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Preparing Tracks For CD Burning : August 2007 Home Search News Articles Forum SOS TV Subscribe Shop Directory
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In this article:
DP As Mastering Tool 1. Importing The Audio 2. Ordering, Timing & Fades 3. Tone & Level 4. Markers & Track Boundaries 5. Final Adjustments & Dither 6. Exporting For CD Burning Digital Performer News: An Important Update The Final Step: Burning Going Further
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This month, a look at how some of DP's features can be used to co-ordinate multiple finished tracks prior to burning an album or EP.
Robin Bigwood
There are some great audio editing features in Digital Performer, but like most of its main rivals in the 'native' Digital Audio Workstation world, it doesn't offer integrated CD-burning facilities. So if you've got some mixes finished in their separate DP projects, what's the next step towards turning them into a finished album?
DP As Mastering Tool
Co-ordinating the many tracks that eventually form a finished CD is just as important a part of the mastering process as wheeling out all those esoteric limiter and dither plug-ins; perhaps even more important. It's at this stage you have to consider all the following: The relative overall level, dynamic range and tonal balance of the individual tracks. The exact length of pauses between tracks, or the way 'overlapping' tracks interact.
This is a 'mastering sequence' in DP for a classical/folk crossover CD I recorded last year. CD track starts are defined using markers, and overlapping musical numbers are placed on alternating audio tracks, or completely separate tracks, to allow precise control over signal processing, fade-ins and fade-outs. Track automation takes care of dynamic mix elements such as level changes and plug-in settings.
The way beginnings and ends of tracks make the transition to and from 'digital silence'. Exactly where CD track starts occur relative to your audio. Dithering to CD's 16-bit resolution, if your audio is at 24-bit. Some people perform these tasks with dedicated two-track editing software such as BIAS Peak or DSP Quattro X: they simply import their mixes into the application's playlist and use the timing, plug-ins and fade tools it offers. This is a perfectly good approach, and well suited to simpler compilation-type tasks. DP is arguably much better for precision work, however, and also when your requirements are more demanding. Amongst other advantages, DP's multitrack mixing environment makes it easier and more intuitive to overlap and layer tracks. You can use mix and plug-in automation, fades are easy to apply and control, and you have access to all your favourite MAS plug-ins. All that, and not a PQ code in sight! If all this CD mastering stuff sounds a bit daunting, don't worry it all makes sense in practice. In DP, the main steps are: 1. Creating a new sequence and importing into it all the individual stereo mixes that will eventually become separate CD tracks. 2. Placing those mixes in the correct order in the sequence's timeline, adjusting them relative to each other so that inter-track timings and pauses are correct, and applying fades where necessary 3. Equalising tone and level. 4. Using markers to determine CD track start and end timings. 5. Applying any final 'mastering' adjustments, and dither if necessary. 6. Bouncing to disk track-length audio segments of your master, ready for CD burning in a separate application. To illustrate this process, I'll talk you through the six steps above in more detail. We'll 'produce' an example EP that can be burned (with suitable software, of which more in a moment) as an audio CD. I have some specific requirements for my example EP: the audio that will become CD track one needs to be boosted in level, EQ'd and have a fade-out applied to it, tracks two and three need to overlap, and I want track four to become one of those 'surprise' tracks, preceded by about five minutes of silence after track three. In this description there's room for confusion between the meanings of the word track, so I'll be consistent in referring to either a 'CD track' or a DP 'audio track'. Here goes:
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My first task is to drag the songs into the right order, placing the first on the first audio track, the second on the next audio track, and songs three and four on the third audio track (see screenshot, Step 2: Placing the songs on separate DP bottom). There are a number of reasons why I do this. First, song tracks where required, and adjusting the one needs some level boost and EQ, so the necessary plug-ins can timing between songs. be instantiated on just that one audio track. Second, I want full flexibility in overlapping songs two and three, and putting each on their own track is quicker and more intuitive than trying to overlap them on one and using a crossfade. No overlapping is required for the fourth song in fact, I want a big gap before it so this can go on the same track as the third song. To help with exact placement of the songs, I bring up the Time Formats window (Apple-Alt-T, or from the Setup menu) and switch the sequence's time ruler to 'Real time'. Then begins the process of carefully listening, adjusting, and listening again, until the basic inter-song timings are correct. I also need to think about fades at this point. Track one needs a 15-second fade out, the overlapping tracks need some dovetailing, and I also consider brief fades at the beginning and end of all tracks to make the transition to and from digital silence less abrupt. I can apply fades in DP by dragging the red fade handles at the top left-hand and right-hand corners of soundbites. However, I can access more options by dragging over the region where the fade is needed with the I-Beam tool (for which the keyboard shortcut is simply the letter 'I') and then hitting control-F to bring up the Fades dialogue box. Whichever way they're applied, to gauge these fades properly I use headphones, so that I can really focus on the low-level detail.
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Step 5: 'Final' processing across all the tracks destined for the EP, in this case using the Masterworks EQ and Limiter. Dithering down to 16-bit is the last process.
The EP files are imported into DSP Quattro's Playlist ready for CD burning.
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Default (new project) and Project (current project) bit-depth settings are now hidden away in the Preferences Audio Options pane. It might be just as well to make this a regular stop before you begin recording, to ensure you're recording at the bit depth you want.
While multiple bit-depth support is great, there's one down side. Previously, if you kept the Control Panel's Audio pane open while you worked, the bit-depth pop-up menu would sit there, confirming that any new recordings you made were at your intended bit depth. Now, while DP still records at either 16-bit or 24-bit, the setting is tucked away in the Audio Options pane of Preferences. If 24-bit resolution is as important for your projects as it is for mine, I'd suggest that a quick visit to this pane needs to become a part of your workflow at the start of a session. Incidentally, Default Sample Format determines the bit depth for new projects, while Project Sample Format is the bit depth for the current project. If you've already downloaded DP 5.12, you'll know that MOTU have changed their web site, www.motu.com, so that certain software downloads are only available to users who've registered the serial number of their MOTU products. In the case of DP, that's not the keycode that you used to authorise DP after installation, but the string of 10 alphanumeric characters that is printed on the first page of your paper manual. If you have trouble locating this, drop a line to MOTU or Musictrack (www.musictrack.co.uk) and they'll try to sort it out.
Going Further
This description of mastering and burning a four-track EP illustrates (I hope) the general principles of using DP for mastering and preparing a longer album. But of course it's just one scenario: every mastering job is different, and the suggestions I've made are just waiting to be modified according to your specific needs. Next month I'll be looking at a slightly different but no less useful approach to CD burning, which is especially suitable for dealing with live recordings and other types of 'continuous' audio.
Published in SOS August 2007
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