How do I encode my recording in HDCD?

[Gajdzin]

I asked this question on the "Things you should know..." thread and I searched the archives, but no reply on the thread and no info from the searches. Somebody did ask it in the past and got zero replies.

So here it is: I have a ready mix, summed up to 2 tracks, and I'd like to burn it onto a CD-R. How can I make it a HDCD disk? Are there any software encoders for doing that?

I tried to get the info from Pacific Microsonics, now owned by Microsoft, but zero info on Microsoft.com (other than press releases on the buyout) and the old www.hdcd.com page is down... I'm also interested in how much would I pay for the HDCD license if I only encode a few disks for my own (and my band's) use.

PS. Heck, theoretically I don't even have to burn a CD to listen to HDCD playback - as I just found out from Wikipedia, Windows Media Player ver. 9 and later is capable of decoding and playing HDCD!

Thanks in advance for any information!

[Petrus]

Now I have to ask: why do you want to listen to HDCD playback without making a CD, as you can just listen to the original 24 bit files ( I presume you have 24 bit masters, or the whole thing does not make any sense)? The whole idea of HDCD was to cram 20 bits worth of resolution on a 16 bit CD.

???

[Gajdzin]

Originally Posted by Petrus

Now I have to ask: why do you want to listen to HDCD playback without making a CD, as you can just listen to the original 24 bit files ( I presume you have 24 bit masters, or the whole thing does not make any sense)? The whole idea of HDCD was to cram 20 bits worth of resolution on a 16 bit CD.
???

So that I can send the file to someone who can then listen to it on their PC. But let's say you are right - I just want to burn a HDCD CD. I spent hours searching for info on the internet. Mostly I find the same question I just posted on other fora (e.g. ProTools forum), usually with no reply...

HDCD is clearly not dead, because new HDCD recordings are coming out all the time. So are HDCD-ready CD players. However, zero information on how to encode your recording. Or I'm just too dumb to find it...

[The Byre]

I think you'll have more success with DVD-A.

The last I heard, HDCD's future was fairly 'up in the air' with the design team having licensed back the app from MS.

[Gajdzin]

Well, if the design team licensed the technology back from MS, that's actually good news, I think... maybe they'll do something with it, when MS did pretty much nothing.

I had nothing but great experience with HDCD. Great sound, even from older recordings like the Grateful Dead stuff... It gives the CD format a new lease on life. And for those who say that CD is dead, pls remember what they were saying about vinyl when the CD came out...

I hope a HDCD encoder will become available in a VST format. There's really no reason why it couldn't, IMHO.

[Beyersound]

Originally Posted by Gajdzin

Well, if the design team licensed the technology back from MS, that's actually good news, I think... maybe they'll do something with it, when MS did pretty much nothing.

I had nothing but great experience with HDCD. Great sound, even from older recordings like the Grateful Dead stuff... It gives the CD format a new lease on life. And for those who say that CD is dead, pls remember what they were saying about vinyl when the CD came out...

I hope a HDCD encoder will become available in a VST format. There's really no reason why it couldn't, IMHO.

The HDCD thing is interesting. The encoding was done through a Pacific Microsonics proprietary hardware system. It is known for it's amazing converters, the heart of why things sound great going through that box. That Grateful Dead stuff you heard came to be in HDCD while being remastered by Joe Gastwirt. He showed me the Pacific Microsonics system when he mastered a record I worked on years ago. I don't know where the encoding is at now, do they still use the format? It was a thing of beauty.

[Gajdzin]

Originally Posted by Beyersound

The HDCD thing is interesting. The encoding was done through a Pacific Microsonics proprietary hardware system. It is known for it's amazing converters, the heart of why things sound great going through that box. That Grateful Dead stuff you heard came to be in HDCD while being remastered by Joe Gastwirt. He showed me the Pacific Microsonics system when he mastered a record I worked on years ago. I don't know where the encoding is at now, do they still use the format? It was a thing of beauty.

So it's possible that the converters had as much to do with the great sound as the HDCD process itself... or more :-) In such case a HDCD encoding plugin might not do as much as I would expect. Maybe that's why they never released it in a software form. Another proprietary technology sharing the fate of betamax, because the owners didn't want to make it open...?

[cyrano]

For the content of HDCD.com; have a look at what the Wayback Machine has:

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://hdcd.com

[theblue1]

No help here, I'm afraid.

Apparently HDCD had all but slipped past me. While I'm quite familiar with the failed/rebranded/failed again SACD/DSD format (which has a similarly small number of releases), I had to read some background materials including the Wikipedia article on HDCD to get past just the faint memory of the acronym. The process seems a bit of an odd and messy hybrid that, to my mind offers little but the potential for increasing dynamic mistracking, like other dynamic compression/expansion type codecs (dbx, et al) and would seem to be pretty thoroughly blown past by 24/96 DVD-audio.

