reliability of CD burning from DP

[geoffg]

I love DP's cd burning functionality. It's so nice to be able to set up tracks in a timeline and burn to disc. I'm just wondering if any of you have opinions about the reliability of masters burned in DP? In the past I've used other software (toast or itunes) to create the master disc. This project will end up being commercially replicated, so a glass master will be made by the replicator. I just want to make sure the master disc that I give them is rock solid/follows the specs since it will be a fairly large run. Any opinions?

[cuttime]

What version of DP are you using? And, what kind of media are you using? I haven't got the CD burning to work at all since v.6. (And yes, I've tried all of the tricks and workarounds listed in these forums over the years.)

[Armageddon]

Personally, while DP's CD-burning capabilities seem pretty good (I've never tried burning an actual disc in it), I'd much rather trust a program like Toast 11 or Jam (what I usually use to burn master discs for replication). For my next CD master, I plan on doing all the grunt work in Jam 6, then burning it as a disc image and converting it to a DDP file for a single-speed glass master in Wave Editor. Toast seems to have most of the features that used to only exist in Jam, I just like Jam's track-editing capabilities a little better, and that program was designed from the ground up for audio CD mastering. I don't think I'd want to master a CD in ProTools, either, but for just burning a quick disc, I think either DP or ProTools would work well (and conveniently!). Obviously, there's a few people burning CD masters successfully from both programs, I'd personally just rather use a specialized program for CD mastering.

[Shooshie]

I love DP's cd burning functionality. It's so nice to be able to set up tracks in a timeline and burn to disc. I'm just wondering if any of you have opinions about the reliability of masters burned in DP? In the past I've used other software (toast or itunes) to create the master disc. This project will end up being commercially replicated, so a glass master will be made by the replicator. I just want to make sure the master disc that I give them is rock solid/follows the specs since it will be a fairly large run. Any opinions?

I look at DP's CD burning as a convenience, and I've rarely used it. But if you're going to the trouble to burn an original for a glass master, you need to spend the time mastering the CD itself in a program that is intended for that. I use WaveBurner, which may no longer be supported (I do not know its current status), so I'll use it until it is obsolete and then I'll find something else. The ability to create the CD as a consistent entity in which the sum of its contents is equal more than the parts is a task in and of itself. I find the ability to apply plugins to the overall CD is extremely valuable, and it's just so much easier to do that in WaveBurner. Then there are the normalization features that will treat the entire CD as a single item if you desire, and normalize them all to the peak of the loudest track. That helps preserve all the work you put into making the tracks consistent relative to each other back when you were working on it in DP. A good CD burner gives you the ability to cut tracks through movements that segue through the double bars, without pause. I don't know if DP would really do that in a CD.

Anyway, I say invest in a good CD burning app. If you can get your hands on WaveBurner (it used to be part of Logic Studio) it would really be worth it.

Shooshie

[geoffg]

Thanks for your thoughts.

Cuttime, I'm still on DP 7, but soon to be on 8. Just using regular CD-R media, Memorex I think. Burning from DP has been smooth for me and so far I'm able to play back CDs on the few devices I've tried.

Shooshie (and others) you make a good point about dedicated CD burning software. Part of why I like the idea of doing this within DP is similar to why it sounds nice to do in WaveBurner or similar software: The ability to easily re-order things, make changes with plug-ins and other processing, drop in markers for new tracks with seamless audio, etc., and all of this within the very familiar environment of DP. I might just be hopelessly in love with DP. (We've been together for almost 20 years!) But I guess the bottom line is that it has to be reliable. If I decide to give DP a try I'll take extra care to confirm with the replicator that the master disc is okay. Thanks for your thoughts and software suggestions.

[stubbsonic]

Personally, while DP's CD-burning capabilities seem pretty good (I've never tried burning an actual disc in it), I'd much rather trust a program like Toast 11 or Jam (what I usually use to burn master discs for replication). For my next CD master, I plan on doing all the grunt work in Jam 6, then burning it as a disc image and converting it to a DDP file for a single-speed glass master in Wave Editor. Toast seems to have most of the features that used to only exist in Jam, I just like Jam's track-editing capabilities a little better, and that program was designed from the ground up for audio CD mastering. I don't think I'd want to master a CD in ProTools, either, but for just burning a quick disc, I think either DP or ProTools would work well (and conveniently!). Obviously, there's a few people burning CD masters successfully from both programs, I'd personally just rather use a specialized program for CD mastering.

+1 on most of this. I got DSP Quattro not long ago, and will probably use that for any mastering and CD burning.

Here's another tip. Since the way audio CD's are burned doesn't allow verification-- burn 3 copies of your master. Then take each CD and create an image file from each separate CD. Then use a checksum utility or FileCompare (free for mac) on the image files to ensure that all three burns are the same. It's a good way to check for burn errors.

[geoffg]

I just realized that Adobe Audition CS6 has some nice CD burning functionality. Since I already own it, I might give it try.

[daniel.sneed]

In my own experience, DP has failed on burning high tracks count CDs.

That is to say mainly over 10 tracks, while low tracks count burning was usually fine.
And, yes, I'd like this to be fixed.

[cbergm7210]

Personally, while DP's CD-burning capabilities seem pretty good (I've never tried burning an actual disc in it), I'd much rather trust a program like Toast 11 or Jam (what I usually use to burn master discs for replication). For my next CD master, I plan on doing all the grunt work in Jam 6, then burning it as a disc image and converting it to a DDP file for a single-speed glass master in Wave Editor. Toast seems to have most of the features that used to only exist in Jam, I just like Jam's track-editing capabilities a little better, and that program was designed from the ground up for audio CD mastering. I don't think I'd want to master a CD in ProTools, either, but for just burning a quick disc, I think either DP or ProTools would work well (and conveniently!). Obviously, there's a few people burning CD masters successfully from both programs, I'd personally just rather use a specialized program for CD mastering.

+1 on most of this. I got DSP Quattro not long ago, and will probably use that for any mastering and CD burning.

Here's another tip. Since the way audio CD's are burned doesn't allow verification-- burn 3 copies of your master. Then take each CD and create an image file from each separate CD. Then use a checksum utility or FileCompare (free for mac) on the image files to ensure that all three burns are the same. It's a good way to check for burn errors.

Nice tip!