4 ms·

I'm pretty sure nucleardog is correct and that Apple wants 24/96KHz minimum sent to them; the PDF you linked to actually says that under "Best Practices" -- "To

I'm pretty sure nucleardog is correct and that Apple wants 24/96KHz minimum sent to them; the PDF you linked to actually says that under "Best Practices" -- "To take best advantage of our latest encoders, use only 24-bit sources and send us the highest-resolution master file possible, appropriate to the medium and the project." Then Apple encodes their AACs using the tools and methods described in that document. If I understand it correctly, they're basically trying to ensure that the downsampling from 24/96 to 16/44 preserves as much information as possible. (Does it really make a difference? No idea. But it does mean that Apple has a whole lot of music they can re-encode at varying quality levels.)

web007 5y ago
It's odd because I've read that before and made an assumption that it was talking about AAC mastering, but it only implies that. There's nothing that comes out and says what they want! There are some parts where they suggest higher fidelity sources, but mostly it comes down to: Apple Digital Masters Droplet You can use the Apple Digital Masters Droplet to automate the creation of 256 kbps AAC encodes. There isn't actually anything about what you're supposed to send them, only the recommendation to use their tooling which seems geared to produce 256k AAC files.
CharlesW 5y ago
Ah, that makes sense, thanks!