CD Authoring Software

[Benjamino]

Hi, I know this isn't strictly a Protools question, but obviously it's kinda related.

What is the best software for CD mastering/authoring for Mac OSX?

I don't necessarily care about DSP FX etc., but my main requirement is the ability to create an audio CD which flows seamlessly from one track to the next with no glichtes or gaps. I do my audio mastering in PT itself, rightly or wrongly, because I like working on my audio in the PT environment, but obviously PT doesn't burn discs...so...?

Ideally, I'd like the capability to be able to drag a single album length audio file (stereo, mastered in PT) in to the CD authoring software, which would display a waveform of it against a timeline (much like the edit window in PT), and allow me to put a line or marker of some kind where I want the track numbers to change, and then burn a disc from within that software.

I'd also like it to be redbook standard.

Is there anything which will allow me to do this?

I have Toast Titanium, but that is annoying me. I tried using the Spin Doctor extra bit to do just as I've described above, and it seems to be working, but when I click the 'Send to Toast' button the tracks that appear in my Toast window are all the wrong lengths with the sound cutting off at various points through each track. I can't find any reason for this.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

Ben

ProTools 7.0
Digi002 + Focusrite OctopreLE Adat
Mac Powerbook G4 1.5GHz, 2GB RAM, 80GB HDD
Lacie 250GB Firewire800 HDD, 7200rpm
FocusRite Penta Preamp/Stereo Compressor
TL Audio Preamp/Stereo Parametric EQ

[stoneinapond]

More than you need, but it's the only thing that will do the CD thing well, that I know of.

Peak 5 LE

Oh, how I miss Digidesign's old Masterlink.

[BRH]

Well, to make a CD play through a track ID I believe can be done in JAM by Roxio. Minor upgrade for you from Toast. It's RedBook.
Take out the 2 second pause and it should do it. May not be entirely glitch free, maybe about 50% success this way.

Another way I have 100% luck with.... SPDIF out from 002 to a HHB CD recorder. This is an older Japanese made CD-R 850. While playing back PT, I press the manual track ID and it can put the ID during the middle of a song/music/whathaveyou.... and it will playback glitch free through the track ID.
Don't know if it's RedBook, but I've used this method to master a CD for Replication and it came out fine.

Why not use PT for Mastering??? I do it! Just don't tell anybody about this. Authoring-maybe.

[letrev]

You can use Jam from Roxio. Not the best interface ever but it works.

My favorite is WaveBurner Pro, which is bundled with Logic Pro. It might be with Logic express too but I haven't checked.

[whitecat]

The next version of Wave Editor (1.3) from Audiofile Engineering will have CD burning support, as well as DDP support. It's due any week now, and it's not expensive!

[The Dougfather]

Toast 8 now has Jam built in, it's a good app but very basic in terms of CD authoring. If you want a proper CD mastering suite then i'd recommend Peak as it is far more comprehensive. The main restriction on LE is that you can only run one plug in real time whereas it's 5 on the full version. If thats not an issue then Peaks your man. I have both le and pro and if im honest Peak Pro is a rip off, the plugs are diabolical for the amount of money and asides that it has some nice DSP and is a nice wave editor. Le is a great compromise.

Cheers

[Benjamino]

Yup great thanks guys, I think it's gonna have to be Peak, I'd read a bit about it, and as a piece of software it seems to be the most versatile and PT user friendly. I wanted to get the general opinion of DUC folks as on other forums I'd read that although the software is great, some folks don't like Bias' approach to support or their attitude to the needs of the consumer...but I don't know about the ins and outs of this as I don't own it yet

I had thought of the SP/DIF to a CD recorder technique, but would kinda prefer to sort it out and then let it go without having to sit through the whole album manually inserting track increments.

Thanks for your comments.

Ben

[Benjamino]

P.S. While we're on this thread, does anyone have any ideas as to why the interfacing between SpinDoctor and Toast Titanium 8 is cutting large chunks of my songs off??

I realised that instead of mastering the album out of Protools to 44.1 & 16bit (as I believe is CD quality) I'd left it at 44.1 & 24bit. Would this more memory hungry format affect the timings? It sounds like a stupid question I know but it's the only thing I can think of. I don't think it can be that because surely when using toast to burn an Audio CD it's the length of the songs in time rather than their filesize that matters, and they should all fit on to a 80min CD.

I'm a bit perplexed.

[The Dougfather]

Hi, if your working in 24-bit then dithering down to 16-bit should be the final process. If you master currently in Pro Tools then apply the dither on the master fader when you bounce down. If you decided to go for Peak, bounce out of Pro Tools as 24-bit 44.1 do whatever you need to do then dither to 16-bit when you save your final mixdown.

When it comes to bit rates i believe toast like may other apps will truncate the file to 16-bit during burning, however it's not recommended because it will probably make a mess of it and thats why you use dither in the first place.

With regards to Peak support, it's excellent, i would go so far as to say on par or even better than Digi. I contact them regularly for auth and perfomance issues and they have always been sympathetic to my needs and sometimes silly errors, i'd highly recommend them.

Cheers

[zobomix]

If you have the cash, get Premaster CD 2 by Sonic Studio ($495). It has the same audio engine of soundBLADE so it sounds amazing. Otherwise, Jam or Peak will do it.