Making A CD Of My Music

What format do I need to make a CD that will play on an ordinary CD player and what software would I use?

Dr. V
 
You need .wav files that are 16-bit/44.1kHz. Once you get your songs in this format, you can use a lot of different programs to burn a music CD. You probably have on on your comp, like iTunes, Roxio creator, etc.
 
I did it, actually... I simply right clicked on the file and chose 'Make Audio CD'. The Wav was 24bit though. What difference will this make?

Incidentally, it sounds awful. It was just a test, to see how this mix would sound on a hi-fi system. Way too much bass, which it didn't have when I mixed it.

Somehow, I've got to try and compensate for this when I come to master it. It sounds totally different on the amp and speakers I'm using with my DAW.

Any ideas?

Dr. V
 
Room treatment (broadband - Not foam), proper calibration, etc. No shortcuts on those.

Backing up - Keep in mind that many consumer programs (as well-intended as they are) do NOT create compliant discs. iTunes is one of the bigger problematic programs. It might play, it might not, it is NOT to be used as a replication master by any means.
 
The Wav was 24bit though. What difference will this make?

The difference is that a CD player won't play a 24 bit wav. To burn an audio CD, you need 16 bit Wav. files. Didn't we go though all this already in another thread????
 
Incidentally, it sounds awful. It was just a test, to see how this mix would sound on a hi-fi system. Way too much bass, which it didn't have when I mixed it.

Somehow, I've got to try and compensate for this when I come to master it. It sounds totally different on the amp and speakers I'm using with my DAW.

Yeah, my guess is your hifi system boosts bass/treble and scoops mids. Mine does, it applies a big fat smile eq curve to everything, I think most probably do. I totally notice that too, so when I mix I go real ez on the bass cuz I know it'll be way boomy if I dont.

Also, that's a problem you should be correcting in mixing, not mastering.

Every system I listen to anything on has a big sub in it - pc, car, home theatre, etc. So I recently got a sub to go with my monitors, I'm still figuring out the translation, but it's a lot closer on the 1st try..
 
Incidentally, it sounds awful. Way too much bass, which it didn't have when I mixed it.
Chances are, it did have that much bass when you mixed it. You can't mix what you can't hear properly.
Room treatment (broadband - Not foam), proper calibration, etc. No shortcuts on those.
There's your answer. The importance of room treatment cannot be over-emphasized, yet it remains the one thing that too many people new to this will ignore.

You should never have to "compensate" while mixing. If you do, your monitors or, more likely, your room need serous help.
 
What's the room got to do with it? Can't I just turn the bass up on the monitors? For me, it's a case of getting a monitor set up that more closely resembles the hi-fi system in my lounge.

I can't get into treating rooms. I have a list of decorating and upholstery work as long as my arm - I'll never get around to it and besides, I live in rented accomodation, so I can't start messing with the walls and ceilings. It will have to do as it is.

For now (at least the next 18 months) as long as it sounds right on my hi-fi - it will sound right on everyone elses. If they don't like it, they can mess with the knobs on their stereo and if they don't have any knobs, they can always turn it off!

Dr. V
 
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Sorry, I know you were giving me sensible answers and I am interested in what I can do to improve it but you can see the position I'm in here. It's just frustrating to have to consider room acoustics, when I have so much work to get done here. What about monitoring with headphones?

Dr. V
 
The difference is that a CD player won't play a 24 bit wav. To burn an audio CD, you need 16 bit Wav. files. Didn't we go though all this already in another thread????

Only up to a point, RAMI. I made the CD off a 24bit WAV and it worked fine. If it will only accept 16bit, then the computer must have converted it, somehow.

Dr. V
 
Backing up - Keep in mind that many consumer programs (as well-intended as they are) do NOT create compliant discs. iTunes is one of the bigger problematic programs. It might play, it might not, it is NOT to be used as a replication master by any means.

I hate iTunes. I will never ever use it. Not even with an i-pod.

Dr. V
 
What's the room got to do with it?

ROFL!!! :D :D :D Almost everything. And I'm not exaggerating for effect. You don't have to like it, but it's truth.

It's like someone saying "I want to lose weight and get in shape, but I have too many other things to worry about, so I'm not willing to change my eating habits or do any exercise". OK, that's fine, that's your business, but don't expect to get anywhere near the results you're hoping for. It's that simple.

