You finally have an evening free, your guitar is tuned, the audio interface is plugged in, and your DAW (digital audio workstation, the app you record in) asks a question you didn’t plan for: 16-bit or 24-bit? I’d pick 24-bit every time. This post shows why 24-bit audio recording gives you cleaner takes and easier mixes, and how to check and convert your files on Linux.

What 24-bit audio recording means

Bit depth is the number of bits used to store the loudness of each audio sample. A 16-bit file can describe 65,536 loudness levels per sample, while a 24-bit file can describe over 16.7 million. More levels means each sample sits closer to the real signal your mic or pickup sent in.

Think of it like storing a measurement as an integer versus a precise float. Same reading, much finer detail.

Capture more detail in every take

24-bit audio captures your performance with finer precision, the same way careful debugging catches the small stuff. Every strum, pick attack and fading chord is stored with more resolution, so what you hear on playback is closer to what you actually played.

Heartfelt ballad or full-speed solo, the small details stay in the recording instead of getting rounded off.

Get a lower noise floor (not a noise remover)

24-bit recording lowers the digital noise floor, which is the faint hiss added when audio is turned into numbers. You know how annoying a background bug is. This is the audio version, and 24-bit pushes it far below anything you’ll hear.

One honest caveat: 24-bit won’t remove amp hum, fan noise or a buzzing single-coil pickup. It just makes sure the recording format itself doesn’t add noise, so quiet vocal moments and clean guitar parts stay clear.

Use the extra dynamic range for quiet and loud parts

Dynamic range is the gap between the quietest and loudest sound a recording can hold. In theory, 16-bit gives you about 96 dB and 24-bit about 144 dB. Real interfaces don’t reach 144 dB, but you still get a lot more room than 16-bit.

Music needs to move people, a bit like a good user interface needs to feel right. That extra range lets thunderous riffs and whispered interludes live in the same song without the quiet parts sinking into noise or the loud parts clipping.

Keep more headroom when you mix and master

24-bit recordings give you headroom, the safety space between your loudest peak and the point where audio distorts. Because the noise floor is so low, you can record a little quieter and stop worrying about clipping a surprise strum.

As a developer, you like being able to iterate. Headroom gives you that in the mix: you can add EQ, compression and effects, or reshape an arrangement, without the file falling apart. I’d suggest leaving your peaks well below 0 dBFS while tracking and fixing loudness later in mastering.

Keep a 24-bit master for later

Archive your songs as 24-bit masters, the same way you’d keep a project in version control instead of only shipping the build. A full-quality master means you can re-mix, re-master or export for a new platform years from now without starting from a lower-quality copy.

If you’re digitizing old music too, my guide on ripping audio CDs on Linux pairs well with this. Keep in mind that CDs are 16-bit, so ripping them at 24-bit won’t add detail that was never there.

Check and convert bit depth on Linux

To check the bit depth of a file with SoX, run:

soxi MySong.wav

Look at the Precision line. It should say 24-bit for a 24-bit recording.

To make a 16-bit copy (for a CD or a quick share) with dither, run:

sox MySong.wav -b 16 MySong-16bit.wav dither

Dither adds a tiny amount of noise that hides the rounding errors from dropping bits. Keep the original 24-bit file and only share the converted copy.

Plug in your guitar, set your DAW to 24-bit, and hit record.

Happy recording and coding! 🎸