What is the workstation system?
The workstation system is a dedicated PC with full red-book mastering variuos plug-in effects. The PC used is a Dell 2Ghz Pentium4 processor with 1gigabyte of RAM. A Digiram VX soundcard allows audio in and out. The editor is Sony CD Architect.

What is the finished master supplied on?
The finished masters are high quality gold-grade CDR's.

How does the process work?
The tracks are loaded from CD (in the usual case) into the editor. The starts and ends are "topped and tailed" and the gaps between tracks are adjusted to suit. Each track is then compared to the others and balanced/eq'd to suit. The level of the tracks and overall CD is gained up as required. All processing is done within the PC itself, none of the studio equipment is integrated, the tracks stay in the digital domain at all times. When everything is balanced and correct the master CD is burned.

Can I integrate the main studio into this mastering session?
If required the tracks can be output "into the room" and the main studio equipment be used. However, the chargeable rate for the session then changes to £120 per hour. Minimum charge for this service is 1/2 hour (£60).

What should I supply the source material on?
Preferably audio or DATA CD. This can be ripped straight into the editor, thus reducing time. Sources do not have to be from one CD and different data sources can be used. For example: Track1 from audio CD, Track 2 from 24bit 44.1k datafile, Track 3 from 16bit 48k data file...
Any other medium, such as DAT, requires the tracks to be loaded real time which is chargeable at the Copy Room Rate of £80 per hour.

Can we create mix albums?
Yes, but this requires further discussion as they can be very complicated.

Can we edit out mistakes in an album?
Yes, full editing is supported. Tracks can be shortened, sections repeated, etc.

Will the factory accept the final CD as a master?
Yes, the final CD is a Red Book CDR with full PQ subcode including ISRC and UPC codes if required. A PQ cue sheet is supplied with the CD. DDPimages can also be supplied.

Should I play the CD master?
It is advisable not to play the master as scratches or marks may contaminate the disc causing the factory to reject it. A CD listening copy of the production master is supplied F.O.C that the client must check in it's entirety for dropouts and glitches. The listening copy is done at high speed (usually 8x) so sound quality degradation is fairly minimal.

Can I have an Exabyte CD master?
Creating an Exabyte master is possible. A further charge of £75 will be added.

The factory rejected the CD, do I have to pay for another one?
Unfortunately CDR's can have undetectable faults in them that can cause the factory to reject a master. Faults such as excessive CRC's are usually disc errors and undetectable. Mutes and Holds are usually detectable as a dropout in the music and should be spotted by the client when they check the listening CD for errors. Repeat CD's are chargeable.

What limitations does this system have?
The PC used is a Dell 2Ghz Pentium4 processor with 1gigabyte of RAM. A Digiram VX soundcard allows audio in and out. As with any computer, it can only handle up to a certain degree. The plug-ins use up a lot of memory and can severely slow the system down if there are several applied to each track on a 12 track album. In some instances when the client is happy with a track it is then "frozen" with the plug-ins and reinserted into the playlist as a final processed version. It should be noted that this way of mastering is never as powerful or as flexible as the full mastering service supplied by LOUD, we do aim for the same high standards though.

How long do you keep a copy of my session?
We try and keep the session until we hear it has been manufactured successfully. Then, time allowing, we may archive it as a data disc that can be recalled at a later date. This does not always happen! To guarantee an archive you must specify it. A small charge is usually applied.