Digital 8- track

Why is it that some of them sound as good as alot of studios?Is there really that much of a difference between 16-bit 44hz and a real studio?When i listen,i can't really tell that theres that much of a difference.I don't have the best quality one but if i use the right type of mics(shuresm57)amps guitars etc....i still get really good recordings are very much high-demo quality at times.

It is not so much the recorder but the converters, preamps microphones, recording space and microphones (and there placement) as well as the plugins etc etc. Also knowing how to get the best out of kit also helps.

Whilst there is a clear audible difference between 16/44.1 and 24/96 (or 192) there are many other factors in play.

Remember that one Neumann U87ai microphone (industry standard) costs more than most high end digital "studios in a box" coming in at a cool 3000+ USD. Same with preamps, easy to drop 2-3k on a nice preamp !

The main difference is production quality. When these huge professional level companies master a track, they then go and test it on up to a hundred or more different audio devices (car stereos, home stereos, home theatre systems, walkmans, clubs, PAs etc etc) then they continue to tweak it over and over until everything is perfect. They need as much digital information as they can to do all of this. Another reason they do it is "because they can." :p

For a demo track or garage band recording.. you won't ever really need more than 24-bit 48KHz.. and 16-bit 44.1KHz is the most information you are going to be able to put on a CD anyway. I always record at a slightly higher resolution than I am going to output to so that there is no down-mixing messiness.