I guess ill ask here, CD burning with iTunes?
Home > Home Recording Forum > Computers & Software > I guess ill ask here, CD burning with iTunes?
Posted on Nov 19, 2009 02:35 am
crux
Typo Szar
Member Since: Jul 04, 2002
r there any unseen drawbacks to using iTunes to burn my final master cd? it does 1x burning and no gaps so i can set everything on how my cd will run as i export from cubase. but does it have any affect on the outcome of the cd, i know itunes likes to put on alot of "user" functions to help the average consumer but like to mess with ur stuff without telling (sound enhancer) n such. but if i turn it all off will it be ok
im burning a cd to ship off to the printing house btw so i just wanna make sure its wat im exporting from my DAW without anything added or lost
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Nov 19, 2009 10:37 am Absolutely positively NOT. A gigantic, rousing NO.
iTunes WILL NOT author a compliant disc.
It also won't burn at 1x unless you have a 10 year-old drive... That said, no one has burned at 1x since drives topped out at 4x anyway.
On the personal side - I've seen literally dozens of discs go awry (usually at the most incomprehensibly bad moments) that were burned with iTunes. It's TAO, normally with a bad TOC to begin with. Fine if YOU'RE going to listen to it in your car or something - Not for anything that 'counts' or needs to be duplicated / replicated (I know stories there too... Holy crap - Stories that would make your eyes bleed green).
Long story short - If you don't *KNOW FOR A FACT AND CAN DOCUMENT THAT FACT* that you're authoring a compliant disc, assume that it's NOT a compliant disc.
The BIG drawback? If the plant is actually negligent enough to replicate the disc and you're stuck with 1,000 copies of defective product.
(EDIT / SIDE-NOTE RANT)
Lately, this has been the source of great confusion among the part of the community that doesn't really understand the source of the actual definition of the term "mastering" -- "Mastering" by definition, has always been the creation of the production master. "Back in the day" it was simply authoring a compliant disc from a client's files while changing the sound as little as possible. But still, now, at the core of the process is the authoring of that compliant disc. And although it's certainly not 'rocket science' (as it was 20 years ago), it's still a very precise and exact process. And few (if any) consumer applications are capable. I understand that Nero will burn a compliant disc "in the background" from a collection of files -- But again, if I can't read that PQ log before the laser starts, it's not compliant.
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Nov 19, 2009 06:42 pm I don't know if they are compliant or not, but have used Nero to burn master discs and shipped those discs to be replicated as well as duplicated, and have had no problems.
just my experience.
Nov 19, 2009 06:43 pm I'm a Nero guy as well.
Nov 19, 2009 07:39 pm Just curious...Does Nero work with Mac OS X? If not, what would be an alternative geared toward the home-recordist?
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Nov 19, 2009 08:59 pm Hey Jim, you can use Nero on your Mac through BootCamp if you have that installed or are interested in installing it.
Roxio Toast is the closest thing I know of to Nero that will run on a Mac. www.roxio.com/enu/products/allproducts.html
Not sure what else there is really for the Mac. Not much turns up on Google either.
cruxTypo SzarMember
Since: Jul 04, 2002
Nov 19, 2009 09:26 pm Thanks MM and all the other dudes, that was totally wat i was fearing. Gotta pick me up Nero now
Nov 20, 2009 11:19 am Still - Keep in mind that (AFAIK) Nero (etc.) doesn't have the 'fine control' as other systems will when it comes to PQ editing. The .wav files generally need to be complete, heads & tails to order (don't do anything silly like cut the head to the first purposeful oscillation - Nero won't fix that for you), gaps included in the tails and overridden (unless you want a 'standard' Nero-issued gap, which may or may not include pause markers, which is a chance I wouldn't want to take, etc.), etc., etc., etc.
That all said - I'm making some assumptions here. Maybe Nero *does* have some sort of fine control and I don't know about it. If so, then by all means, use that fine control. If not, all that fine control needs to be handled before.
Nov 21, 2009 11:04 pm If your using mac I would think Toast Titanium would be your best choice.
cruxTypo SzarMember
Since: Jul 04, 2002
Nov 22, 2009 01:23 am Uhhh.. MM u just said a whole bunch of stuff i have no idea about but from wat my limited knowledge can surmise i have to set all the quiet bits and such between songs in the actual wav trax themselves before using nero to burn?
i hope its just that coz that seems like alot of stuff to figure out
Nov 22, 2009 08:32 am More or less, yes. *At the very least* 7 or 8 frames at the head, whatever gap you like at the tail, and Nero adding / taking away nothing (except for the 150 frame gap before the first track's start marker, which is required by RedBook specifications).
