These are two of your main choices when it comes to sampling rates for recording your audio, forget about the others(48k,88.2,etc.)for now. These numbers represent the number of sonic snapshots(audio being captured)that are taken of your audio in one seconds time. 44.1 khz means that you are capturing 44,100 sonic snapshots per second(yeah, that many). With digital audio 44.1 khz is the common choice for most for audio sampling. Also note that 96 khz recording files are much larger than 44.1 khz ones and will take up alot of hard drive space.
There are many arguments over the difference of these two. The fact is that 44.1 khz captures everything audible to the human ear while 96 khz can exceed that and pick up some high frequency harmonics. The majority of professionals in the industry say they can’t hear a difference in the two.I’ve heard stuff recorded at both settings and like most people do not hear a difference.And the few people who have claimed they do hear a difference has said it sounded a little harsh(more detail is not always a good thing).
I have researched this topic and reached out to as many people (mixing engineers) that I could and have come to this conclusion. When it comes down to having a quality mix that people will enjoy this just DOES NOT MATTER. 44.1 khz captures all the detail and quality that you need out of your project.
This is one of those things I wish I had never gotten so worked up about when I started studying audio engineering because at the end of the day it just DOES NOT MATTER. Sure 96khz is technically a higher quality and clients who don’t know any better would prefer there stuff being recorded this way simply because they don’t know any better and it is a higher quality. But is it worth your hard disk space to use a higher quality that is in no way distinguishable to anything done at 44.1?
If you are trying to decide between these two than do yourself a favor and just pick one so you can get on to what is really important. Don’t be an audio tweakhead and waste your time worrying about stuff like this. Most professional engineers record at 44.1 khz and make great records.
When it comes to recording just keep it simple and focus on things like mic selection, placement and gain staging.
Good Weekend:)
Jimmy
