need help for mastering

[SublimeAndy]

i am in the process of recording my band's 1st full length album. i'm going to get it professionally mastered and i need to knwo a couple things.

first off, the the guy who is going to master it requested that the files be in 24 bit format. i am an idiot and have recorded every session so far in 16 bit. is it possible to change this to 24?

second, he wants the files on a cd in file(not audio format). how would i do that?

he said he wants them to come to him in 2 stereo tracks, which i know how to do. but i don't know how to do this without jsut giving him audio tracks.

does this even make sense to anyone?? HELP!!

[SublimeAndy]

should i go back and re record everything since it's not in 24 bit? i wanted top punch myself in the face when i realized i had done that....worst part is we're halfway through a 10 song album.

[JonMitchell]

I believe you should be able to 'save session copy as' and change it to 24 bit, but you are kind of screwed b\c its till going to be 16 bit quality, which isn't so hot. If it is a demo I would say screw it. Sayin that, there is no way in hell I would put something out of my own like that, and pay for professional master, and pay for cd creation and packaging blah blah blah... just to be 16.
Sorry

[badperson]

When you drag and drop the audio files onto the cd folder in windows exploerer, it will give you the option of burning the files onto cd as audio (for playing in a stereo) or data. Choose data.
bp

[SublimeAndy]

can i import the drums and bass into a new 24 bit session and record everything else from there? this has really taken all the wind out of my sails. i have lost all motivation to work on this album now. i wanted it to be my bands first real album and try to make a statement with it. i am really pissed off that i recorded it all at the wrong bit depth.

[SHREDDER]

Convert the drums and bass to 24 bit then import into a new 24 bit,44.1k(or 48k)session and then retrack everything else in 24 bit,44.1 or 48k should not be a problem.If you'd like you could mail me a whole session file of 1 tune along with a 2-track rough mix as a reference(to see how you'd like it mixed)on a cd and I will mix and master it for you for free.If you like the end result then you could hire me to do your album.If not then you lose nothing.Here is a link to my studio's info:

http://www.alpinesound.net/

[chuck.dallas]

Andy, It might not really matter that your album was recorded at 16-bit as long as it was recorded well with proper mic placement, good quality mics and pres, mixed well, etc. There are a lot of variables that go into the final mix and an accurate monitoring system and room environment are big factors as well. I've heard a lot of 24-bit mixes that sounded worse than 16-bit mixes so I wouldn't assume yours is inferior. Since it sounds like you've spent a great deal of time already and are at final mix stage, I would recommend focusing on getting those mixes to sound as good as you can in a variety of different monitoring settings -- not just your studio, but your car, boombox, home stereo system, mono TV speaker, whatever... If your final mixes translate well to everything, you should be in good shape before you take it to the mastering engineer. Good luck!

[SublimeAndy]

ok, so now i don't know what to do, start retracking or go with what i have. i am 3 songs away from being finished. maybe i could post a rough mix of a song and someone could tell me what they think? how could i post a song?

[x.miguel]

I think that the masterer just supposed that your session were in 24 bits, and what he meant was that he wanted you to give him the files in 24 bit without reducing the bitsize to 16 bits, which is a common mistake. Ifb you started recoding in 16 bits just give him the files in 16 bits. You can render them in 16 bits wav , stereo interleaved. Put them on a folder and burn that folder on a dvd or cd-r.

Hope this helps

Miguel Negrão

[JMS40]

Assuming you recorded the project to the best of your abilities and are pleased with what went "to tape", there's absolutely no reason to retrack, IMO.
Finish the last 3 in 24 and go from there.