Simple Question(s) about Mastering & Duplication

[Unknown_Subject]

OK, please don't crucify me! I searched but didn't find what I was looking for.

I'm mixing and "mastering" an album for a friend of mine. It's totally low-budget. They made the beats, tracked the vocals, and sent the stems to me. I'm mixing it and applying limiting, EQ, etc to the final 2-track mixes, much like an M.E. would do, and rendering the results as 16 bit, 44.1 wav files. You may have realized by now that I'm not a professional M.E. Perhaps they would have hired one if they could afford it. Basically I'm hoping to find out... If I send them back nothing more than wav files and they were to send those to a duplication house like DiscMakers, would the facility then do the DDP formatting and whatever else is needed to make the disc up to "RedBook" standards? Is that type of thing usually "part of the deal" at DiscMakers?

Part 2: I'm using Cubase 5... is there anything I can do in my DAW upon export so that it's the proper format for RedBook CD?

This is my first foray in to mastering and so forth, so forgive my ignorance. I just want to make the process as simple and straight-forward for the client, so any advice or resources would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[wado1942]

The ideal thing to do is just send them a DDP file on CD-ROM. If you can't do that, make an audio CD that works the way you want the final production copies to be. This is much riskier for error protection reasons and some plants often have issues with gaps between songs, but make sure they send you the proof copy to compare against your work before making the full production.

[Unknown_Subject]

Originally Posted by wado1942

The ideal thing to do is just send them a DDP file on CD-ROM. If you can't do that, make an audio CD that works the way you want the final production copies to be. This is much riskier for error protection reasons and some plants often have issues with gaps between songs, but make sure they send you the proof copy to compare against your work before making the full production.

Well that's where I'm confused... how do I create a DDP file? Can it be done in Cubase, or do I need another application for that? Is it such an app free?

Like I said, I was planning on just delivering the wav files so that each song sounds great. The rest of the process is where I'm

[Rob Murray]

A CD-R is perfectly fine. Millions of records big and small have been done that way, and millions more will. Make sure you handle it carefully, and listen back after burning, and burn a safety copy as well. As well I believe discmakers should accept wav files as well which you should be able to tell them the gap timings (I think, never done it)

[Dene]

There is no free DDP app as far as I know...
If you find one let me know....and since the only CD burning software I trust is CD Architect I can't offer a free solution to your problem.
You are looking at least 100$'s I think to get your hands on something I could trust to deliver an album...
That said, once upon a time I used Cakewalk Pyro in a pinch and fortunately everything worked out.
If you burn a CD you have to scan it for errors before you send it out...

[Unknown_Subject]

Originally Posted by Dene

There is no free DDP app as far as I know...
If you find one let me know....and since the only CD burning software I trust is CD Architect I can't offer a free solution to your problem.
You are looking at least 100$'s I think to get your hands on something I could trust to deliver an album...
That said, once upon a time I used Cakewalk Pyro in a pinch and fortunately everything worked out.
If you burn a CD you have to scan it for errors before you send it out...

Aaah yes, I used to have Pyro on my old PC. Well I just found out that he's only really distributing this album as a digital download from his website, so that's a big relief. Thanks for the advice though.

[acorneau]

Unless they have changed things recently, DiscMakers will accept individual WAV files for duplication (usually 500 or less). They need a physical CD or DDP image (uploaded) for replication.