation on dither I've ever seen. Thanks for your videos!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Aww, cheers man!

  • @androidpc9656
    @androidpc96567 күн бұрын

    Thanks for your effort man😊

  • @jaredgarey3033
    @jaredgarey3033 Жыл бұрын

    explained very well, thanks!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for checking it out!

  • @feli_sara
    @feli_sara2 жыл бұрын

    Fantastic explanation!! Hope this goes viral between the audio community!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks mate!

  • @jaderington
    @jaderington10 ай бұрын

    On my journey to better masters. This was well explained Thanks !

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    10 ай бұрын

    All the best on your journey!

  • @ParanoidMusic123
    @ParanoidMusic1232 жыл бұрын

    Amazing video! Congratulations! Excelent explanation.

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks mate!

  • @VTPStudios
    @VTPStudios3 жыл бұрын

    Excellent video Akash 👌

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you!

  • @ferna182
    @ferna1823 ай бұрын

    I feel dirty watching this for free... This series are incredible.

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 ай бұрын

    Haha! Thanks, I feel clean giving it for free.

  • @danielpaul7305
    @danielpaul73052 жыл бұрын

    Thank u so much Brother

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    You're welcome mate!

  • @akshayrajput4262
    @akshayrajput42623 жыл бұрын

    Thank you sir..🔥🔥👍

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    You're welcome, and no "sir" please!

  • @caprioficial
    @caprioficial Жыл бұрын

    Maestro!

  • @anzhel3268
    @anzhel326811 ай бұрын

    goated video!

  • @tommason.mercatelli3286
    @tommason.mercatelli32863 жыл бұрын

    your videos are very well done,congratulations! i also notice a similarity with Dan Worral's videos

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    Cheers! Thank you. I have checked out Dan Worral's video on dither, it's really good and in-depth!

  • @ontogeny6474
    @ontogeny64743 жыл бұрын

    Conclusion: Marilyn is beautiful at any resolution.

  • @benirodriguez9516

    @benirodriguez9516

    Жыл бұрын

    hehe, even when he calls her Grace Kelly ;)

  • @joshmarn

    @joshmarn

    4 ай бұрын

    😁😂

  • @syntaxerorr
    @syntaxerorr Жыл бұрын

    It's mainly used to make a soft sound easier to hear or seem more quite...increase the noise floor....whisper.

  • @carlosa.chacon985
    @carlosa.chacon9852 жыл бұрын

    Your videos are simply the best! I've read that dither is also applied at the input stage of an analog to digital converter, but I didn't hear you mentioning it... is it true? or am I wrong?

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks a lot my man! You're right, dither is sometimes applied to analog signals to reduce quantisation noise when passing through an ADC. I'm not sure why though, because analog signals have enough noise withing themselves to self dither! I haven't dug too deep into it, it's probably worth exploring more. Thanks!

  • @johneygd
    @johneygd14 күн бұрын

    So basically we can say that ditherkng does cancle out the unwanted noise inthe diwn sampled audio,right?

  • @ArtificialSoul
    @ArtificialSoul3 жыл бұрын

    Digital saw waves will sound 'metallic' when they're above a certain frequency. I understand that's because when the frequency increases the accuracy of sampling diminishes. A saw wave contains many overtones, so I assume those overtones become aliased. I've downloaded a couple of samples of the basic oscillator sounds from analog substractive synths. The samples are 48000 sps and 16bit. And from around C5 the saw waves already starts to sound metallic. Is dithering or adding noise a way to improve this? A noisy saw wave sounds better than a saw wave with dissonant overtones. Or do you have other suggestions?

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    So you mentioned when frequency increases, the accuracy of sampling diminishes. That's not true. The sampling accuracy will remain more or less accurate from 0Hz to the Nyquist frequency. It depends on the ADC ofcourse, but good quality converters can do this with ease. The second point is true! A pure sawtooth wave contains many overtones, so the overtones become aliased. Now, dithering is not really a technique used for anything other than masking quantization noise. I can understand why you may prefer it. Because broadband noise is more pleasing to the ears than dissonance. But honestly, a well created sawtooth wave should not contain any "metallic" dissonance. The higher the fundamental frequency of the sawtooth wave, the more it should sound like a Sine wave. But if you already have a few sawtooth sample files, and if they already contain aliased components, then tough luck. It's very difficult to get rid of aliasing after it's been recorded onto a file. You can watch videos 2 - 4 from this series which talks about sampling and aliasing!

  • @ArtificialSoul

    @ArtificialSoul

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@akashmurthy Thanks for replying! I shall continu watching your videos.

  • @meck10101
    @meck101012 жыл бұрын

    You said that at hight bit rates there are less troubles with sound tears and digital errors, does this mean that when converting a 32-bit audio to a 24-bit depth I will not ran into digital/ analogue problems?

