Order Online Pre-Mastering, price is 70 USD per track. (Learn More)
What is Pre-mastering (or Audio CD Mastering) ?
Audio CD mastering in its most basic form is the step in manufacturing that follows the final mixdown where this master is loaded into a digital workstation and a final master "Red Book compatible" CDR is created including proper P&Q codes and a time/frame accurate log. More advanced mastering can be a very complex process involving additional compression/ limiting (for louder CDs), noise reduction, EQing, reverb and/or stereo enhancement as well as very sophisticated editing including proper fade in and fade out.
We use Sonic Studio soundBlade™ for pre-mastering, soundBlade is built on the secure, reliable Macintosh operating system.
Sonic is known as
the inventor of desktop pre-mastering. Complete PQ support is assured,
allowing special handling of segues along with emphasis, UPC/EAN and ISR
codes. Entry of PQ information is automated and validated on the fly, with
inconsistencies visually flagged for correction. If CD-DA–formatted “refs”
or check discs are needed, soundBlade can also quickly generate CD-Rs for
client take–aways.
sounBlade outputs to a DDP
Image file set. What’s a DDP and why do we need this?
DDP file sets are an
error–protected wrapper format specifically designed for reliable optical
disc replication. DDP or Disc Description Protocol is the industry standard
method for delivering all of the data and metadata needed for disc
replication to a “pressing plant.” Unlike audio CDs, DDP file sets contain
error–protected audio data plus all ancillary metadata or, “data about the
data.”
DDP file sets, when used for replication, avoid potential errors that can
crop up between the time you create a replication master and the moment that
a “glass master” is created during replication. CD-DA discs, or audio CDs,
do not protect the audio data from errors since they assume that the CD
player will hide or “conceal” any errors during playback. This situation
leads to errors in replication when recordable CDs, formatted as Red Book
audio discs, are used as replication masters.
soundBlade supports creation and output of Orange Book-compliant CD
Text metadata on CD-R.
