mastering/freaking out Part II/DVD-R???

tsw · Post by **tsw** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 9:34 am

Man, I'm confused.

Let me get this straight. To send my files to the ME, It's OK if I burn my AIFFs onto a DVD-R, but NOT a CD-R?

And, what is a "data disc"?

I'm suddenly terrified that I'm going to somehow manage to truncate my bit rate on my end and make my record sound terrible.

Can anyone shed light on this? Am I even making sense? My plan had been to use my Mac to burn the AIFFs onto a DVD-R, but then I heard that the burning process takes the bit rate from 24 down to 16.

Can anyone help me sort this out?

thanks,
andy

Cellotron · Post by **Cellotron** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 10:54 am

A data disc is burned using Yellow book specs for "ROM" - Read Only Memory -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-ROM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-ROM

Many commonly used apps such as Nero and Toast can burn data discs onto either CD-R or DVD-/+R - where instead of CD Audio you are burning actual computer data files onto the disc which can be read directly by a computers CD or DVD drive.

Different mastering studios have different specs on what they can accept - but I personally accept aiff/wav/sd2 burned on CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R, NTS/HFS/FAT32 formatted hard drive, USB2 flash drive, or delivered online via FTP. The only DVD disc format I can't accept is DVD-RAM - which is kind of being phased out. But again - I have no problem accepting data on CD-R either.

I suggest communicating directly with your mastering engineer to find out their requirements - I'm sure they can guide you through this and put your mind at ease that they won't in fact truncate your data files by default.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

tsw · Post by **tsw** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 11:08 am

Cellotron wrote:A data disc is burned using Yellow book specs for "ROM" - Read Only Memory -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-ROM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-ROM

Many commonly used apps such as Nero and Toast can burn data discs onto either CD-R or DVD-/+R - where instead of CD Audio you are burning actual computer data files onto the disc which can be read directly by a computers

Different mastering studios have different specs on what they can accept - but I personally accept aiff/wav/sd2 burned on CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R, NTS/HFS/FAT32 formatted hard drive, USB2 flash drive, or delivered online via FTP. The only DVD disc format I can't accept is DVD-RAM - which is kind of being phased out. But again - I have no problem accepting data on CD-R either.

I suggest communicating directly with your mastering engineer to find out their requirements - I'm sure they can guide you through this and put your mind at ease that they won't in fact truncate your data files by default.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Thanks for that, Steve. I guess the part I'm still unsure of is whether burning the disc with my Mac is acceptable. I don't know if you're familiar with Macs, but they give you an option to create a "burn folder" of files, and then they will burn that disc for you.

farview · Post by **farview** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 11:19 am

I don't know how to do it on a mac. What you need to do is burn a disc with the audio files just like you would burn a disc of documents, session folders, etc... That is a data disc.

An audio disc is the kind that you can stick in your car stereo and it plays like a normal CD. That is the one that truncates to 16 bit. That is the one you should avoid.

Some places tell you to use a DVD because a lot of people don't know how to burn audio files to a CD without turning it into an audio disc. DVD's are always data discs (at least by default) so it's retty hard to screw up.

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:13 pm

Just think of it as a data back up. You'll be fine.

Mark Alan Miller · Post by **Mark Alan Miller** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:50 pm

As long as the files are data, you're okay. CD-R or DVD-/+R - all good.
Just not audio CD-R. Audio CDs have poor error-correction. Data discs have good error correction. (Ever wonder why a CD-R can hold 80 minutes (44.1/16 audio is about 10 MB/minute) of audio, but only 700-some-odd MB of data? Where's the extra space getting used? Error-correction stuff.

)

Pascal Garneau · Post by **Pascal Garneau** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:14 pm

tsw wrote: I don't know if you're familiar with Macs, but they give you an option to create a "burn folder" of files, and then they will burn that disc for you.

Yes. This is correct. In Mac OS X, just drag your audio files onto the disc icon. This is what is then referred to as a "data disc" which is different from an audio disc (the kind you can play in a CD player). DVD is recommended so you can easily store the amount of data that may be required.

tsw · Post by **tsw** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:01 am

Pascal Garneau wrote:
tsw wrote: I don't know if you're familiar with Macs, but they give you an option to create a "burn folder" of files, and then they will burn that disc for you.
Yes. This is correct. In Mac OS X, just drag your audio files onto the disc icon. This is what is then referred to as a "data disc" which is different from an audio disc (the kind you can play in a CD player). DVD is recommended so you can easily store the amount of data that may be required.

Thanks for this, and for all the replies. This is the one I was really looking for.

I'm over-nighting files today to Golden. Exciting.

Thanks everyone.

roscoenyc · Post by **roscoenyc** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:30 am

Cellotron wrote: I suggest communicating directly with your mastering engineer to find out their requirements - I'm sure they can guide you through this and put your mind at ease that they won't in fact truncate your data files by default.

+1

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:09 am

tsw wrote:
Pascal Garneau wrote:
tsw wrote: I'm over-nighting files today to Golden. Exciting.

Thanks everyone.
Please let us know how it turns out. Golden is doing a vinyl mastering job for a soundtrack I produced last year. I haven't used them before so I'm eager to hear people's thoughts on them.

tsw · Post by **tsw** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:15 am

roscoenyc wrote:
Cellotron wrote: I suggest communicating directly with your mastering engineer to find out their requirements - I'm sure they can guide you through this and put your mind at ease that they won't in fact truncate your data files by default.
+1

Yeah, I definitely hear you on this, and I definitely bugged the living crap out of JJ Golden for the last year, and he DEFINITELY was 10000 percent helpful and patient and friendly and just outstanding to talk to at all times. He answered all my crazy e-mails thoroughly, and there were plenty.

At any rate, thanks for all the help, and, oh yeah, I just sent out the files. So, it's done now. Out of my hands. At least for the moment.

Weird feeling!

andy

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