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    You will, but the artifacts won't be audible. It'll be several dBFS below the audible limit. Unless the audio track was recorded at really low levels and there's a lot of signal-to-noise ratio in the track, and it's driven up quite high, you won't notices these artifacts at 24 bits of resolution.

  • @charliexu5013
    @charliexu50133 жыл бұрын

    could you make a video talk about how eq's phase shift result unexpected frequency change?for example, low cut may cause a boost of frequency of low mid...

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    Hmm, someone else had requested something similar. Must be a hot topic! Linear phase EQs solve the problem of unintentionally colouring the sound, since they use Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filters, which are computationally more expensive than the more commonly used IIR filters. Cool choice, I'll definitely try to make a topic on this when I get into filtering. But in this series on the fundamentals of digital audio, it's too specific a topic to be covering over here. I hope you understand. Thanks for the suggestion.

  • @charliexu5013

    @charliexu5013

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@akashmurthy Thanks, I will wait lol

  • @zian3694
    @zian36943 жыл бұрын

    what's the different between mp3 and wav, bit depth and bit rate ? should you always turn on dithering while export the project for the low quality product like mp3 ?

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    3 жыл бұрын

    That's an interesting question. Should you dither when exporting to MP3? MP3 is a fundamentally different compression and encoding scheme. You don't have a constant bit depth throughout the entire recording. You have variable bit depth for different frequency bands based on the amount of spectral content in that band, and the psychoacoustics influence of that band for human hearing. So, as you can imagine, MP3 compression and encoding, is quite complex, and I can't explain it in a comment. There is definitely other resources out there which you can check out, which explains MP3. Coming to the question, I don't know! I tried looking for the answer for a little while, and didn't find anything conclusive. Seems like different people have opinion, and to find the fact, I need to dig much further and do some experiments. So, I might take a look at it later.

  • @wed2w
    @wed2w Жыл бұрын

    HI! Can you tell me what software is it at 12:13 ? Looking for a software to show the precise graph of freq-amplitude. Thank you!

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    Жыл бұрын

    Sure, it's called Sonic Visualizer and it's a free software.

  • @wed2w

    @wed2w

    Жыл бұрын

    @@akashmurthy Thank you ! 'cuz my audacity's "Frequency Analysis" is so poorly working and doesn't have a realtime response.

  • @Lesterandsons
    @Lesterandsons3 жыл бұрын

    👍

  • @station2station544
    @station2station5442 жыл бұрын

    There is a desirable quality to the 12-bit samplers and drum machines of the 80's and 90's such as the E-Mu sp1200 and Emulator II. A lot of this love comes from the analog filter designs of the era, 2 pole and 4 pole, but there are some new pieces of gear that allow you to sample at 12-bit, 22k intentionally.. It would be cool if you could do a video where you could speak to the psychology of what we are liking when we hear that 12-bit in music - being preferable to the sterile 16-bit. I don't know if the musical equipment (specific samplers, synthesizers, and sampling drum machines) is beyond the scope of your expertise, but some of the vintage gear is getting pricey due to the desirability of their character. Could it be the harmonics and inharmonic frequencies bouncing off each other that draws us to that sound? Or is it the rudimentary DACs? thank you. If you want to hear what im driving at, Alex Ball has a new short video on the SP1200 drum machine "the lo-fi dream machine" where he touches on this. Easily found here on KZread. Thanks! LOVE your work.

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Hello again! As you have correctly guessed, I have little to no expertise in analog synthesizers and older analog gear. But what you say is quite right. The desirable quality of the audio output of these older analog devices are usually combination of all those factors: low bit depth, inaccuracies in ADC/DAC conversion, the typically non-flat frequency response of the filters used, etc. It's got a characteristically "warm" sound that digital plugins tend to try and simulate. These are usually done by explicitly adding extra band filters to shape the frequency response of the output, or by saturating the signal (intentionally clipping the signal) and shaping the clipping curve to introduce low level harmonic distortion. Thanks for the info! I'll check out the device you mentioned!

