Making a CD
Home > Home Recording Forum > Mastering Techniques > Making a CD
Posted on May 27, 2008 11:30 am
mclir9
www.witchsmark.com
Member Since: Aug 13, 2006
We plan on making a 10 song CD to be done by the end of August with any luck. I will be doing the recordings in Sonar6PE, using a Firepod at I would say levels of around -15db on the meter per track. First question, do you think that will leave enough headroom for the final mix and master??. Once I get all the recordings done and mixed I will then Master using Harbal first and then (Probably using a preset from Ozone) to finish and polish. Is that normal procedure?? Lastly... what do I save the Mastered song as so I can put it at it's best quality onto a CD?? I know MP3 is a no go, but what do you officially use?? A WAV file??
[ Back to Top ]
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
May 27, 2008 12:03 pm You would use a .wav file indeed. If you are sending it off to be mastered simply make a data copy of all the .wav files. If you are doing the mastering and sending them off to be pressed then you would burn the CD exactly as you want to hear it. When you burn .wav files into a Audio cd format it automatically makes them .cda files. If you record at higher resolutions\bitrates then you would need to down convert and dither before making your audio cd.
mclir9www.witchsmark.comMember
Since: Aug 13, 2006
May 27, 2008 12:06 pm We plan on mastering ourselves so we would burn 10 WAV files(our songs) onto a CD and then Mass produce those in however we see fit?? So I take it your average car stereo or home CD player plays WAV files??
BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
May 27, 2008 12:09 pm Quote:
So I take it your average car stereo or home CD player plays WAV files??
Quote:
When you burn .wav files into a Audio cd format it automatically makes them .cda files
May 27, 2008 12:26 pm Quote:
When you burn .wav files into a Audio cd format it automatically makes them .cda files
As long as you burn them as an audio CD (not a data CD)...then yes, they automagically become .cda (or, "red book" formatted). Bottom line is, don't underestimate the "audio cd" portion of that statement.
mclir9www.witchsmark.comMember
Since: Aug 13, 2006
May 27, 2008 12:59 pm Duuhhhh..... sorry about that. Didn't realise you had answered my question before I even posted it. Thanks for the info guys.
mclir9www.witchsmark.comMember
Since: Aug 13, 2006
May 27, 2008 03:35 pm Ohhh... also is -15db gonna be ok per track to leave enough overall headroom for the total Summed mix at the end??
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
May 27, 2008 07:33 pm I'm not sure if I understand that last question.
May 27, 2008 07:36 pm don't go by the meters...well, except for that master meter, per track just go for the mix...
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 27, 2008 10:31 pm He is asking if running the tracks at -15dB will leave enough headroom for the master buss to not get overloaded, as the master buss gets the summed mix.
And yes, that will be plenty. If I am going over say 6 or 8 tracks then I will usually run around -12 to -14dB to insure I have enough headroom when stacking up large track counts.
mclir9www.witchsmark.comMember
Since: Aug 13, 2006
May 28, 2008 10:52 am THank you fellas.
mclir9www.witchsmark.comMember
Since: Aug 13, 2006
Jun 16, 2008 10:37 am Ok... I finished a song and Mixed it down to 1 Stereo WAV file using Adobe Audition 2.0. When I tried to burn it to a CD using Nero 7 Ultra, it gives me an error saying that the file is corrupt or bad format, but it plays in Windows Media Player fine. Whats wrong here??
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Jun 16, 2008 11:15 am It probably does not convert in Nero, and if your file is anything other than 16 bit 44.1 then it is not standard CD Audio.
Now I must ask, why are you not using the CD burning utility in Audition? It works great, does all the converting and dithering and seems top notch to my ears.
Jun 16, 2008 11:28 am Another thought...be sure you saved it as a Windows PCM, not an ADPCM, ACM waveform, or any other type of wav. Nero may not recognize those formats.
I agree with Tripps on the Audition CD burner. Why not use it?
Jun 16, 2008 11:30 am maybe he's a government worker and is simply used to complicating simple things. :-)
mclir9www.witchsmark.comMember
Since: Aug 13, 2006
Jun 16, 2008 11:36 am Thanks guys. I know what happened now that Cpt mentions it, I am positive it is in 32-bit, not 16. And as far as not using Adobe Audition to burn the CD.... I didn't realise it did it. I will check that out.
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Jun 16, 2008 12:39 pm Not a problem, it is located by your tabs up top. You have Multitrack, Edit, and CD. Another cool feature is that once you import all the songs you want on the CD, Audition will do a normalize function. I don't use it much as I would balance all my songs manually for the same CD. Recently I made a quick mix CD for a potential bass player, those tunes were not from an album and the normalize worked well for me.
