what audio cd format ?

[fingers211]

hello all,

I've been asked to collate some of my 'competition' entries onto audio cd, (some people have no taste !).

Are all audio cd's similar or is there an accepted brand leader in quality?

I was going to render from Reaper in WAV format, but any advice welcome.

Nige

[dincz]

Might be worth checking what they want. Rendering in wav will give you a data CD readable/playable on a computer rather than an audio CD playable on a CD player.

[tedmanzie]

You need a 44.1khz 16bit wav file, burn it as audio-cd (not data-cd).

Any decent CD-R, don't bother with rewritable CD-RW, I've got a stack Verbatim from when I used to burn a few audio cd's but I've used all sorts and not had any problems.

Check it plays in your cd player before sending!

[fingers211]

Thanks gents !

[Skybone]

If you rip an audio CD from MP3's however, don't even think about using anything less than 320kbps. Anything less, and you will loose audio definition.

I once reproduced a demo CD using 128kbps MP3's. It sounded really muddy compared to the MP3 used. I remixed the tracks and re-ripped them at 320kbps, and they sounded much brighter and defined when transferred to an audio CD.

[Skol303]

[quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1447957511' post='2911867']
You need a 44.1khz 16bit wav file, burn it as audio-cd (not data-cd).
[/quote]

This. And switch on 'dithering' when you output the file: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dither

Most DAWs have a standard setting for dithering, which should be fine - or you can customise your own to taste.

[lurksalot]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1448890376' post='2918868']

Most DAWs have a standard setting for dithering, which should be fine - or you can customise your own to taste.
[/quote]

To be honest , I was going to customise the settings last time I used them , then I wasn't so sure , so I left them lone , but having done that, I thought I might try a different setting , but I didn't.

[Skol303]

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1448915931' post='2919204']
To be honest , I was going to customise the settings last time I used them , then I wasn't so sure , so I left them lone , but having done that, I thought I might try a different setting , but I didn't.
[/quote]