ben@grimsmiley.com
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What do you do before sending CD to replicator?
Hey everyone. I have a dumb question. I am finishing up a project, a four-song EP. I know you're supposed to send it off to get mastered, but with replication costing so much, we just cannot afford it. So unfortunately I had to do the best I could and master it myself.
So my question is, once all the music is set and I'm ready to send it off, how should I go about doing that? Is there specific software that deals with publishing songs to "commercial" CDs, or would I just simply bounce wav files and burn a CD using my computer's CD-burning software? Also, what sample rate and bit depth should I bounce with?
And is there other information I need to be appending, like song names, etc., so it is recognizable by software like iTunes or just recognized by people's computers in general?
I apologize, I know this is real basic stuff, but I just wanna make sure I do this right.
I am using Sonar 6 (and iZotope Ozone for mastering).
Thank you!!!
ROCK
=Ben=
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jamesg1213
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RE: What do you do before sending CD to replicator?
2008/08/30 05:49:47
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Only got time to answer one of your questions - you need to export your mixes at 44100 sample rate, 16 bit depth.
Hope this helps!
Jyemz Thrombold's Patented Brisk Weather Pantaloonettes with Inclementometer
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skullsession
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RE: What do you do before sending CD to replicator?
2008/08/30 09:37:27
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Short answer Ben, if you can play it on your standard CD player, it should be fine for duplication.
Your manufacturing house should be willing and able to answer any of your questions beyond that. They also will/should test your CD before they duplicate it to ensure it is error free.
Should be a piece of cake!
HOOK: Skullsessions.com / Darwins God Album "Without a doubt I would have far greater listening and aural skills than most of the forum members here. Not all but many I am sure....I have done more listening than most people." - Jeff Evans on how awesome Jeff Evans is.
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skullsession
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RE: What do you do before sending CD to replicator?
2008/08/30 09:39:25
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Oh...and the only way to make your CD recognizeable by iTunes and other computer based players is to register the work with CDDB. Go to www.cddb.com and have a look around.
HOOK: Skullsessions.com / Darwins God Album "Without a doubt I would have far greater listening and aural skills than most of the forum members here. Not all but many I am sure....I have done more listening than most people." - Jeff Evans on how awesome Jeff Evans is.
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krizrox
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RE: What do you do before sending CD to replicator?
2008/08/30 10:08:05
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I don't know what software you're using to make your CD master (or techincally the "pre-master") but CD Architect (for example) gives you the ability to also encode CD text and ISRC codes which may, or may not be, important to you. Make sure the quiet time between the songs is correct (which basically means you've listened to the ending and starting of the songs and determined when the next song should start). Make sure your track markers are positioned correctly. I would not just bounce songs using your computer's cheap bundled software but that doesn't mean you can't do it like that. Hooks' response is correct - if it plays in a normal CD player your replicated disc will also play in a normal CD player. But generally there's more to it than just dumping songs to a CD and sending it off. Probably the best advice is to contact your replicator and ask them what to do. They may have other suggestions or comments. I think DiskMakers has information about all this somewhere on their website. Might do you good to find it and read up on it.
post edited by krizrox - 2008/08/30 10:10:33
Larry Kriz www.LnLRecording.com www.myspace.com/lnlrecording Sonar PE 8.5, Samplitude Pro 11, Sonic Core Scope Professional/XTC, A16 Ultra AD/DA, Intel DG965RY MOBO, Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz processor, XFX GeForce 7300 GT PCIe video card, Barracuda 750 & 320GB SATA drives, 4GB DDR Ram, Plextor DVD/CD-R burner.
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Guitarhacker
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RE: What do you do before sending CD to replicator?
2008/08/30 10:22:30
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I would opt for professional mastering and initially reduce the number of CD's you are going to replicate...get the best sound...think quality....not quantity... you can always order more...later.... as you need them.
If you are releasing a "commercial EP" spend the money for professional mastering.... It's not that expensive in the long run and well worth it if you are selling the EP and or using it to shop record companies for deals.... don't go cheap and loose the deal.
If you are only planning to sell a few copies at gigs and to give to friends and family...at lease use a decent consumer level mastering software package.
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
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Halexx
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RE: What do you do before sending CD to replicator?
2008/08/30 12:55:33
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I don't want to be rude,but in my own opinion, if you intend to sell the CD without professional, or at least external mastering, it's kind of (unintentionnaly i mean) ripping off the consommer, wich will only get that much of the music you have to offer.
Self-mastering is fun, but only ok if it is for internet/local bar/free given etc. And hoppefully you have nice monitoring, or you could make things worst.
There is no auto-mastering software that realy work whitout human ear tasteful interference.
