Just wante to take an informal poll of what format people master to these days.

Do you master to CD-r? Dat? Tape? all 3? what do you use the most?


Mike http://www.mmeproductions.com

Do you master to CD-r? Dat? Tape? all 3? what do you use the most?

If you are asking what di I mix to then the response is.

With budget and using a console, tape with a dat backup or to DAW with DB
converters.

Non budget? dat.

DAW only? Bounce to disc.



---------------------------------------
"I know enough to know I don't know enough"

"Mike" wrote in message om...
Just wante to take an informal poll of what format people master to these days.

Do you master to CD-r? Dat? Tape? all 3? what do you use the most?


Mike http://www.mmeproductions.com


Meaning "mix" to or seriously "master" to... ??

I mix to SoundForge software and DAT tape simultaneously.
From SoundForge I do touchups, move to CDArchitect, tweak,
then to CDR. Running another silumtaneous feed to 1/4" analogue
allows for a second look at things might be what ends up in Forge
or at a mastering room. I use an analogue mixer and digital tape
machines to record and mix from.

I don't really 'master', per se'.

--
David Morgan (MAMS)
http://www.m-a-m-s.com
http://www.artisan-recordingstudio.com

1/4" 15ips. If the client is really broke I'll go strait to hard disk.
If doesn't sound as good, but it's cheaper than a reel of tape.





http://www.vintagemicsales.com

In article , (Monte P
McGuire) wrote:

In article ,
Do you master to CD-r? Dat? Tape? all 3? what do you use the most?

Well, given that DAT can't directly translate track IDs to PQ
subcodes, it's out of the running. Tape doesn't even have subcodes.
That leaves us with CDR and DDP on 8mm tape.

DDP doesn't need to go on tape. Actually, I haven't put one on tape in
the past year. It gets burned to yellow book CD-ROM, or if it's too long
and the plant is OK with it, to DVD-R. Red book CDR (some still refer to
it as PMCD when it comes off the Sonic, whether it technically is or
not) is still the most common thing to be delivered. DDP on yellow book
seems to be on it's way to becoming the new standard, and the requested
format for labels including Warner and others. The thing that will
eventually unseat it is direct delivery to the plant via ftp or similar
means. I'll be happy if I never see a tape again when it comes to
digital audio. Analog tape, on the other hand, I'll welcome for some
time to come.

As for mix formats, most people are delivering 24 bit aiff or wav files
on CD-ROM. They come in a variety of sample rates from 44.1 to 96 kHz.
1/2" analog tape is still in common use for the big name projects, and
rarely with any noise reduction. Masterlink also sees some use, and
there's a small group of people addicted to 1/4" abalog tape still. DAT
is essentially dead apart from rare cases or compilations from old
sources. 16 bit red book CDRs are only slightly more common than DAT,
which is to say, not very common. Sometimes they arrive as backups in
case the CD-ROM can't be read, which rarely is a problem. Which reminds
me, occasionally there'll still be a collection of DAT safeties along
with the 1/2" analog masters. It's more common, however, to mix your
safeties into pro tools when using 1/2".

--
Jay Frigoletto
Mastersuite
Los Angeles
www.promastering.com

(Garthrr) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Mike) writes:

Just wante to take an informal poll of what format people master to these
days.

Do you master to CD-r? Dat? Tape? all 3? what do you use the most?


Mike http://www.mmeproductions.com

Are you talking about mixing or mastering?

Garth~


"I think the fact that music can come up a wire is a miracle."
Ed Cherney

Well essentially I mean what format do you give your client the final
product in. Ie the final stereo mix.

Mike http://www.mmeproductions.com

Mike wrote:
Just wante to take an informal poll of what format people master to these days.

Do you master to CD-r? Dat? Tape? all 3? what do you use the most?

All three. These days if I am working with a digital master I will tend
to dump to 1/4", while if I am working with an analogue master I will
tend to mix to DAT. I'll mix to CD-R if it's a quickie one-off job.

I do a lot of live recordings to DA-88, mix to 1/4", and then do all the
edits on the 1/4". This being the spring festival season, that's what I
am doing the most of. Come fall I'll be doing mostly mixes to DAT.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

That brings to mind...

I used to do a lot of mastering for cassette duplication, and although that
is mostly dead around here I still occasionally get some business. I was
using the 1/2" Zonal bin mastering tape with the very rugged backing. Now
that Zonal has gone, that has pretty much disappeared.

What are folks using today for bin mastering?
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On 9 Jul 2003 17:46:32 -0700, (Mike) wrote:

Just wante to take an informal poll of what format people master to these days.

Do you master to CD-r? Dat? Tape? all 3? what do you use the most?


Mike http://www.mmeproductions.com

I use all but tape.

In article writes:

Just wante to take an informal poll of what format people master to these days.
Do you master to CD-r? Dat? Tape? all 3? what do you use the most?

Lacquer is the only true mastering. Everything else is just messing
around with DAWs.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )

In article , Monte P McGuire
wrote:

Well, given that DAT can't directly translate track IDs to PQ
subcodes, it's out of the running. Tape doesn't even have subcodes.

Glass masters can be made directly from a time code DAT master exactly
as from a 1630 master. It isn't common but there really IS such a thing
as a DAT CD master.

--
Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery Recording Project Design and Consulting
Box 90412, Nashville TN 37209 Tracking, Mixing, Mastering, Audio for Picture
615.385.8051 FAX: 615.385.8196 Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
40 years of making people sound better than they ever imagined!

