Best CDs for mastering

I'm looking for the best quality digital audio CDs to use as a final master to be sent out for duplication. Just wondering what people are using.

Thanks!
Rick

Also important is to burn at a low speed and check for errors afterwards. The errors might be inaudible but if your making a master you'll want it to last. Also, the burner matters as much as the cdr's.

Taiyo Yudens.

Taiyo Yudens

+1

You can't normally go by brand names (e.g. TDK, Memorex, Verbatim) because they routinely mix stock from various manufacturers. Turns out there are only a handful of companies that actually manufacturer CDRs, and all the familiar brands buy from multiple sources. A box of disks might represent 2 or 3 manufacturers.

Taiyo Yuden is one of the most-respected actual CDR manufacturers. They make disks for many name brands you see at Office Depot, too. But TY is one of the few that also sell under their own name, so you actually know who the real manufacturer is.

If you have trouble finding them locally, Sweetwater carries them.

you guys really should check the link i provided..

for example:

Verbatim branded Taiyo Yuden 52x CD-R burned at 16x

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LiteOn LH-20A1H LL0D, 78:13:72 (687MB) burned at 16x
ATIP: 97m24s01f
Sold as Verbatim Pastel Disc 52x 700MB CD-R ©2004 in 50pk Spindle

Taiyo Yudens here as well, burned with Plexwriter Premium burners using CD Architect.

A spindle of 100 TY silver or whites is usually around $30 plus shipping.

Does anyone have a link to the best CDR at the best price ?

I have had bad problems with cheaply made discs. I created backing tracks to take with me on the road. I made several backup copies and tested them all on different systems at home. but when we got to the gig (5 hours away) the tracks would not play without skipping on the equipment they had. even changing out players didn't work.

I only use TY's now and have never had that problem again.

frank - rumleysmusic listed supermediastore.com above - that's where I get mine.

white tops are for use in printers which print directly on the CDR, silver tops are quality CDRs which you have to glue labels on.

This is where I get mine. Both silver and white are shown.

http://www.supermediastore.com/cd-r-media-cdr-media-inkjet-printable-cdr.html

yes, that's possible, but we tried different players that they had and it did the same thing. the next time we played there I used the TY's and they didn't have that problem.

no, I don't think it got corrupted on the way to the gig.

when you find a brand you like just stick with it.

The problem is that when it comes to CD-Rs, the brand is often nothing more than a printed label.

Back in the day, I always bought TDK tape. It wasn't the greatest (didn't hold up to repeated use) but it was a good compromise between quality and price. The important thing was that it was consistent.

So when the digital era came along, I naturally picked up TDK blank CD-Rs. Some of them were unusable. So I switched to Verbatim. Same story - most were OK for data, but many were bad. I went down the list of major brand names, and none of them were consistent.

This inconsistent quality became especially apparent when I started burning DVDs. Back then, DVDs were about $2.00 each (IIRC), so it hurt to throw a bunch of them away. That's when I started researching the subject and discovered that media manufacturing had become a specialty business and that very few major brands are actually manufacturers of CD-R and DVD-R media.

There are two freeware applications out there that can identify the actual manufacturer of a CD-R or DVD-R under test. One's called DVD Identifier, the other is called CD Identifier. Despite the similar names, they are not from the same author and are entirely separate applications.

Using DVD Identifier, I examined random disks from a 100-count package of "TDK" DVDs. Three different manufacturers were represented in that stack, including Taiyo Yuden. I think this explains the inconsistency problem.

So now I buy Taiyo Yuden-branded disks, so that I know where they actually came from. I have never had a single failure with TY disks.