simple mastering question....
- Thread starter trdn1
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Brenton Trott
New member
Mastering is the process of working on the finished two track mix, so yes it can be done from CD, Dat, two track tape etc.
An ADAT is a multitrack, if you are working on multiple tracks, that is mixing.
Brenton
An ADAT is a multitrack, if you are working on multiple tracks, that is mixing.
Brenton
dachay2tnr
One Hit Wonder
Follow-up question.
I'm concerned that if the recording and mixing was done in 24 bit, and you drop it 16 bit to put on a CD to send out for mastering, aren't you compromising the whole thing somewhat?
I'm concerned that if the recording and mixing was done in 24 bit, and you drop it 16 bit to put on a CD to send out for mastering, aren't you compromising the whole thing somewhat?
any time you reduce the bitrate you should dither down from the current rate to the desired rate. This is because when you simple convert without ditering you are chopping off part of the audio. However, you should only dither at one piont throughtout the entire process, perferably right before or during mixdown to a stereo track. After that you can send the stereo track off to a mastering company so they can try and work miracles
search for Bob Katz and you should find some of his articles on this and other subjects regarding audio.
search for Bob Katz and you should find some of his articles on this and other subjects regarding audio.
sonusman
Banned
Nada on the dithering....
ffmada, it just don't make any sense to send a dithered mix to a mastering house. Here is why.
Dithering puts "noise" at about -96db and that noise is generally around 3db loud. But it is shaped noise, so usually, you don't hear it. But in effect, you now only have 93db of "clean" audio.
The problem with dithering a mix down to 16 bit is that the mastering house is probably going to have to dither it too. Not a good thing to dither twice as you lose yet another 3db of s/n ratio.
The best way to submit your mixes to a mastering house is at the highest resolution possible. This may mean burning a DATA CD with the higher then 16 bit files. In the case of 24 bit recordings, as long as you keep it at 24 bits, you don't need to apply dithering at all after any DSP, because the quantinization errors will be far before where further dithering will take place, and even if you kept the audio at 24 bits, you would not be able to hear the errors because they are too quiet for the human ear to detect.
Even if you HAVE to mix at 16 bit, it would be better not to apply dithering IF you are going to send that mix to a mastering facility. Yes, you will truncate the file to 16 bit, but at least the whole 16 bit is there, with no added dithering noise yet. Let the mastering house deal with that.
Now, the above paragraph ALSO depends on how the mastering house is going to deal with the mastering. If they are going to run the 16 bit files through a D/A converter, then through analog gear, then through a A/D converter, then you MAY need to apply dithering at mix. But, this whole conversion process is probably going to start adding noise to the audio signal, so it will dither itself in this case.
If they are going to master with digital tools, dithering should be the last thing done. But remember that Digital Signal Processing is best done with higher bit rates and higher sampling rates, so once again, you should supply higher bit rate files to the mastering house.
Ed
ffmada, it just don't make any sense to send a dithered mix to a mastering house. Here is why.
Dithering puts "noise" at about -96db and that noise is generally around 3db loud. But it is shaped noise, so usually, you don't hear it. But in effect, you now only have 93db of "clean" audio.
The problem with dithering a mix down to 16 bit is that the mastering house is probably going to have to dither it too. Not a good thing to dither twice as you lose yet another 3db of s/n ratio.
The best way to submit your mixes to a mastering house is at the highest resolution possible. This may mean burning a DATA CD with the higher then 16 bit files. In the case of 24 bit recordings, as long as you keep it at 24 bits, you don't need to apply dithering at all after any DSP, because the quantinization errors will be far before where further dithering will take place, and even if you kept the audio at 24 bits, you would not be able to hear the errors because they are too quiet for the human ear to detect.
Even if you HAVE to mix at 16 bit, it would be better not to apply dithering IF you are going to send that mix to a mastering facility. Yes, you will truncate the file to 16 bit, but at least the whole 16 bit is there, with no added dithering noise yet. Let the mastering house deal with that.
Now, the above paragraph ALSO depends on how the mastering house is going to deal with the mastering. If they are going to run the 16 bit files through a D/A converter, then through analog gear, then through a A/D converter, then you MAY need to apply dithering at mix. But, this whole conversion process is probably going to start adding noise to the audio signal, so it will dither itself in this case.
If they are going to master with digital tools, dithering should be the last thing done. But remember that Digital Signal Processing is best done with higher bit rates and higher sampling rates, so once again, you should supply higher bit rate files to the mastering house.
Ed
oops!
sorry about that. I should have crossed checked my reply with the article I read. I will add, however, that the only time I have ever had a cd mastered I had to do it myself ($$$) and then dither down to send off to the cheapo duplication company in town here. needless to say it did not turn out to be a great cd, even for a demo But hey, that was before I found this site, so I will get better. Maybe
sorry about that. I should have crossed checked my reply with the article I read. I will add, however, that the only time I have ever had a cd mastered I had to do it myself ($$$) and then dither down to send off to the cheapo duplication company in town here. needless to say it did not turn out to be a great cd, even for a demo But hey, that was before I found this site, so I will get better. Maybe
dachay2tnr
One Hit Wonder
The best way to submit your mixes to a mastering house is at the highest resolution possible. This may mean burning a DATA CD with the higher then 16 bit files.
Ed - This makes sense to me. But how exactly do you supply a 24 bit file to the mastering house?
We are recording in Cakewalk at 24 bits. We plan to have it professionally mastered. What format should we be suppling the files in? Should we export to a wave file and then just copy the wave to a CD?
I have similar questions about the sample rate. We can record as high as 96000 Hz sample. Would the same logic apply to sample rate?
If so, is wave the format to go with? If not, what other choices are there?
Ed - This makes sense to me. But how exactly do you supply a 24 bit file to the mastering house?
We are recording in Cakewalk at 24 bits. We plan to have it professionally mastered. What format should we be suppling the files in? Should we export to a wave file and then just copy the wave to a CD?
I have similar questions about the sample rate. We can record as high as 96000 Hz sample. Would the same logic apply to sample rate?
If so, is wave the format to go with? If not, what other choices are there?