Digital Audio Basics: Aliasing

Explained
Max McAllister

If you record audio using too low a sample rate, a kind of sampling error called
aliasing can occur. With regards to audio, aliasing is defined as the
misidentification of a signal frequency, which can introduce distortion or other
artifacts into the recording. Aliasing is easy enough to avoid, but it takes a little
briefing on the basics of digital audio.

Understanding Aliasing

When a signal is sampled by a digital recording system, it winds up being band-

limited. There are a finite number of points in the digital realm capable of
sampling the frequency, so it cannot represent an infinite range of frequencies.

A digital-to-analogue converter only creates signals within the specific

frequency range determined by your sample rate. Any recorded frequencies
beyond this range are mapped to frequencies within this range. When one
frequency gets coded as another, you end with aliasing errors.

A/D & D/A conversion

An A/D (analogue-to-digital) converter will allow you to convert analogue signal
into digital for recording in your DAW. On the other hand, a D/A (digital-to-
analogue) converter lets you convert stored digital information into an analogue
format.

All of this is done automatically by your audio interface. In the past, there was
some debate as to which interfaces had the best converters. However, today’s
standards are exceptionally high — even in budget interfaces.

Sample rate and the Nyquist Theorem

The highest frequency your system can record is determined by the sample rate.
Standard sample rates are 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, and 192 kHz.

The Nyquist theorem states that the highest recordable frequency is equal to
half of the sample rate. So at 48 kHz, you can record all the way up to 24 kHz —
called the Nyquist frequency.

This is important to know, because if a signal has any frequencies higher than
the Nyquist frequency, they are interpreted by the converter and mapped to
frequencies lower than the Nyquist frequency. From here, you end up with
aliasing.

In reality, it would be pretty unlikely to have a signal with frequencies extending

well beyond 20 kHz, but it’s a good idea to understand how sample rate effects
the frequencies you can safely record.

Bit Depth

While sample rate determines frequency, bit depth corresponds to the dynamic
range of your recording. Without getting too technical about the 1’s and 0’s
responsible for resolution, tracking at 24-bit, for example, provides plenty of
headroom to get above the noise floor, while still staying far away from clipping
your converter.

Each “bit” amounts to 6 dB of headroom. So 24-bit x 6 = 144 dB of dynamic

range! That’s a massive amount of headroom; you then simply have to record a
strong enough signal to get above the incredibly low noise floor.

Many songs also have a bit depth of 16 because it keeps the file size down, and 16-
bit/44.1kHz is standard CD format. Now, a bit depth of 24 is commonly used
when uploading songs to streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music.

Recalling data for playback

Once you have a recorded waveform stored digitally, you’re going to need to play
it back through your studio monitors or headphones. At this point, D/A
conversion takes place; the converter uses the stored information to construct an
analogue signal which gets sent to your speakers.

If the audio you recorded wasn’t done at a high enough sample rate and bit
depth, the reconstruction of the original analogue signal may be inaccurate after
D/A conversion.

What does aliasing sound like?

There are two forms of aliasing that can take place: Either there will be silence,
or the signal will be recorded as if it were a lower octave, completely
misrepresenting the original signal.

How to avoid aliasing

To prevent aliasing, all you have to do is record with an adequate sample rate.
That is, you should choose the sample rate that best represents the Nyquist
frequency you wish to record up to.

The default sample rate is 44.1 kHz, meaning you can safely record frequencies
all the way up to 22,050 Hz. In most cases, this is more than enough headroom to
avoid aliasing, though you can choose to record at 48 kHz for a bit more safety
while also keeping file size relatively low.

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