CD Mastering FAQ
Yorktown Digital Works
CD Mastering FAQ:
Q: WHAT IS CD MASTERING?
A: Mastering is the critical activity of entering each song or track
into a computer audio system and getting the most out of each in terms
of fullness, tonal quality and eliminating things which are unwanted,
such as pops, lip smacks, noises and hisses. Then, matching the volumes
of all the songs so that they flow through nicely for the listener. The
next step is to add in the sub-data required for any CD, such as track
numbers and titles, etc. Then burn a CD master on the highest quality
blank CD media. If the CD will be replicated (reproduced in quantity of
500 or more) by a professional manufacturing plant, the sub-data
(sometimes known as PQ Codes), will be printed out to paper sheets for
the replicator.
Mastering is a vital step if you want your CD to compare with major
record label releases. Often, the CD or CDs you walk away from the
recording studio with do not sound as good or as “big” as what you hear
on the major record labels. And most people will quickly tell you that
the most annoying thing when listening to a CD is having to raise or
lower the volume song by song, or just having to raise the volume to
hear the music well . Professional mastering handles this.
Q: HOW MUCH TIME DOES IT TAKE?
A: The more problems there are to handle, the longer it will take. The
more music you have on the CD, the longer it will take. If your songs
are furnished out of sequence, it will take a little time to put them in
the desired order. However, a typical ten song CD will usually require
between two and four hours. Complex and lengthy CDs will require more time.
Q: WHAT SHOULD I BRING TO THE MASTERING SESSION?
A: Bring your music or audio content on either standard 44.1k 16 bit CDs
or on a DAT (Digital Audio Tape). A DAT is a two-track mixdown format,
not to be confused with an ADAT tape, which is the Alesis brand
multi-track format. If vintage recordings will be part of your CD
project, bring the 33, 45 or 78 rpm records or 1/4 inch tapes with you.
Sometimes an analog cassette is good enough to use, but will probably
require a bit of “de-noising” (getting rid of the hiss) before it will
sound acceptable in a song lineup. Some analog tapes, especially those
from about 1971 to 1991, are decomposing by becoming gooey. Those will
only play properly after being baked for 8 hours, which we do for a
nominal cost (see Restoration page and Rates page). Most of our
mastering is done from modern digital sources.
Q: Have you done much mastering?
A: We perform mastering all the time and have done so since 1995. We’ve
mastered several Grammy nominees and a Grammy winner. We use the Sonic
Solutions system, a very pricey, high end program which is used for
mastering over 80% of the hits on the Billboard charts. Sonic Solutions
is known as the “Rolls Royce” of all CD mastering programs. It is
respected as the most dependable of all systems by the CD replicating
plants, due to its stability and extremely low “error rate” (errors in
reproducing the “0”s and “1”s of which digital recording is comprised).
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