Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Two newbie questions (Read 2816 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Two newbie questions

Hello all, i'm working on releasing an album and I figured I could use some help from you guys.

First of all i'm using Audacity for my recordings and I want to export all the songs to WAVs, and from there convert to VBR mp3s with dbpoweramp. However in Audacity I am given to option to make a "Microsoft 16 bit PCM" WAV file or "Microsoft 32 bit float" WAV file among others. By default its the 16 bit one but i'm not really sure what the difference is and what should I be using in my situation?

Also, i'm going to be doing a limited run of CDs as well and I was wondering what you guys recommend for good and free CD burners? I'm pretty sure i'll use CDBurnerXP but i'm not really aware of a better alternative.

Thanks in advance.

Two newbie questions

Reply #1 –
Record your tracks at the highest bit rate you can.  Just be advised the higher the bit rate will require more storage room on you hard drive  After all the tracks are completed mix down to a final 16 bit 44.1k wav which will allow to burn CD's and convert the final mix to mp3.

Two newbie questions

Reply #2 –
CDs are 16-bit, 44.1kHz, stereo, PCM.  So, 16-bit WAV is a good "final format" when you're done mixing & processing.  You can convert back-and-forth between CD and 16-bit WAV without any loss of data/quality (assuming you don't have a bad CD or a bad-burn.)

24 or 32 bits is often preferred for recording and processing because you get more dynamic range...  You can record, mix, and process, without fear of driving the levels into clipping.

I don't use a free CD burner, but since (I assume) you will be selling/distributing the CDs, you might look for software that will verify a good burn.  (My software will verify a data CD, but not an audio CD.  )

Two newbie questions

Reply #3 –
Quote from: DVDdoug on
I don't use a free CD burner, but since (I assume) you will be selling/distributing the CDs, you might look for software that will verify a good burn.  (My software will verify a data CD, but not an audio CD.  )

I've seen this suggested a couple of times now in relation to audio CDs.  Can someone please tell me software that actually verifies an audio CD against the source files used to create it automatically?  Hint: be prepared to talk about offsets.
 

Two newbie questions

Reply #4 –
Quote
I've seen this suggested a couple of times now in relation to audio CDs. Can someone please tell me software that actually verifies an audio CD against the source files used to create it automatically? Hint: be prepared to talk about offsets.
  If it's impossible, I guess that explains why my software doesn't do it...          I don't understand offsets...  Do they "screw-up" the actual audio PCM data, or do they just add leading/trailing zeros?

It's not a data-verification, but I use Nero CD/DVD Speed[/u] to check my burned DVDs for errors.  (I might have used it a couple of times with audio CDs.)  I guess another way to test a CD without listening all the way through, would be to try ripping it.