(Of course, you can always try to "compensate" by wearing baggy clothes with vertical lines. :D )

"Compensating" by turning up or down your bass sounds like an easy solution, but it's a recipe for even worse disaster, like it or not.

I know none of this is what you want to believe, but I'm trying to help you. And one day you'll be telling other newbies the same thing I'm telling you. I guarantee it.
 
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Only up to a point, RAMI. I made the CD off a 24bit WAV and it worked fine. If it will only accept 16bit, then the computer must have converted it, somehow.

Dr. V

Yes, it must have, because an audio CD is 16 bit.
 
ROFL!!! :D :D :D Almost everything. And I'm not exaggerating for effect. You don't have to like it, but it's truth.

It's like someone saying "I want to lose weight and get in shape, but I have too many other things to worry about, so I'm not willing to change my eating habits or do any exercise". OK, that's fine, that's your business, but don't expect to get anywhere near the results you're hoping for. It's that simple.

(Of course, you can always try to "compensate" by wearing baggy clothes with vertical lines. :D )

"Compensating" by turning up or down your bass sounds like an easy solution, but it's a recipe for even worse disaster, like it or not.

I know none of this is what you want to believe, but I'm trying to help you. And one day you'll be telling other newbies the same thing I'm telling you. I guarantee it.

LOL! Yes, I know you are right, RAMI.

Ugh... The truth hits hard... Let me get me head together... Shit... Where to start...?

Okay - I'm moving all this gear into a different room, come January (maybe sooner). I have a fresh start. TBH, I wouldn't know where to start and I'll need some kind of solution which fits into a dual purpose room.

Yes, I've tried turning the bass up in here... Well, it was worth a try but it's created an even worse mess. Mix-13 has now had the EQ shit kicked out of it; one more knob tweak and I think there'll be nothing left of it. Guess I had to find out somehow...

This is gonna take some research on my part - but it will have to be the minimum I can get away with.

Having said that, I know people who do nothing to their rooms and get very good results.

Dr. V
 
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Without question, the most effective absorber for midrange and high frequencies is rigid fiberglass. Owens-Corning 703 and 705, or equivalents from other manufacturers, are the standard absorbing materials used by professional studio designers. Besides being extremely absorbent they are also fireproof and, when applied to a wall, can even retard the spread of heat. Rigid fiberglass is available in panels 2 by 4 feet and in thicknesses ranging from 1 to 4 inches. Larger sizes are available, but 2 by 4 is more convenient for most studio applications, and can be shipped more economically. As with all absorbent materials, the thicker it is, the lower in frequency it will absorb to. That is, 703 fiberglass one inch thick absorbs reasonably well down to 500 Hz. When two inches thick, the same material is equally absorbent down to 250 Hz. See the sidebar Measuring Absorption for more information about how these measurements are made.

I used to laminate glass fibre for a living. I could make sheets of that dirt cheap.

What was that about egg boxes...?

Dr. V
 
Hey doc.
Product data for OC703 is here. http://www.owenscorning.eu/docs/products/700series_DataSheet.pdf
This is a rigid fiberglass insulation board. Common practice is to wrap in fabric and install in the corners of your room and first reflection points between you and the monitors. Check out the studio building forum. There are lots of DIY ideas. You'll need to stop by your local commercial construction supplier to get this stuff. You wont find it at Home Depot or Lowes.
 
If you cant make use of room treatment (landlord, wives, girlfriends, significant others, etc don't seem to appreciate masses of acoustic "decor" strangely) then you have to learn your room limitation by checking the mix on a lot (A LOT!!!) of other systems.
If your untreated room is over/under emphising some frequencies then you have to mix to where it sounds good in your room and then listen to the mix in as many other situations and systems as possible and make notes.
How does it sound in the car, in the kitchen on a boom box. on an mp3 player, on an xbox through the TV. On the kids boom box in the significant others car, at a freinds house etc, etc.