  • @Golden_Diamond
    @Golden_Diamond3 ай бұрын

    Wow ,,

  • @pentalogue_trialogue
    @pentalogue_trialogue Жыл бұрын

    1 Bit - 2 Amplitude Levels - Minimal Quantiz 2 Bit - 4 Amplitude Levels - Super Low Quaniz 3 Bit - 8 Amplitude Levels - Very Lower Quantiz 4 Bit - 16 Amplitude Levels - Very Low Quantiz 5 Bit - 32 Amplitude Levels - Very Lowean Quantiz 6 Bit - 64 Amplitude Levels - Lower Quantiz 8 Bit - 256 Amplitude Levels - Low Quantiz 10 Bit - 1'024 Amplitude Levels - Lowean Quantiz 12 Bit - 4'096 Amplitude Levels - Lower Mid Quantiz 16 Bit - 65'536 Amplitude Levels - Medium Quantiz 20 Bit - 1'048'576 Amplitude Levels - Mean Quantiz 24 Bit - 16'777'216 Amplitude Levels - Average Quantiz 32 Bit - 4'294'967'296 Amplitude Levels - High Quantiz - Big CPU Usage 40 Bit - 1'099'511'627'776 Amplitude Levels - Higean Quantiz - Significant CPU Usage 48 Bit - 281'474'976'710'656 Amplitude Levels - Higherage Quantiz - Gross CPU Usage 64 Bit - 18'446'744'073'709'551'616 Amplitude Levels - Super High Quantiz - Gross CPU Usage 80 Bit - 1.208'926e24 Amplitude Levels - Very Higean Quantiz - Great CPU Usage 96 Bit - 7.922'816e28 Amplitude Levels - Very Higerage Quantiz - Large CPU Usage 128 Bit - 3.402'824e38 Amplitude Levels - Very Super High Quantiz - Huge CPU Usage 160 Bit - 1.461'502e48 Amplitude Levels - Super Highean Quantiz - Vast CPU Usage 192 Bit - 6.277'102e57 Amplitude Levels - Super Higherage Quantiz - Sizable CPU Usage 256 Bit - 1.157'921e77 Amplitude Levels - Hyper High Quantiz - Massive CPU Usage 320 Bit - 2.135'987e96 Amplitude Levels - Very Super Highean Quantiz - Extensive CPU Usage 384 Bit - 3.940'201e115 Amplitude Levels - Very Super Higherage Quantiz - Enormous CPU Usage 512 Bit - 1.340'781e154 Amplitude Levels - Very Hyper High Quantiz - Giant CPU Usage 640 Bit - 4.562'441e192 Amplitude Levels - Hyper Highean Quantiz - Ultimate CPU Usage 768 Bit - 1.552'518e231 Amplitude Levels - Hyper Higherage Quantiz - Superior CPU Usage 1 KBit - 1.797'693e308 Amplitude Levels - Super Hyper High Quantiz - Gigantic CPU Usage

  • @ratfuk9340
    @ratfuk9340 Жыл бұрын

    Wait, I thought the noise is a function of the audio, not white noise? But here it's uncorrelated unless the signal is fairly simple. What am I missing?

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    Жыл бұрын

    You're right, quantization noise is a function of the audio signal, and correlated. But you can only hear the correlation in the error in simple signals, or if the bit depth is low, or if the signal is sufficiently low in level. But for rich, loud signals at a commonly chosen audio bit depth, the noise "sounds" uncorrelated and random, since there are no descernible patterns which develop in the error signal.

  • @ratfuk9340

    @ratfuk9340

    Жыл бұрын

    @@akashmurthy I see, thank you for explaining. Thank you also for making this awesome series!

  • @giaptheson
    @giaptheson Жыл бұрын

    11:28 5-sec countdown

  • @alexengineering3754
    @alexengineering3754 Жыл бұрын

    this explans why my SDR can pickup signals below the -48dBfs 😅 i thought noise is useless

  • @may8049
    @may80492 жыл бұрын

    how do you convert to analog signal after you have applied dithering to samples, weren't the data just getting corrupted? few videos ago , the samples can have unique solution when sampled at correct position. does this still get unique solution? maybe it will still get unique solution at a given frequency, but dithering will spread noise across multiple frequency? by the way , can i have your email.

  • @akashmurthy

    @akashmurthy

    2 жыл бұрын

    Dithering manifests as noise. You could call that 'corruption', but it's being done for a reason right. Any set of sampled points which constrained to a nyquist frequency will give you a single solution. The solution that is achieved with the original signal dithered, is the original signal with noise added. If dithered correctly, the noise is spread evenly across the entire frequency range, up until the nyquist frequency. Atleast, that's the desirable outcome. You can contact me on any of the social channels I've listed in the description.

  • @ABC_A
    @ABC_A Жыл бұрын

    @4:38 You said, "any place where audio leaves the digital domain and enters the analog domain is where truncation happens" Question If your session is 24-bit 96kHz and you intend the final mix to be 24-bit 96kHz, and also the Playback medium is 24-bit 96kHz, Should you enable Dither to help other converters Playback the track with no Quantization errors? or will other converters be able to Playback with quantization errors without Dither?

  • @giaptheson
    @giaptheson Жыл бұрын

    24 bit, 192 KHz!

  • @maxmeadb
    @maxmeadb3 ай бұрын

    I had to stop watching because of all the saliva sounds. Made me feel sick.

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