Creating a Master CD for manufacturing: some Q's

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Level 2

271 points

Creating a Master CD for manufacturing: some Q's

I've not had to do this myself before as I've been lucky enough that others have done it for me, however I need to provide a finished master CD to go off for manufacturing. I just want to seek clarification so that I get it right - I will be producing this in Waveburner.

UPC/EAN code: Is this compulsory? If so do I need a UPC & EAN or a re they one and the same? This is one number for the entire disc isn't it? Is it effectively the same as the bar code? I don't understand this part.

ISRC: Once I'm issued the numbers, I simply enter them into the PQ Codes area right? This will then act as a reference to the song info online etc.

SCMS: Is this a bit pointless? Should I simply set it to Free? I think it's pointless trying to protect things in this day in age.

And obviously I enter CD text with title/composer info per track.

Lastly I'd like to know how I can varify all of the disc info once I've burnt a copy before sending. If I've been issued the ISRC's already will this also work straight away?

I believe PIAS will be handling digital distribution etc. Is there anything additionally that I need to know about MP3 versions (I'm assuming they take care of this but I don't know yet).

I really know nothing else of this process, so am I missing anything? I'd be grateful for any input. Cheers

PPC G5 Dual 2Ghz 5Gb RAM MacBook Dualcore 2Ghz 1Gb RAM, Mac OS X (10.5.8), Logic 9.02

Posted on Nov 2, 2010 4:46 AM

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Answer 1

siderealxxx Author

Level 2

271 points

Nov 2, 2010 4:58 AM in response to siderealxxx

Also, I need to burn the disc in 'Disc At Once' mode? How do I ensure this?

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Answer 2

Nov 2, 2010 8:23 AM in response to siderealxxx

I did many Master CDs, usually I work with CD text and ISRC +( if it's needed )+. Not every publisher adds ISRC codes. If you get the ISRC codes just write it down in a right column.
You can verify your CD text in a CD player with CD text Option or in a simple computer Player but on PC. +I noticed that iTunes doesn't recognize CD Text.+

Upc/Ean code is responsible for barcode. Leave it.

MP3 is a little different subject - there is the TAG in the MP3 file.
The TAG ( with it's ID )can contain many infos about artist, titles, publisher, copyrights, genre, track number, bit rate etc. +You can modify TAG in iTunes.+ Be sure about a few ID versions. The last one is IDv3. It's important from compatibility point of view. You can also use CDDB tool to allow user to get the song's informations from CDDBp server about that MP3 - in that you have to add all infos to CDDB server.

Waveburner burns Disc-at-once DAO. In Toast you choose between DAO and TAO. It's about how does the burner work. DAO: all files from beginning to the end and TAO - Track-at-once: one burned file and stop. DAO is recommended.

Hope be helpful

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Answer 3

Nov 2, 2010 8:31 AM in response to siderealxxx

UPC/EAN is not mandatory. It is the same as the bar code and used to track sales. It would be the same as what is on the packaging if you have one there - a lot of retailers won't accept physical goods without a barcode, but it doesn't need to be on the disc itself.

ISRC codes are not the same thing as PQ codes but are contained within that area - there is a column for ISRC codes next to each track. PQ codes include the start and stop times of each track that are shown on the mastering log - essentially a detailed table of contents. ISRC codes are used to track for royalties but identify individual songs rather than the disc.

SCMS is not only pointless but can render the disc unplayable in some players, so ignore that.

Remember to set dithering in bounce preferences in your source files are 24-bit.

Also check if your manufacturer accepts DDP files as that will save you the step of actually burning the disc.

Check the disc in a player that has cd-text enabled. Also listen through the whole thing with headphones, check for the correct gaps and track markers. There's actually not much that can go wrong.

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Answer 4

Eriksimon

Level 6

15,428 points

Nov 2, 2010 9:03 AM in response to Miles Fender

Miles Fender wrote:
There's actually not much that can go wrong.

Don't jinxxx the man... 😉

...but if you skip the checks, there will be a flaw in it.

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Answer 5

siderealxxx Author

Level 2

271 points

Nov 2, 2010 9:27 AM in response to Miles Fender

Miles Fender wrote:

Remember to set dithering in bounce preferences in your source files are 24-bit.

Good point! I wouldn't have thought about that! Or am I better off converting 16 bit versions before importing to Waveburner? Is that not safer?

Good points all round. Thanks for the info///

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Answer 6

Nov 2, 2010 9:43 AM in response to siderealxxx

Doesn't make much difference when you do the dithering, unless you want to use a third-party plugin (but nomneed since the noise shaping algorithms in Logic/WaveBurner are great). Using plugins in WaveBurner is a disaster (in my experience).

Just make sure you don't do it twice. If the files are already dithered when you go into WaveBurner, make sure you turn that option off. I'm not sure what it is by default.

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Answer 7

siderealxxx Author

Level 2

271 points

Jan 10, 2011 12:42 PM in response to Miles Fender

I'd just like to revive this thread quickly... 2 more simple questions:

1/ Does it matter if I burn from .aif or .wav source files (I always use .aif but I've noticed nearly all masters I've recieved are .wav)? In other words does this influence what happens at the pressing plant?

2/ And does it matter what the titles of the files are? So if the file title and song title are different (or slightly different, they have numbers added for the order) will that information appear anywhere?

Hope someone gets to read this 🙂 maybe I'll finally mark as solved!

Thanks

Message was edited by: siderealxxx

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Answer 8

Jan 10, 2011 12:51 PM in response to siderealxxx

1. No

2. If the file names have leading numbers, it makes it harder for the pressing plant to mess up the track order, although some still manage to. track names are not part of the redbook cd audio standard and cd text is not really widely used. Better use CDDB for that info.

Christian

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Answer 9

siderealxxx Author

Level 2

271 points

Jan 11, 2011 4:06 AM in response to christianobermaier

Ok thanks, that clarifies that BUT...!

Why is it that I can insert most modern commercial CD's into my Mac and iTunes will display the track title, artist name AND genre even when the machine is offline?

This info must be embedded into the disc in some way? How is genre added?

Also, I'm unclear about the dithering options... which should I be using when dithering from 24bit to 16bit? At the moment I don't have studio monitors so I'm unable to listen to the difference. Should I leave dithering off?

Sorry, I hope to get there, just want to be ABSOLUTELY SURE!

Thanks

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Answer 10

spheric

Level 3

699 points

Jan 11, 2011 4:37 AM in response to siderealxxx

siderealxxx wrote:
Ok thanks, that clarifies that BUT...!

Why is it that I can insert most modern commercial CD's into my Mac and iTunes will display the track title, artist name AND genre even when the machine is offline?

iTunes will not display that information unless it was able to connect to the internet, or you entered that information yourself.

iTunes will, of course, remember track info for any CD you've played. Information you've entered yourself (say, a changed genre, or corrected typo) will override whatever is recorded in the online CDDB (only on your machine, of course).

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Answer 11

siderealxxx Author

Level 2

271 points

Jan 11, 2011 5:07 AM in response to spheric

Yes sorry, you're right - although my computer is offline the CD's I've inserted are ones which would've been imported online.

So... that just leaves dithering... it looks like Pow-R #1 is the most logical process. I assume this is preferable to 'no dithering'?

Thanks one and all...

Message was edited by: siderealxxx

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