Confusion about project sample rates and rendering

Do yourself a favor: Lock everything down on 24bit/44.1khz When you do a final mixdown for a cd, you'll want to render at 16bit/44.1khz Unless you have a multi-bajillion$$ studio, you really dont need anything else. Going to higher rates only loads your computer down and gives you less horsepower, less plugins and bigger files before your system blue-screens. (the power users will come down in 3, 2, 1... but just go 24/44.1 and everything will be fine.)

Thank you for your responds. Yes, Locking everything down on 24bit/44.1khz makes sense.. I read that if you record vocals, you should put the sample rate a little higher so you can record all the dynamics of the human voice. People also say that the 96khz thing is just a big marketing stunt... Soundvision

I agree with Tim.Stick to 24 bit 44.1k and you won't go far wrong.If you get a project that starts to stress the system read the Reaper manual and or read the forum about rendering,"Stems" so you can remove plug-ins on intensive tracks.I've recorded at 16 bit 44.1k and still had good results but if,like most modern systems,it can handle 24/44.1k then use that and the CD standard of 16 bit 44.1k .wav for making CDs. :)