Bob Olhsson wrote:

In article , Monte P McGuire
wrote:

Well, given that DAT can't directly translate track IDs to PQ
subcodes, it's out of the running. Tape doesn't even have subcodes.


Glass masters can be made directly from a time code DAT master exactly
as from a 1630 master. It isn't common but there really IS such a thing
as a DAT CD master.

And there was that direct-to-CD stuff Dick Hyman did for Reference.

Kurt Albershardt wrote:

And there was that direct-to-CD stuff Dick Hyman did for Reference.

The Fats Waller thing? That was pretty extreme.

Rob R.

I give clients 2 CD masters, and the 32-bit .wav & data files on CD-R.

That gives them one master to send to a replicator, one to store, and they can
bring the project back to me if they want to make changes or repress from the
original files later.

Personal preference has been regular Verbatim Data Life plus' (regular meaning
not the cheesy multi-colored packaging that seems to be a cheaper disc
quality).

With the NG's advice I've been trying the Taiyo's. Maxell or Memorex has a new
'mastering' line of CD-R's I'm curious about as well, with 3 layers coating-
might be a goodun.

I'd like to have a few analog mixdown options in the future- ahead of the DAW.

Michael Angel

Angel Lofte Studio, Atlanta
CD Mastering

Michael Angel wrote:

That gives them one master to send to a replicator, one to store, and they can
bring the project back to me if they want to make changes or repress from the
original files later. ^^^^^^^

First it's compression, now it's repression, too. Where will this all
end?? Digression??

--
ha

LeBaron & Alrich wrote:

Michael Angel wrote:

That gives them one master to send to a replicator, one to store, and they can
bring the project back to me if they want to make changes or repress from the
original files later. ^^^^^^^

First it's compression, now it's repression, too. Where will this all
end?? Digression??

--
ha

Ampex 1/2 inch tape deck (ATR 100/102) using gp9.

In article ,
(Mike) writes:

Well essentially I mean what format do you give your client the final
product in. Ie the final stereo mix.

I used to give them CDRs but now I've gone back to using DATs.

Garth~


"I think the fact that music can come up a wire is a miracle."
Ed Cherney

Garthrr wrote:

In article ,
(Mike) writes:

Well essentially I mean what format do you give your client the final
product in. Ie the final stereo mix.

I used to give them CDRs but now I've gone back to using DATs.

Garth,

Out of curiousity, why?

--
hank alrich * secret mountain
audio recording * music production * sound reinforcement
"If laughter is the best medicine let's take a double dose"

(Garthrr) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Mike) writes:

Well essentially I mean what format do you give your client the final
product in. Ie the final stereo mix.

I used to give them CDRs but now I've gone back to using DATs.

Garth~


"I think the fact that music can come up a wire is a miracle."
Ed Cherney

Garth why did you go back to Dat?

Mike http://www.mmeproductions.com

In article , Garthrr
wrote:

I used to give them CDRs but now I've gone back to using DATs.

If you'd seen the raw dropout error-rate of most current DAT stock, you
might not be making that choice! Fuji seems to be the best tape at this
point.

--
Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery Recording Project Design and Consulting
Box 90412, Nashville TN 37209 Tracking, Mixing, Mastering, Audio for Picture
615.385.8051 FAX: 615.385.8196 Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
40 years of making people sound better than they ever imagined!

"Bob Olhsson" wrote in message ...
In article , Garthrr
wrote:

I used to give them CDRs but now I've gone back to using DATs.

If you'd seen the raw dropout error-rate of most current DAT stock, you
might not be making that choice! Fuji seems to be the best tape at this
point.

Good info. I always back up everything to DAT and still trust DAT to record
live to 2-track shows on a regular basis. I have no means of checking the
errors, but I still haven't had *any* tape dropout problems in the last several
hundred or so recordings. Still using (gulp) Quantegy 64s.... 90s only if
requested, and *never* 120s. (DA-30 mk-II and SV-3700)

knocking on wood

--
David Morgan (MAMS)
http://www.m-a-m-s.com
http://www.artisan-recordingstudio.com

--
Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery Recording Project Design and Consulting
Box 90412, Nashville TN 37209 Tracking, Mixing, Mastering, Audio for Picture
615.385.8051 FAX: 615.385.8196 Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
40 years of making people sound better than they ever imagined!

First it's compression, now it's repression, too. Where will this all
end?? Digression??


hehe.
ok, Re- press.
("manic repression's a frustrated mess?")

Actually I very rarely use compression. Sometimes limiting, but very little
compression on masters. If loud is really that important to a client I'll see
if they want to opt for a radio mix that makes them feel they are as equally
squashed as their favorite band.

Michael Angel

Angel Lofte Studio, Atlanta
CD Mastering

Scott Dorsey wrote:

That brings to mind...

I used to do a lot of mastering for cassette duplication, and although that
is mostly dead around here I still occasionally get some business. I was
using the 1/2" Zonal bin mastering tape with the very rugged backing. Now
that Zonal has gone, that has pretty much disappeared.

What are folks using today for bin mastering?
--scott


Well, our bins work best with 996, so we bought up 996 by the
truckload...well..okay, maybe not truckload, but you get the point.
Once that is gone, we probably won't be duping cassettes anymore...of
course at that point, no one will.

Oh, we had used the Zonal in there too with good results.
Quantegy/Ampex never did sit right in the bin.

Chris