redbook compliant?

tc4b

tc4b

Yeah I been drinkin, SO!?
What is a Redbook Compliant CD, in layman's terms? I mean, what do I need to make them, do I really need specialized software besides nero or itunes? What are the benefits of having a CD be redbook compliant?

Thanks for any help; the wikipedia entry was very technical, but I want to know what it means in practical application.
 
This is how I understand it...

Apparently, back in the 1990's, some companies made their CD burning equipment use a proprietary format, (hoping it would become the new standard.) Mastering houses and duplication companies had big problems reading some of the audio CD's sent in for mastering and printing because the odd-ball formats wouldn't play on all CD players. So, they started to insist that all CD's sent in needed to be using the "standard format" as set forth in the Rainbow book series written by the US Government.

It is not really much of an issue anymore because most all modern CD burning hardware and software do comply to that standard. The name is still tossed around within the industry because it sounds techie.

EDIT: Basically, if the audio CD you just burned plays fine in all of your CD players, then you are good.
 
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Um, no. Red Book standards were developed in the early 80's, when music CD's were coming onto the market. There was no proprietary things going on and definitely not in the 90's. This was all established almost 30 years ago.
 
I don't know if Nero can burn red book compliant cd's. iTunes probably doesn't. You can use a mastering app like Wavelab, CD Architect, or Soundforge to burn a red book cd.

Redbook is the standard that dictates how an audio cd should be formatted. It includes error correction so when it falls on the car floor and is scratched, it should still work.
 
Seafroggys said:
Um, no. Red Book standards were developed in the early 80's, when music CD's were coming onto the market. There was no proprietary things going on and definitely not in the 90's. This was all established almost 30 years ago.
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I never said the standards were developed in the 90's. I suggested that the problem became more apparent in the 90's, as consumer burners became more popular. During that era more studios began to submit material on CD's instead of DAT. (But I am no expert.)
 
It is not really much of an issue anymore because most all modern CD burning hardware and software do comply to that standard. The name is still tossed around within the industry because it sounds techie.

EDIT: Basically, if the audio CD you just burned plays fine in all of your CD players, then you are good.
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That is utterly and entirely WRONG (and there mounds and mounds of bad CD's out there to prove it - Along with dozens and dozens of performers, dancers and gymnasts who lost in the finals because their disc wouldn't play at the competition - Along with more than a few bands I've dealt with myself who spent entire weekends unwrapping 1,000 discs and re-packaging them with 'proper' discs***).

YES - you need specialized software. Although I *UNDERSTAND* (although I've not proven it to myself) that Nero will burn a compliant disc "behind the scenes" (without the user's input or knowledge). iTunes (along with the vast majority of consumer burning programs I've used) WILL NOT burn a compliant disc (period - end of story). Although I DO know of people who had the misfortune of sending discs authored with iTunes out to be replicated (and the replication house was stupid enough to go ahead and run them off stating "Hey, we just replicated what was sent to us" as the lamest excuse I've ever heard).

TRUE - it's not rocket science. But it's rarely ever as simple as plopping a bunch of files in a burn-folder and writing an 'audio' disc...

One 'warning' I can give you - If you aren't 100% certain that the disc you're authoring is compliant to specifications, then assume it's not. If you can't edit the PQ information at the frame level, consider it worthless. If you can't output a frame-accurate PQ log, assume there isn't one. If you can't specify *for certain* that there's a 150-frame gap before the first start marker, assume it doesn't exist.


*** True - Many 'recent' CD players play fast & loose with the discs they'll play. But then again, many of them with play MP3/data discs as well. Ironically, the CD players that really count - The professional decks used in radio stations, broadcast and performing arts venues - those are the decks that are usually the most picky. And even then - You might put a disc in and it'll play just fine. Put it in again and suddenly it'll start playing in the middle of track 7 and you can see the time code slipping in and out. Put it in again and it won't play at all. Put it in again and it might play just fine.

You just never know...

But you won't have that problem with a properly authored disc.


SIDE-NOTE: the drive used rarely ever had/has anything to do with it. It's just a burner. It's simply burning a stream of data. It' whether that stream of data is formatted properly that will make it or break it.

That said - A properly formatted burn doesn't guarantee a lot of things either (going back to "it's rarely as simple as...").
 
Massive Master said:
If you can't edit the PQ information at the frame level, consider it worthless. If you can't output a frame-accurate PQ log, assume there isn't one. If you can't specify *for certain* that there's a 150-frame gap before the first start marker, assume it doesn't exist.
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This caught my attention. I use a really old version of Wavelab Essential and it does the PQ codes automatically. I don't think I can print out the PQ sheet, either. But I can burn ISRC codes, bar codes, CD-text and mixed media CD's.

I think I can burn red book compliant CD's (or Orange book for CD-r's - right?). Am I correct?
 
I would imagine WLE should do it. I'd bet (only a dollar or so) that somewhere in there is the ability to print the PQ log also.

There just has to be.
 
Massive Master said:
That is utterly and entirely WRONG (and there mounds and mounds of bad CD's out there to prove it - Along with dozens and dozens of performers, dancers and gymnasts who lost in the finals because their disc wouldn't play at the competition - Along with more than a few bands I've dealt with myself who spent entire weekends unwrapping 1,000 discs and re-packaging them with 'proper' discs***)...
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If I was wrong then I stand corrected. Thanks for setting us straight, Massive.
 
Massive Master said:
I would imagine WLE should do it. I'd bet (only a dollar or so) that somewhere in there is the ability to print the PQ log also.

There just has to be.
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Hey John. Sounds like Nero claims to or might do RedBook (I don't imagine this is what you use, lol), and WaveLab probably works. What do you use? What do you like? I've always used Nero without problems, which doesn't mean much since my mixes rarely get duplicated or distributed in any real quantity. Of course, I'm interested in a better way...
 
Samplitude Professional (and to a much lesser extent, WaveLab and WaveEditor).

Samplitude Master will do it also (for much less $$$, but has much less features), as will basically anything in the Samp/Sequoia family, WaveLab, CD Architect, WaveEditor (Mac). There are others, but those are the "big guys" IMO/E.
 
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