Hidden track at beginning of CD

[Matt Hepworth]

Hi guys, I've got a client that wants a hidden (or bonus, rather) track at the beginning of the CD. Most burners don't seem to support this, does anyone know of a burner that does, or could we pay you a few dollars to do one for us from a CD Architect file?

Really want to do it.

Thanks!

[illynoise]

Everyone that I've ever tried worked, and that was on HP's, Liteon's, etc....

But I've found Wavelab to work best with this feature.

[Matt Hepworth]

I have a Plextor and a Pioneer - neither work. I'll try my Liteon in my other computer with the CD Architect 5 trial version.

Thanks.

[Andy Krehm]

Originally Posted by glitch

Hi guys, I've got a client that wants a hidden (or bonus, rather) track at the beginning of the CD. Most burners don't seem to support this, does anyone know of a burner that does, or could we pay you a few dollars to do one for us from a CD Architect file?

Really want to do it.

Thanks!

Neither of my programs do it but one of the glass mastering dept at one of manufacturing plants that we use does it for us.

We send them the disc, they load it, bury the track and send it back for proofing.

We've done this about 6 times over the last few years and never had a problem so you might contact the plant you are planning on using.

[MorganN]

I think this depends on the program that makes the CD-premaster more than the writer.
It is called a ghost track when you hide audio before track 1.
You can do this with i.e. Pyramix by manually setting the 1-0 index marker (before 1-1.)


Kind regards,

[Brad Blackwood]

Both Sequoia (including Samp) and Sadie do this with ease. Wavelab does as well, iirc.

Keep in mind this is outside of redbook standard and you'll most likely have to sign a waiver from the plant. Read that waiver carefully before signing it, as some plants will basically say that because the disc is outside of spec, no matter what's wrong later, they are not responsible...

[Matt Hepworth]

Thanks guys! CD Architect claims that it's the other way around - many programs do it, but very few burners can do it. I get an error that an audio disc cannot accept the PQ code if it exceeds 3 seconds at the beginning of the disc. Both my burners report the same error and each time, my burner is identified. I'll try a different program too, then.

Thanks for the heads up on the duplication, Brad.

[jamesp]

I think that the last time I did this I used a Plextor 1210S drive with CD-RWin software.

Cheers

James.

[ed littman]

Originally Posted by jamesp

I think that the last time I did this I used a Plextor 1210S drive with CD-RWin software.

Cheers

James.

I've had no problem with Wavelab, TY discs & a Plextor Premium.

Now having your cd player see this hidden track is another story.
My old boombox can play it if you rewind track one, but thats about it in my cd playback arsenal.
Ed

[noiseflaw]

Try this.......

http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq03.html#S3-36

http://desolationvalley.com/wj/oddcd/index.shtml

[lomky]

I've done this and gotten the CD pressed. The plant said it wasn't red book standard but they duplicated it anyway and it was fine. I can't rememebr what software I used but it was a matter of changing the index. I set merged the two tracks into on and set the beginning to -3.55 minutes or whatever the length of the song was. I actually also did this in one of the later tracks on the CD that had some intro "noise" stuff, and that way when the song was skipped to it would start at the biginning of the song and not play the intro noise. I'll see if I can find out the program I used.

I hope my memory isn't failing me on this.

Edit: actually reading through the FAQ's that noiseflaw posted (I think this is the info that I orginally found when my client wanted to do this) I remembered that the software I used was CDRWIN

[Matt Hepworth]

Thanks everybody. I have the group scheduled to pop in this Friday to check it out - thanks for the links and advice.