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CD Mastering For Audio

There are many different aspects of CD mastering for audio. Below is a description of the most common mastering processes and details of the services Testa-Rossa offer. As a special limited offer our basic PMCD pre-mastering for audio is available free with all orders of 150+ units.

 

 

Audio Mastering

Audio mastering mainly involves corrective EQ, compression and limiting of the audio to give a uniform sound for a CD release, other processes to correct minor defects and to "sweeten" the sound may also be applied. This process can be a job for a specialised mastering engineer and many artists will use a specific mastering engineer to achieve a certain sound to their album or tracks.From customer supplied EQ' d audio tracks we can adjust levels to give uniform level/loudness using plug ins such as the Waves L3. For a wider range of mastering services see PMCD Mastering - http://www.pmcdmastering.co.uk/

 

 

Audio Editing

It is often necessary to edit an audio track, this could be as simple as chopping out silence from the start and end of tracks or cutting larger sections out of the track to produce a radio edit for example. Testa-Rossa can provide comprehensive editing of audio in our Digidesign Pro Tools system.

 

 

PMCD Pre Mastering

Before having your music CD copied by CD duplication or CD Replication it is essential to produce a red book compliant red book pre master CD or PMCD. Pre-mastering involves compiling the various audio tracks to a playlist and programming the correct PQ codes. PQ codes are the table of contents and timing information of tracks including start, end, duration, pause and offsets. Other information such as ISRC codes, CD text and product codes can also be added at the pre-mastering stage. For pre-mastering we use applications such as Bias Peak Pro and Roxio Jam, a red book compliant master known as a PMCD is then burnt to a high quality CD-R. Correct PMCD pre-mastering is essential for successful CD duplication and CD replication of audio CDs. Testa-Rossa can produce a red book compliant PMCD in our mastering studio from customer supplied audio tracks. Basic PMCD pre-mastering from a customer supplied single source audio CD is currently available free for all orders of 150+ units

 

Red Book Standard

Red book standard, specified by Philips, ensures playback compatibility of audio CDs on all CD players. It is essential that audio master CDs are always burnt to red book standard. If a master is not red book compliant the duplicated or replicated discs may not playback reliably on all CD players. Duplicated discs or CD-R's that are not burnt to red book standard will not play reliably on older CD players that were manufactured before CD-R became popular. Duration of audio is also important, although 80 minute CD-R's are now widely available red book standard specifies that the maximum duration of an audio CD is 74min 44secs. It is therefore wise to never exceed this duration on your master. Duplicated and replicated audio CDs that exceed this duration may not playback reliably on all CD players. If you do not have a PQ printout with your master then it probably isn't a red book PMCD. If you are unsure whether your master has been burnt to red book standard Testa-Rossa can produce a red book compliant PMCD with PQ printout from your supplied audio master. For further information and great advice on red book masters click here http://www.massivemastering.com/html/redbook_cd_s.html.

 

 

CD Text

An increasing number of CD players now incorporate the CD text facility. CD text can display information such as artist name, album name and track titles. If a CD has this information added at the pre-mastering stage then any CD text compatible players will display this information. Many CD burning applications now automatically burn CD text from the names of the audio tracks in your playlist so be sure to name your audio tracks accordingly, do not use working names or abbreviations for tracks as these names may then appear on your CD copies as CD text. If required Testa-Rossa can program CD text information during the PMCD pre-mastering stage.

 

Advice On Supplying CD Masters

For customers who wish to supply their own "home studio" production ready masters please consider these guidelines.

• Always use highest quality discs and check for compatibility with your CD writer.
• Do not use RW rewritable discs
• If your master contains ISRC or product codes you MUST provide a PQ printout
• Burn your master at a slow speed, never use the maximum speed of your CD writer
• Burn audio masters in "DAO" Disk At Once mode
• Check or enable red book compatibility if your software allows it
• Avoid LE, lite or express versions of burning software as they usually don't burn to red book standard
• Use the latest available version of your preferred burning software
• Verify your master if your software allows it
• Make a back up of your master, CDs do get lost in the post
• Check that your master plays or opens correctly, then check again
• Check for playback compatibility on older walkmans, ghetto blasters and car stereos
• Avoid using the full capacity of your disc, never burn more than 78 minutes of audio
• If master contains computer data or software check for PC and Mac compatibility
• Duplicated or Replicated CDs are only ever as good as the master
• If you do not have a PQ printout your master is probably not Red Book compliant
• If in doubt seek the services of a reputable CD mastering company

 

Testa-Rossa CD Mastering Rates

 

 

Red book compliant audio PMCD & PQ printout from customer supplied single source audio CD with correct running order and timings	From £20.00 Free for orders of 150+
Red book audio PMCD & PQ printout from customer supplied separate audio tracks and timings	From £25.00
Addition of customer supplied CD text or ISRC information to PMCD	£10.00
Copy of PMCD Master and PQ printout for approval including postage	£5.00
General audio mastering, pre-mastering, level adjustment and audio editing	£30.00 per hour

PMCD Mastering.co.uk

Testa-Rossa also operates a more specialised mastering company with various service levels of CD mastering and audio CD mastering. For more details on this CD mastering service please try: PMCD Mastering - http://www.pmcdmastering.co.uk/