Jump to content

Good or Best Redbook CD burning software?


Recommended Posts

  • Members

Thanks for taking time to read this.

 

I'd like to find a software that will burn Redbook standard CD's and allows me to place multiple different time gaps and hidden tracks (the -0:27 or whatever before the next track begins) between songs. I don't need a lot of hooplah, like audio normalization and fade outs and stuff - I have recording software for that.

 

I'm just looking for the best (and possibly most cost-effective) solution for this situation.

 

Thanks in advance. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Are you the Mac or PC? The typical go-to options are SoundForge, Peak, Wavelab....iTunes (;) kidding)

 

If you happen to own Logic, it includes a stellar mastering platform called "Waveburner." A lot of folks forget about it. It's obviously Mac-only though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Are you the Mac or PC? The typical go-to options are SoundForge, Peak, Wavelab....iTunes (
;)
kidding)


If you happen to own Logic, it includes a stellar mastering platform called "Waveburner." A lot of folks forget about it. It's obviously Mac-only though.

 

 

Oh sorry, I should have stated the obvious determining factor - I run windows XP on a PC. :p

 

 

 

I have looked at Architect. It looks good - but is there anything cheaper than Architect, it's like $112 on the site.

 

Would Architect or Wavelab be better at the track gap/track ID/hidden track thing? I do use Cubase LE4 if that's worth anything - I don't know enough about it to pair it with Wavelab however, if there is such an ability. Thanks!

 

 

oh and btw how is Feurio! with this? It's certainly cheap enough... I know I'm not getting the fancey plug ins of the Wavcelab but how is this for burning redbook and inserting audio in the index-0 gaps?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If what you want to do is get the songs so they all play back at the same relative levels, SoundForge / CD Architect can do it, no problem. But although there are tools available to help you "automate" things like that, I would encourage you to learn how to do it manually, and with your ears. For that (and many other "mastering" related tasks, such as noise reduction, fade-outs, EQ, "razor blade" style two track editing, SRC, dithering, etc.) I find having a program like SoundForge (or Wavelab) available is essential. As with your DAW, they have various plug-ins available and will "host" the VST stuff you may already have. You can use any personal favorites for things like EQ, compression and limiting, etc. But a good host will have a lot more available; such as great metering and great statistical analysis tools and displays that you can utilize in your level and EQ comparisons, as well as for general "troubleshooting". But remember, you still have to use your ears. :) Listen to the tracks, and see how they flow, and what the impact of each is... sometimes you might want one song to be a touch louder for musical reasons. Setting everything to the same RMS level or whatever isn't always the "right" approach, but it can get you started... just remember to use your ears too!

 

The tools you have available are pretty extensive. They'll let you know if you have a DC offset issue, and what your peak sample level is, and where it occurs. If something is clipping, you can find it. You can sometimes interpolate to "fix" the clip, or you can C/P from an earlier cycle of the wave to fix it, or use a pencil tool to re-draw it by hand. You can dither and set a new sample rate (SRC) and convert to MP3's. Programs like Wavelab and SoundForge are designed specifically for these types of tasks; certainly more so than your typical DAW was.

 

But some people do prefer setting things up in their DAW and "mastering" there via the stereo bus. OK, I can see why some people want to do it that way, but I personally like to look at mixing and mastering as separate tasks, to be treated as such. YMMV.

 

No matter which approach you prefer, a program like CD Architect or Wavelab is pretty essential for doing your track sequencing, crossfades, start ID's and PQ sheets, and of course, CD burns. Both programs are well developed and have tons of followers, and it's pretty hard to go wrong with either one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...
  • Members

I don't know whether the CD Burner is the right one for you, but it can support you to rip favorite CD tracks from several different CD disc and burn them to one disc as well as to cut or split audio at anywhere you want to.

 

 

**spam links removed**

 

 

Hope it helps. Best of luck!;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I'm with Phill on this. Percieved Loudness matching is something that really should be done prior to burning. Its actually done whan applying the brickwall Limiting as a final mastering stage. Cheaper CD programs only have Normalization, and that can totally mess up a well balanced set of tracks.

 

For Loudness matching I use a program called Har Bal. You can use it to match the loudness of your tracks to a reference file. You simply scan the reference file in and then open each one of your tracks. next hit control m and it tells you how much the track needs to be limited to match the reference file. You can use the built in limiter or simply write down the setting, open the file in an editor program and apply the limiter of your choice. I also set the output for a -.1db so theres no overs. I can then burn on any software an have no loudness issues. I usually burn at a slower rate than the computer automatically selects and never use normalization.

 

There are of course other things a good burner program can do for you that can save time, plus adding time codes, signatures, titles and all that jazz. Those addons can help prep the music and all, the actual burning when it occurs isnt going to make the music sound better though. The program shouldnt shouldnt have any impact on whats burned unless you selected some kind of processing to occur at the same time. If you select to test the data first, it can help prevent bad burns, but with a good burner even that isnt really needed once the systems been tested and parameters set.

 

In my case, I have a few decent burner programs. I used to use nero with my old setup, but with my new computer I just been using the stock program that came with my computer. It has Light Scribe features for burning labels and I can just do a few clicks, flip the CD over and burn a label with the Laser. Label burning is Slow though and it only burns a black label but its better than messing with stickey labels or paying for silk screening. Pretty cheap too. I paid $19 for 100 light scribe disks which is $.19 per disc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • Members

you can find CD architect easily online for less then 90 bucks.

 

Try Amazon, newegg, etc. Many places. I love it, as well as Sound Forge.

 

Actually, for home studios, I like most of Sony Creative's offerings for audio and video.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...