[Gajdzin]

Originally Posted by theblue1

The process seems a bit of an odd and messy hybrid that, to my mind offers little but the potential for increasing dynamic mistracking, like other dynamic compression/expansion type codecs (dbx, et al) and would seem to be pretty thoroughly blown past by 24/96 DVD-audio.

That may be true, but DVD-A is a new format that requires dedicated media and players, while HDCD is still a CD, plays on any CD player, and if you have a HDCD-compatible CD player, it will reward you with 20-bit audio encoded on a 16-bit disk. The HDCD catalogue was much larger than DVD-A the last time I checked (impossible to check the situation now, because hdcd.com, the site where all HDCD releases were listed, has been down for several years). There is no doubt, however, that HDCD disks are still coming out, and so are HDCD-capable CD players.

I have quite a large library of HDCD CDs at home. Almost all of them sound much better than your average, modern CD release. Whether it's due to the HDCD process itself, or the excellent quality of Pacific Microsonics converters - I don't know. But it sure would be nice to try a comparison of the same material in HDCD and regular 16-bit version...

[Teddy Ray]

I think HDCD sounds fantastic, as does JVC XRCD.

and Tb1...

SACD is still kickin'

The Super Audio CD | SA-CD | SACD Reference

[Gajdzin]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

SACD is still kickin'

Right, except it's not coming to home and project studios anytime soon... I doubt I will ever be able to produce a SACD using a home PC-based DAW and associated gear, while for HDCD CD all I would need is a plug-in software, if Pacific Microsonics released it.

[cyrano]

The HDCD developers are now in a company called "Berkeley Audio Design". They make an audiophile DAC for high end hifi enthusiasts. Nothing about encoding, just decoding.

[Gajdzin]

Originally Posted by cyrano

The HDCD developers are now in a company called "Berkeley Audio Design". They make an audiophile DAC for high end hifi enthusiasts. Nothing about encoding, just decoding.

Bummer... That means HDCD is doomed, if nobody makes mastering hardware or software for HDCD encoding :-(

[Teddy Ray]

XRCD sounds much better, IMO..

https://www.elusivedisc.com/xrcdinfo.asp

[cyrano]

Originally Posted by Gajdzin

Bummer... That means HDCD is doomed, if nobody makes mastering hardware or software for HDCD encoding :-(

Yep. As most things bought by Microsoft.

[Gajdzin]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

XRCD sounds much better, IMO...

I don't doubt it, but HDCD can be used by any label, not only JVC. From what I've read, XRCD is a very complex process, including the actual CD pressing process - special glass masters and such.

HDCD is much more universal - if only we could get the encoder, e.g. in a VST format, any project studio could make HDCD CDs. I'm quite amazed that the project studio community never caught on. When searching "HDCD" on GS, I got very little... Only 3 searches were ever made for "HDCD". I think this shows the lack of interest / awareness.

[Bob Olhsson]

HDCD is still used by many of the top mastering facilities.

Every master coming out of Georgetown Masters is HDCD. To this day many of us think it's the best sounding group of dithering routines anybody has come up with. Most people do disable the HDCD limiting and compansion so the master will sound pretty much the same anywhere.

[Gajdzin]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

HDCD is still used by many of the top mastering facilities.

Every master coming out of Georgetown Masters is HDCD. To this day many of us think it's the best sounding group of dithering routines anybody has come up with. Most people do disable the HDCD limiting and compansion so the master will sound pretty much the same anywhere.

That's great to hear, but who will fix / replace the HDCD converters since Pacific Microsonics is dead...? I think no industry standard based on a proprietary code that's not supported anymore can survive...

[Bob Olhsson]

Euphonix took over the hardware. The technology is now owned by Microsoft.

[duke89061]

The hardware is still supported by Euphonix.

It's very unlikely that a software encoder will be possible, the encoding is done on a hardware chip inside the Model One and Model Two.

[Bob Olhsson]

It's certainly possible but 16 bit x44.1 is a dying format so its hard to imagine microsoft putting resources into a software encoder. It's far more likely that they'll employ the technology in some new audio entertainment format. A lot of stuff in the patent that was never implimented could be.

[PDC]

Originally Posted by Gajdzin

That may be true, but DVD-A is a new format that requires dedicated media and players, while HDCD is still a CD, plays on any CD player, and if you have a HDCD-compatible CD player, it will reward you with 20-bit audio encoded on a 16-bit disk. The HDCD catalogue was much larger than DVD-A the last time I checked (impossible to check the situation now, because hdcd.com, the site where all HDCD releases were listed, has been down for several years). There is no doubt, however, that HDCD disks are still coming out, and so are HDCD-capable CD players.

I have quite a large library of HDCD CDs at home. Almost all of them sound much better than your average, modern CD release. Whether it's due to the HDCD process itself, or the excellent quality of Pacific Microsonics converters - I don't know. But it sure would be nice to try a comparison of the same material in HDCD and regular 16-bit version...

DVD-A is not new. Hardly. It is a DEAD format.

Just release a 24-bit file on HDTracks.com