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Backing
up your masters is more important
than just being
careful at mastering time. Years from now, formats will change
and
media can surprise us in not-so-pleasant ways. For instance no one
could have predicted years ago that some brands of analog tape
(particularly Ampex-Quantegy and Agfa-BASF) would become sticky to the
point of being unplayable. Pprofessional archiving companies can bake
sticky tape in special ovens in order to revive it.
When
DAT tapes first came
out, we were mixing to analog tape and DAT
backup at the same time. This was a good backup proceedure because
having the different formats gave extra options down the road.
Yet older DAT tapes aren't totally predictable either, and old mastered
1630 tapes (which look like giant 3/4" DAT tapes) are now developing
playback problems.
Will
hard drives have
problems in the future? Will CDRs play like
new 10 years from now? Yes - according to the manufacturers, but
who really knows! We know that some CDRs have more errors than
others depending on the burner combination.
It's
just a good idea to
cover yourself when you've invested so much
time and energy into your project. We
recommend
backing up any data files two
ways
- onto addtional hard
drives, DVD-Rs (not DVD+R), or
CDRs. DVD standards may change in time, so always include
something else besides DVD-Rs.
Remember
that audio CDRs
stream audio and when you play them in order
to make backups, be sure to clock both master and backup machine with
the same clock. Always use the best digital cables you can
afford. Data files like AIFF, WAV, SDII should be copied at 2X,
4X or 8X unless your equipement manufacturer states the data is more
error-free using a different speed. Higher speed CDRs came later,
so we suggest sticking with whatever is most stable.
Keep
your masters in a safe
place. You've invested a lot of time
and money to create your project. Remember, hard drives will
always fail at some point. Back up early!!!! Back up
often!!!!!!
Q)
I love what you did on my
CD. Do you have any more suggestion for what I can do to promote it and
get a deal? -Ed
A)
Check out my links
page
and one group's success
via the Internet.
There are
lots of ideas and support from the
sites I have listed. The sky's the limit. Utilize all possible ways to
get heard. From iTunes to Paramount Pictures, there's a lot of ways to
get your music sold. A good idea is to match the time and money you've
put into the recording and manufacturing with the same amount of time
and money for promoting, marketing and selling your music. Promote
yourself relentlessly.... and you can't help but make progress.
Q) The CD wouldn't play
past track 4 on my home CD player. I
hooked up
another player and it played fine, and the CD played fine in two
different car stereos. This happened one other time with a CDR. Do you
know what could cause that? -Tom, Louisville, KY
The reason that your CD
player won't play the CDR is because they have
an "ink" on the bottom, not actual physical pits like a standard CD.
The laser burns spots represent the "1" (and no burn spot represents
the "0"). Some CD players (usually car stereos) just aren't happy
looking at those burn spots and the result can be anything from dropped
tracks to glitches or other weird things.
If you go to purchase a
home/car CD player, take several CDRs with you
to check which one will play them all (some manufacturers of new units
state that they play CDRs, MP3's etc.). The brand of the CD player
doesn't matter much, as the laser assembly inside them often are made
by different companies, like an RCA deck might have a Techniques laser
in it.
Tip:
When you are burning your own audio CDRs, the lower the speed at which
you burn it - and the better the quality of the blank CDR, the better
the chance of it playing on more systems. Click here to see which brands I recommend.
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