A couple of weeks ago we ran a Sample Rate survey to gather information from our community about their choice of sample rate when working. We structured to survey to see whether there has been a shift since out last survey covering this area back in 2019 and to see if there were significant differences between professional and non-professional users and between those working in music and Post.
We had over 2500 respondents and the data breaks down like so:
Is Your Audio Work Professional or Non-professional?
The first question asked whether the respondent worked professionally or non-professionally. As explained in the survey this had nothing to do with the standard of work being done, it was to try to establish whether the external influences which come into play for many professionals influence their choices.
In line with our understanding of our audience the respondents were principally professionals. Something to be borne in mind is that this affects the sample size and the non-professional questions were based on a much smaller data set as a result.
Professionals - Which Best Describes Your Work?
We are aware that a significant number of people work in both Post and in music. Rather than separate out respondents into Post or music we included a third option of both and it is striking to see just how significant this group is compared to the exclusively Post group.
What Sample Rate Do Professionals Working In Music Use?
What Sample Rate Do Professionals Working In Post Use?
What Sample Rate Do Professionals Working In Both Post And Music Use?
Looking at the responses for the professional group, the dominance of 44.1/48KHz is clear and was expected. In the Post group is it very predictable, with over 90% using 48K. Although we didn’t offer a choice between 48 and 44.1, in post it’s reasonable to expect that respondents are working at 48KHz.
We had feedback that the decision not to differentiate between 48 and 44.1 was an omission. This was considered and for the sake of not adding additional complexity to an already complex survey we decided to stay with differentiating between just three groups of low, high and very high sample rates.
Professional music users showed the increased use of 96/88.4KHz we anticipated and in the group for both music and Post the significant number of people using a different rate for music and Post was evident. This is why we added this option for that group.
The numbers using 192/176.4 KHz was as low as was expected with under 1% in all groups.
Non-Professionals - Which Best Describes Your Work?
What Sample Rate Do Non-Professionals Working In Music Use?
What Sample Rate Do Non-Professionals Working In Post Use?
Because the result is 100% 44.1/48KHz this chart doesn’t display a label
What Sample Rate Do Non-Professionals Working In Both Music And Post Use?
For the non-professional group the data backs up our anecdotal knowledge that there aren’t many non-professional post mixers. However what is noteable is how many non-professionals do both post and music, suggesting that many post mixers start in music.
The dominance of 44.1/48KHz continues to be evident in this group. The numbers for 192/176.4KHz are a little higher but that is probably a result of the smaller sample size. What is worth noting is that the number of non-professionals working in post at 48KHz was 100%. However this was a small proportion of a smaller group so the sample size in this category was too small to be significant.
All Respondents - At Which Bit Depth Do You Usually Work?
For the bit depth question, which was answered by all respondents, the dominance of 24 bit was no surprise, what was more interesting was the number working at 32 bit floating point. Nearly a quarter of respondents consider the advantages of floating point worth the additional system resources.
What Influences Your Choice Of Sample Rate?
In the final questions we asked respondents to rate the importance of four possible factors which might influence choice of sample rate from 1-5, with 1 being least important and 5 being most important.
How much do you think sample rate affects the quality of recorded audio
How much do you think sample rate affects the quality of processing like timestretch and tuning?
How much does compatibility with collaborators influence your choice of sample rate?
How much does the additional demands on your system higher sample rates involve influence your choice of sample rate?
The final question attempted to gather data on why people use the sample rate they do. Interestingly the most significant answer was quality of processing, rated as more important than sound quality or compatibility. perhaps the post and music groups would have chosen differently. The results shown above are the mean of all the responses. What we might be seeing here is an effect of the proportionally larger size of the music group who might value the benefits of higher sample rates on tuning although the same benefits come into play with timestretching which would be of interest to Post users.
What do you make of the survey results?