Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - What format does the ME normally deliver?

Sk106 · 16th October 2008

I'm curious as to what mastering engineers normaly deliveras the material as?

Just like 24 bit audio seems more of a standard (however not a requirement) it would seem reasonable to believe that a mastering engineer would deliver his work in a more or less standardized form.

To me, the mastering engineer is partially the compiler of a record. He could get eight songs in the form of eight 24 bit files. The work on the audio properties is one thing, but then the songs are going to be lined up as a CD, where start and end points for tracks are mapped out, as well as the pause between the songs. Let's also say that on this particular CD, one song is going to seamlessly flow into a second song, while the CD player should mark a certain point as the beginning of the second song. Also, the average sound level between all the songs will be carefully compared and adjusted.

A mastering engineer could do this in for example Wavelab or Sony CD Architect. Those apps - and many others - offers you the option to save the CD track markers within a wavefile. However, those markers will not show up to someone who does not use the same software.

I guess what I'm asking is, how do you deliver this material in a way that retains the markings? and is there a format, that is more commonly used amongst mastering engineers to deliver the material ready for CD Master creation?

16th October 2008	#1
Sk106 Lives for gear Joined: Dec 2007 Location: Sweden Posts: 1,348 Thread Starter	What format does the ME normally deliver? I'm curious as to what mastering engineers normaly deliveras the material as? Just like 24 bit audio seems more of a standard (however not a requirement) it would seem reasonable to believe that a mastering engineer would deliver his work in a more or less standardized form. To me, the mastering engineer is partially the compiler of a record. He could get eight songs in the form of eight 24 bit files. The work on the audio properties is one thing, but then the songs are going to be lined up as a CD, where start and end points for tracks are mapped out, as well as the pause between the songs. Let's also say that on this particular CD, one song is going to seamlessly flow into a second song, while the CD player should mark a certain point as the beginning of the second song. Also, the average sound level between all the songs will be carefully compared and adjusted. A mastering engineer could do this in for example Wavelab or Sony CD Architect. Those apps - and many others - offers you the option to save the CD track markers within a wavefile. However, those markers will not show up to someone who does not use the same software. I guess what I'm asking is, how do you deliver this material in a way that retains the markings? and is there a format, that is more commonly used amongst mastering engineers to deliver the material ready for CD Master creation? __________________ "Listen through the equipment, not to the equipment" - Bill Putnam