My band just finished mixing, etc...

[SLY_Z_28]

DIY "mastered" and ready for the public to hear...whats the best quality to burn it onto a cd to give out to people?

 

whats a master cd?

[nerol1st]

44.1k 16 bit wav for the CD.

 

The master in my world means that it was burned at a slower rate on better media.

[SLY_Z_28]

so do i export it out of my audio program 44.1k 16bit?

 

then right it to cd at 16x? what qualifies as better media?

[piersonm]

 

what qualifies as better media?

 

 

What I qualify as 'better media' is a CD-R that is 25 bucks for a spindle of 50 or a single one that is 25 bucks. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CDRdisk74G/

 

Is it really better? Is it really worth that much more? Will it just make you feel safer because you paid more for a single? Will you think its 'pro' because its a pretty gold color?........who know.....probably?!?!?

 

I figure I'm not burning every CD I make on them, so whats wrong with doing one per project.

 

Also this is a helpful file for Mass Market CD Format Red Book

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Book_(audio_CD_standard)

[Temple of Light]

Just in case you missed this...

Edit: The master CD is the first one you burn that serves as the master printed copy for the machines that do the duplication of your CD. It's what companies like Discmakers etc request if you are going to pay for small quantities of CD to be manufactured for you.

 

I use Emtec CD-R Ceramic Plated for mastering to, any high quality CD-R for audio will suffice for duplication,

check this out:

Recommended:

 

-Manufacturers selling under their own label, or using an exclusive brand name:

 

Ritek (Ritek)

Taiyo Yuden (T.Y.)

Kodak (Kodak - manufacturing discontinued)

Mitsui (Mitsui)

TraxData (Ritek)

SmartBuy (Prodisc)

Ricoh (almost sure they are always from Ricoh)

Mitsubishi (Mitsubishi)

HiSpace (CDR section of MPO) Gold CDRs (*)

 

-Brands that so far have maintained high quality of media:

 

Hewlett-Packard (T.Y., Ricoh, previously also Mitsui)

Arita (Ritek) (can someone verify - always Ritek?)

Prostore (4M, Moser Baer India)

Plextor (T.Y.)

Teac (Mitsui)

Yamaha DiscT@2 (Mitsubishi)

 

Varying quality:

 

Mr.Platinum (NAN-YA (bad), Ritek (good)

MMORE (used to be CMC(bad), but now everything is Moser Baer India (quite good))

Verbatim (Mitsubishi, 4M, CMC, T.Y.) (Note that "Azo" on the box means Mitsubishi)

Sony (T.Y., Sony)

TDK (T.Y., Ritek, TDK, CMC)

Memorex (Ritek, CMC)

Fuji (Fuji, T.Y.)

[SLY_Z_28]

so do i export it out of my audio program 44.1k 16bit?

or am i thinking wrong here?

[Phil O'Keefe]

What sample rate / bit depth did you record with in the DAW program?

 

When providing mixes to a mastering engineer, you normally want to give them the highest resolution versions you have. That means if you recorded and mixed at 24 bit, 96 kHz, then the mixes you give the M.E. should be in that same format - digital stereo mix files at 24 bit, 96 kHz or whatever you used on the multitrack. The mastering engineer will do all of their processing and then after they're done with everything else, they will do the sample rate conversion (if needed) and bit depth conversion / dithering as the final steps...

 

Assuming you used 24 bit / 44.1 kHz, you'll need to dither after it is converted to 16 bit. Dithering is always the LAST step in the process. Any other "mastering" steps - compression, EQ, etc. - should be done prior to dithering. After dithering, you can do any final cropping to edit away any extra "silence" at the start or end of the individual songs, and "sequence" the album - putting the songs into the correct order, with the desired amount of space between each, doing any crossfades, inserting your PQ codes / start IDs, etc... You should also do any MP3 conversions after all of those steps are done... but for a CD release, the final "mastered version" that is used for replication / duplication should be 16 bit, 44.1 kHz.

[SLY_Z_28]

we recorded at 24bit, 96khz. I have mastered the songs to the best of my ability with the equipment I have. its not professional but its more than decent.

 

This is all do it ourself because who has $$ right.

 

How do i dither it?

 

How do I insert PQ codes / start IDs, etc??

 

How do i get it to 16bit, 44.1khz?

 

SOrry for all the questions ive never done this before.

[WRGKMC]

What Daw program are you using?

 

Most allow dithering when you export it to a stereo file.

 

You can also export it at the same rate yiou recorded it, then pull it into an audio editor program, Wavelab, Cool Edit, Sound Forge, Gold Wave or many others, then apply mastering plugins, then Dither it down to CD quality before saving. Dithering is the last thing you do before burning. Any mastering should be done at the recordings original sample rate and bit depth for best sound quality results.

[SLY_Z_28]

 

What Daw program are you using? Most allow dithering when you export it to a stereo file. You can also export it at the same rate yiou recorded it, then pull it into an audio editor program, Wavelab, Cool Edit, Sound Forge, Gold Wave or many others, then apply mastering plugins, then Dither it down to CD quality before saving. Dithering is the last thing you do before burning. Any mastering should be done at the recordings original sample rate and bit depth for best sound quality results.

 

 

adobe audition 2

 

mastering is all done. im ready to start burning

[WRGKMC]

Adobie should have a button on tha task bar that does sample conversion and applys dithering in a one step process. I have cool edit and its very simular since adobie built their program off cool edit when they bought them out. I havent used it for multitracking, so I dont know if it can be done during exporting to a stereo file. I know In Sonar you can do sample conversion and dither at the same time you export to a stereo track. I'm not sure you can do that with adobie, so you may need to check the manual or help files.

 

You could always export to stereo, then pull it back into the program as a stereo track and then apply the sample conversion/dither to CD quality.

 

I always reimport the stereo mix to apply my final EQ, Multiband and Brickwall limiter to the stereo mixdown prior to conversion and dither. I gives me slightly better results vs adding plugins in the mix master bus. Some of it is due to the inaccurate metering of the DAW mixer. You can do the final EQing and even Multiband in the mix. I do suggest using the limiter as the last thing you apply to the stereo mix before conversion and dither. If you try both, you'll likely find it sounds better id its done right.

[SLY_Z_28]

 

Adobie should have a button on tha task bar that does sample conversion and applys dithering in a one step process. I have cool edit and its very simular since adobie built their program off cool edit when they bought them out. I havent used it for multitracking, so I dont know if it can be done during exporting to a stereo file. I know In Sonar you can do sample conversion and dither at the same time you export to a stereo track. I'm not sure you can do that with adobie, so you may need to check the manual or help files. You could always export to stereo, then pull it back into the program as a stereo track, do your final limiting if needed to prevent peaks above 0db,(-.01db) then just do your sample conversion/dither to CD quality.

 

 

If i export it to stero, then pull it back in the program...how do i export it with sample converstion/dither to cd quality?

[WRGKMC]

How about google. The search function for the manual works good for me.

 

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Audition/3.0/help.html?content=WS58a04a822e3e5010548241038980c2c5-7f4f.html

 

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Audition/3.0/help.html?content=WS58a04a822e3e5010548241038980c2c5-7f4c.html