Nice pro/semi-pro mastering is not that expensive, maybe could you wait 2,3 or even 6 months more before distibuting the CD and put some money aside for it.
I think you'l be glad you did it.
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krizrox
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RE: What do you do before sending CD to replicator?
2008/08/30 13:28:06
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ORIGINAL: Guitarhacker
If you are only planning to sell a few copies at gigs and to give to friends and family...at lease use a decent consumer level mastering software package.
Ozone which is a fine mastering plug-in and should produce excellent results if applied properly. While I agree that sending your stuff out to be professionally mastered isn't a bad idea if the situation calls for it, I wouldn't agonize over it for a 4 song EP that is likely to have limited exposure. If I was planning on selling a million copies I'd do the right thing and send it out. But for a hundred or so self-produced CD's that I recorded at home (I assume that's what we're talking about here) it makes little or no sense to do that. I'm always amazed at the level of disdain around here for self-mastering. I do this almost every day. There are musicians here on planet earth that are forced to work under tight budgets and simply can't afford the extra expense. What are they supposed to do? Not release their stuff to friends and family because they can't afford to send their stuff out to a professional mastering studio? I mean get real. To tell them they shouldn't or can't master their own material is just plain silly. People are mastering their own material all the time and doing excellent work. You don't need a rocket science degree to do this. You learn by doing and the more you do it the better you get at it. Don't worry about mastering. Worry about your mixing. Get the mix right. Mastering should be nothing more than a bit of polish and muscle as far as I'm concerned. Anyone remember the good ol' pre-CDR days? Anyone here ever recorded something at home on a portastudio and released cassette tapes? Did you send your tapes out to have them mastered before releasing them to the public? No? Shame on you! How could you do that!! 
Larry Kriz www.LnLRecording.com www.myspace.com/lnlrecording Sonar PE 8.5, Samplitude Pro 11, Sonic Core Scope Professional/XTC, A16 Ultra AD/DA, Intel DG965RY MOBO, Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz processor, XFX GeForce 7300 GT PCIe video card, Barracuda 750 & 320GB SATA drives, 4GB DDR Ram, Plextor DVD/CD-R burner.
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ben@grimsmiley.com
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RE: What do you do before sending CD to replicator?
2008/08/30 19:13:54
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ORIGINAL: krizrox
Ozone which is a fine mastering plug-in and should produce excellent results if applied properly. While I agree that sending your stuff out to be professionally mastered isn't a bad idea if the situation calls for it, I wouldn't agonize over it for a 4 song EP that is likely to have limited exposure. If I was planning on selling a million copies I'd do the right thing and send it out. But for a hundred or so self-produced CD's that I recorded at home (I assume that's what we're talking about here) it makes little or no sense to do that.
I'm always amazed at the level of disdain around here for self-mastering. I do this almost every day. There are musicians here on planet earth that are forced to work under tight budgets and simply can't afford the extra expense. What are they supposed to do? Not release their stuff to friends and family because they can't afford to send their stuff out to a professional mastering studio? I mean get real. To tell them they shouldn't or can't master their own material is just plain silly. People are mastering their own material all the time and doing excellent work. You don't need a rocket science degree to do this. You learn by doing and the more you do it the better you get at it.
Don't worry about mastering. Worry about your mixing. Get the mix right. Mastering should be nothing more than a bit of polish and muscle as far as I'm concerned.
Anyone remember the good ol' pre-CDR days? Anyone here ever recorded something at home on a portastudio and released cassette tapes? Did you send your tapes out to have them mastered before releasing them to the public? No? Shame on you! How could you do that!!
ha! great post! yeah, i agree completely. i've put a lot of thought and effort into this project. money is a big issue and trying to be economic is a top priority. and trust me, i've read scores of times that "mastering is NOT where you want to cut corners," etc. etc. ... but like you say, what's worse, not being able to afford to get your music out there at all, or at least getting a pretty darned decent recording with pretty solid mastering plug-in and getting music in people's hands??? our plans for this EP is to press 1k and pass them out for free on the streets, in exchange for people's email addresses. this is purely a promo CD. we're not even putting a bar code on the sleeve. we moved to Seattle from Honolulu a year ago and we're trying to build a following here. and you can't do much unless you have music to give to people. thanks for all your advice, everyone. i'll look into CD Architect. and I'll check out CDDB. i don't want to just use my computer's bundled CD burning software, because i've had issues in the past about people not being able to play the CD in certain systems (like car stereos). I know we are being forced to cut corners here, but I do want to do what I can to at least get this part of it done right. =Ben= [edited for grammar]
post edited by ben@grimsmiley.com - 2008/08/30 19:15:52
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