Burn CD

[jay stewart]

I am a new Pro Tools user, but a guitar player of 35 years. I recently completed three tracks. I burned two tracks to CD using NERO with no problem. When I try to burn the 3rd track to CD, I get an error message that states that I need a dedicated plug-in to burn that track. Suggestions?

[spkguitar]

Sounds like the third track was bounced at a different bit depth and/or sample rate.

When burning to CD, audio files need to be 44.1kHz/16-bit.

[jay stewart]

I did determine that the session was @ 24 bit. I have been advised that using a dither with a master track may cure the problem and allow me to burn to CD. Suggestions? As a newbie this is intriguing. Why use 16 bit if 24 bit can be used when originally recording and then by using dither you can burn to CD? How do I burn the session recorded at 24 bit to CD? Suggestions are appreciated.

[jay stewart]

I did determine that the session was @ 24 bit. I have been advised that using a dither with a master track may cure the problem and allow me to burn to CD. Suggestions? As a newbie this is intriguing. Why use 16 bit if 24 bit can be used when originally recording and then by using dither you can burn to CD? How do I burn the session recorded at 24 bit to CD? Suggestions are appreciated.

[StavrosSound]

Well, first thing is first... the Redbook Audio CD standard is 44.1kHz (allowing up to 22,050Hz on frequency response give or take- look up the "Shannon-Nyquist Theorem" if you'd like to know more about this on wikipedia ), 16-bit (allowing 96dB of dynamic range @ 6dB/bit) stereo.

That said, an audio CD will not accept 24-bit. I am not entirely sure, however I would assume most present day apps can convert the bit depth automatically prior to burning.

Dither is rather complicated to explain fully. First, take into account that 1 bit = 6dB. That said, the quiter a sound becomes, the less bits it uses. Equally, that means the resolution and quaity is much lower. Dither, depends upon your noise shaping, adds white noise to your signal outside of the human perceptual hearing ranges. The computer, not seeing what we hear, notices this increase in voltage as being a louder sound (even though we cannot hear it), and thus assigning more bits to it, defining its resolution. If you were to hear Dither, as you once could with a PT dithering glitch a few versions ago, it would sound like a constant hiss... basically maintains a higher "silence" threshold as far as a bit depth is concerned.

Because it employs noise shaping, you want to insert dither at the VERY LAST insert on the entire signal chain (I tend to always put it on the Master Fader where I run only monitoring/metering plugins). Otherwise, and processing you do such as EQ or multiband dynamics could result in phasing issues or revealing the hiss to some degree. Best to disable dithering on Fades.

In your case, add Dither, set it to 16-bit, then bounce everything out at 16-bit... then it retain much closer nuances to your 24-bit session.

That's Dither in a nutshell. Wiki I recall has a good article whixh goes into more detail about bit truncation when vonverting from 24 to 16 and where Dither rectifies that, and I know Waves does too even though I don't prefer their actuall Dither plugin.

Yes, dither is very intruiging and helpful for translating everything to the 16-bit consumer environment

[dillon99999]

just bounce it again, this time use 44.1 @ 16-bit

dithering will introduce issues / not recommended.

[ejwells]

just bounce it again, this time use 44.1 @ 16-bit

dithering will introduce issues / not recommended.

If you're bouncing from 24 to 16 bit you ABSOLUTELY want to dither.

[jay stewart]

I bounced the session again using 44.1 @ 16 bit. I also used dither. CD will again play on home stereo cd player, computer (windows media player), but will not play in a car cd player. One friend suggested that the cd was not "redbooked", a term unfamiliar to me but he explained that this will ensure that the cd will be universally accepted by cd players. Without "redbooking" the cd, the car cd player will not read the cd.

I realize this sounds strange, but it is what I was told by a fairly knowledgeable engineer. Any help with this is again appreciated.

[StavrosSound]

just bounce it again, this time use 44.1 @ 16-bit

dithering will introduce issues / not recommended.

There's a reason its used at the very end of the signal chain, assuming you don't do anything with the file in another session afterward. Dither is always needed.

[StavrosSound]

I bounced the session again using 44.1 @ 16 bit. I also used dither. CD will again play on home stereo cd player, computer (windows media player), but will not play in a car cd player. One friend suggested that the cd was not "redbooked", a term unfamiliar to me but he explained that this will ensure that the cd will be universally accepted by cd players. Without "redbooking" the cd, the car cd player will not read the cd.

I realize this sounds strange, but it is what I was told by a fairly knowledgeable engineer. Any help with this is again appreciated.

Burned cds are different from commercially pressed cds. Burned cds use a dye to chemically create the binary. Some lasers, like that in your cd car, may not be high pwoered enough to read them (not sure how old the drive is). Commercial cds are actually pressed... that is, the data is engraved onto the disc, making it much easier to read (and therefor more withstanding to damage).