Because your (untreated) room is lying to you causing you to make bad mixing decisions then you have to take an "Average of the Truth" by listening in every scenario available to you.
then mix again based on what 5-6 different listening environments tell you is wrong with the mix done in the main room.... and then do it again, and again until it works on most of the systems you listen on. It may end up sounding like a piece of crap with no bass in your main room but if you want the mix to translate so that other people can listen to it and see what you were aiming for that's what you'll have to do.
It's a pain in the a$$ but if room treatment is absolutely off the table you have to do it the long way round

Having said that, I know people who do nothing to their rooms and get very good results.

Some people through blind luck may have a fine listening room without any treatment or they know exactly what the shortcomings are and how to compensate because they have been through the process above many times
 
What's the room got to do with it? Can't I just turn the bass up on the monitors? For me, it's a case of getting a monitor set up that more closely resembles the hi-fi system in my lounge.
I know it's been pounded in, but it can never be pounded in enough.

There are few rules in audio - Two of the hardest rules are:

1) You will only ever hear as well as your monitoring chain allows you to. Period. End of story, that's all she wrote, etc., etc., etc. You could have the most acute sense of hearing as anyone on the planet and it wouldn't make a bit of difference if your monitoring chain is lying to you.

2) Your monitoring chain will only ever be as accurate and consistent as the room they're in allows them to be. Period. No exceptions. Put a great set of speakers in a bad room and you might as well give a painting set to a color-blind monkey.

THAT SAID -

It's no big feat to listen to a great recording in a bad room and have it sound pleasant.

However - It's not the same as trying to create that recording in that bad space.

"Turning up the bass" on a hi-fi system is worthless if the room can't accurately reproduce that bass. Sure, it might sound 'bangin' (or whatever the kids are saying these days), but take it out of that room and you're shooting (yourself in the foot) in the dark.
 
Hang in there!

Hey, Doc...

I've been following your foray into home recording for awhile, and let me just say that you are making amazing progress in a very short period of time!

Your realization that room treatment must be considered is just another one of those "Aha!" moments in disguise. Just when you think you've got it all figured out, BAM! - Yet another detail to be factored into the overall equation.

My journey has mirrored your own to some degree, and I know that initially I was also overlooking the need for room treatment until someone on this forum recently made me understand the necessity of it. Just think of it as another door opening that will add to your knowledge and experience, and will ultimately contribute towards making you one of the experts around this forum in short order. (Especially at your current rapid rate of progress!) :D
 
I've been reading up on reflection. I think I could viably treat a 'sweetspot' in this new room - that is - absorbers/diffusers behind the monitors.

I notice a lot of what I'm reading pertains to the use of mics and how room acoustics can generally affect a recording. Since at this stage, most of the work is being done with VSTs and guitars plugged directly into the board, there are no room acoustics to worry about. What matters most is my monitoring 'ears' and whether they'll be true.

It's just the current thought process, so if I'm wrong, please feel free to correct...

The sitting room at the moment is fairly typical... With the exception of a lot of drapes on the wall. I believe you can happen upon good acoustics, quite by chance but that chance is equally able to swing the other way... So I insist on finding out why it sounds good. More important than trying to reproduce it exactly, is discovering just why it sounds that way.

The system I listen on is very neutral; tight bass and good detail across the entire range. Honestly, it really is a good benchmark for listening to my mixes. Good old solid state - really breathes life into the music for me.

However, the system I'm monitoring on in this room falls way short of that.

So what I've resorted to is listening to music I'm used to hearing in all it's 'fullness' on the main audio, over these montitors, with all eq levels dead flat. Whatever I hear is being translated to my mixes. When I do turn up the bass, temporarily, I'm hearing the fullness and the detail therein.

I appreciate the advice I'm being given here - more than I've said, actually - and intend to take it as soon as I get the rooms swapped around but I was compensating for the lack of bass depth on my monitors by boosting it in the DAW. Now I've addressed that, there is a huge improvement.

It's still not perfect and my expectations aren't massively high but from what I've read about applying the right amount of reverb, I notice myself struggling to know 'how much'. If I can address that, first, with some kind of free-floating, wall mounted absorbsion/diffusion/deflecting/whatever panels which sort out the monitoring sweetspot, I'll feel I'll have at least made a reasonable start towards calibrating the space, by deadening the reflection points around the speakers.

I can make a lot of different stuff, in a variety of materials, so ideally, I'd be looking at making these panels myself. Firstly, it's a case of understanding how they work and discovering if it's possible to make them.

Dr. V
 
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