Mastering with Pro Tools

[DeeDrive]

Ok, so here's the deal: I'm looking to start doing some mastering, and I'm a using a Digidesign 001. I plan on going Digital out of the 001 into a Cranesong HEDD, into a Manley Vari-mu, back into the crane song, and into the digital in of the 001. My question is this: Will this completely bypass any potential quality loss the 001 could add to the sound? Is there anything else the 001 will be putting into the sound that might be of comprimising quality? I know there's plenty of people that would like to say "The 001 sucks, get rid of it", but I would like a technical reason as to why the 001 would affect the sound quality.

[Ruudman]

A little Q off the track, but by mastering;
do you include encoding PQ's and ISRC's and so on?

If you are, PT is no solution yet.


ruudman

[thenewyear]

I think the original question is about mastering as in sweetening-and-adjusting-volumes-and-compression as opposed to mastering as in authoring the master CD with embedded codes and hidden tracks etc.

In answer to the original question, No. Going digital in & out of the 001 will impart no sonic signature on your sound. However, give a little thought as to where you are going to monitor in your chain. Personally I think the 001 is a good unit but you may find that its DA section is not on a par with some of the high end analogue gear & converters you have listed.

Lastly, when mastering with Pro Tools remember that you have two excellent RTAS plug-ins for mastering available for free, the POW-r dither included in the Digirack and Inspector.

Have Fun!

[DeeDrive]

Thanks for the input guys. As far as PQ codes and all that, I will only be using pro tools for getting the wav files prepared as far as EQ, compressing and limiting. I will be using other software for the PQ coding and actual burning of the masters.

[Dragonfly]

What is PQ coding?

sorry if thats a dumb question

Dante

[jayfrigo]

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

What is PQ coding?

sorry if thats a dumb question

Dante

Subcode info included in the P and Q bits of the digital word. This includes track start and end IDs, ISRC codes (International Standard Recording Codes) that identify each track etc.

More info can be found at www.promastering.com in the tech talk section.

[dave-G]

Originally Posted by DeeDrive

Thanks for the input guys. As far as PQ codes and all that, I will only be using pro tools for getting the wav files prepared as far as EQ, compressing and limiting. I will be using other software for the PQ coding and actual burning of the masters.

Which can be handled fairly simply with Jam (ISRC too), or to DDP with the new Sonic DDP application

-dg

[Ruudman]

The Sonic looks great BTW


ruudman

[Jamz]

Has anyone heard about pricing on SonicStudio DDP?

[jayfrigo]

Originally Posted by Jamz

Has anyone heard about pricing on SonicStudio DDP?

Version 1 was only $495. I'm not sure if version 2 is the same price with the added features, but I haven't heard differently. It looks killer to me, especially considering the money. A new version of manual declicking (one of the NoNoise modules) is also available for DDP v2 for $495. Sonic is also some weeks away from releasing Soundblade CD (just shown at AES Barcelona) which is an entry level stereo mastering program that will support full SSHD-style editing, recording, and CD DA delivery among other things. I think the price will be $1,500 or less.

[blackbox]

Has anyone else around here ever had an experience where you suspected that Roxio Jam doesn't burn masters very well?

I had a couple of questionable ones on 2 different macs with different kinds of burners. Enough to make me go, hmmm, is that what it sounded like?
After comparing the cd with the source material playing off the same computer thru the same d-a chain, there was an obvious difference. Jam was murky and lacked presence, size, and apparent volume.

I didn't do any measurements b/c I'm not really sure what to look for . I just decided to avoid Jam from then on.


Anyone out there still use MASTERLIST! Damn that was a good program.

Is there a good Mac 2 track editor/cd authoring program out there anymore?!?!?!?!

[jayfrigo]

Originally Posted by blackbox

Has anyone else around here ever had an experience where you suspected that Roxio Jam doesn't burn masters very well?

I've heard isolated reports of version related inconsistencies, but nothing confirmed. Also, there are some options that could be engaged without your knowing it that may make a difference. Other than that, it should burn just fine. It can burn executable code onto a data CD so you know it can line up the ones and zeros accurately . Run into a good DAC that isn't sensitive to jitter and there should be no audible differences. If there are, and it doesn't null, then something is broken and needs to be identified. Could be a bug in that version or one of several other explanations, but not a good sign for making masters.

[7rojo7]

Yeah, I had a huge problem with JAM so I use TOAST which is fine for most things. I haven't investigated what happened but I will soon. The difference wasn't Subtle, I master MP3s (320kbs, tweakhead) that have Subtle differences, this was just plain ruined.
What kind of settings could be engaged to ruin you're audio? Where do find them and shut them off?