Another Mastering Question

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NL5

NL5

Unpossible!
This should be easy. I am not concerned with the first stages of mastering (atleast not in this thread), but more with the FINAL stage. If I have ten songs that I have mixed and "psuedo mastered", how do I go about making a master disc to send to the replicators? If I burn an "audio cd" in nero to redbook standards, is that enough?


Thanks in advance.
 
perhaps, but you will have no way of checking the disc for errors. and I heard that plextor is going out of business so we may never be able to error check a cd again ! :eek:
 
i'm sure someone else will step in and fill the void...
 
It is certainly a good idea to have the best master possible to send to the press plants, but many CD's have been pressed from masters made on standard store bought CD-R's burned with consumer software on consumer burners etc... If I were you, I would contact the press plant you plan on using and ask them what they need and/or want. They should check the discs for errors before they make the glass master. If there is a problem they should contact you. If not, you should look for someone else;)
 
I would suggest getting hold of a Plextor PX800A and use this to burn your master.

Then run Plextools (which comes free with the drive) to check it for errors.

You should also check that what's on the CD corresponds bit for bit with what's on your hard disc. Your burning software might do this, or you can do it manually by ripping the CD and doing a phase reverse cancellation check.

Once your CD has passed all these tests, you need to listen to the whole CD on headphones........if you're happy with what you hear, you can send the CD off for replication.
 
If your burning burn at 2x too.
1x the lazer burns too long (and removes some burnt data if I recall) and 3x too fast and misses data
 
do replication plants take data cd's maybe with an iso file or something?
 
That used to be true, no longer. Check with the manufacturer for recommended speeds.



DDP was the format of preference. I don't know of any plant that does ISO (or BIN/CUE file). If anyone does, let us know.

can regular programs/disc drives like nero etc do ddp or is that something more specialized? I don't even know what ddp is.
 
can regular programs/disc drives like nero etc do ddp or is that something more specialized? I don't even know what ddp is.

No. Gear Software has probably the least expensive version of software that can do DDP:

http://www.gearsoftware.com/pro-mastering.cfm

I think it would be a better investment to buy a Plextor drive with Plextools. DDP is becoming less popular unless you have a consistent need to FTP projects to a replication plant.
 
If your burning burn at 2x too.
1x the lazer burns too long (and removes some burnt data if I recall) and 3x too fast and misses data
Many recent studies (including my own) find a "burning efficiency window" at around 20-25% of a drive's rated speed. When 4 & 8x burners were the fastest on the block, burning at 1 & 2x was the norm.

But 10, 12, even 16x on 48-52x burners seem to yield the lowest BLER across a broad range of media.
 
DDP is becoming less popular unless you have a consistent need to FTP projects to a replication plant.
FWIW, virtually every major is still specifying DDPs on their P.O.

Regardless, if you burn a red book audio disc and it's not rejected at the plant, you're fine. I second Darius's idea above.
 
To the plant. Haven't gotten a P.O. specifying anything but in the last couple of years, in fact.

Thanks Brad, I was basing my statement on feedback regarding DDP from some other forums.

Good to know ...
 
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