R/E/P Community

R/E/P => Mastering Dynamics => Topic started by: Thomas T on November 20, 2014, 07:03:58 AM

Title: importing CDs into projects & DMM vinyl preparation
Post by: Thomas T on November 20, 2014, 07:03:58 AM
dear folks,

I hope I´m not too ´newbie´ with my question. but I would be very pleased to rely on some educated responses on this topic:

I am preparing the files for a vinyl set, so I am trying to correct the material a bit (carefully) on this occasion. the music I´m talking about is Metal (distorted guitars), a re-release of recordings of early to mid 1990s. not very fine recordings (but that´s another topic and the source can´t be remixed). I am just trying to shape the frequency spectrum a little bit.
my first question is:

I have imported red book audio CD to wavs (staying 16/44.1) via Cubase 4.5. I use an RME Hammerfall card.
when I listen to it and compare it A/B with my living room stereo (nothing special, a recent Yamaha 600€ CD/amp/speaker set), I have the vague feeling that the last bit of ´resolution, depth, transient-response, shine, structure´ (a mixture of all these things which can´t be pinned down exactly) is missing when I play it back on Cubase. I use the same headphones to listen to both.
maybe my brain is just playing a trick on me, and I can´t imagine that a ´consumer´ Yamaha CD player has better D/As than the Hammerfall. but I want to be sure it´s either my mind or a playback matter but not the files. and ask, COULD THERE BE ANYTHING LOST BY IMPORTING AN AUDIO CD INTO CUBASE? to such an extent that you hear it quality-wise, and not just theoretic?
if yes, is there a better method I could do?

I have a second question:
I know that traditional vinyl production very much depends on the lacquer cut (I have great experiences with german SST Brüggemann). yet this time DMM will be used. I don´t know exactly how this is processed - my question is, could DMM also determine and shape the sound to the better or worse as much as traditional lacquer? is to a certain extent ´the less level the better´ (I´m at -14dB RMS to avoid distortion in the dense grooves near the centre)? could I advise the DMM engineer just as I do with traditional lacquer master engineers (where I usually emphasise that ´loudness´/level and ´power´ and ´fatness´ is no criterium at all for me, but clean high frequency resolution and good transients is what I would like to get)?
Title: Re: importing CDs into projects & DMM vinyl preparation
Post by: Thomas W. Bethel on November 22, 2014, 06:41:11 AM
Try using EAC to "rip" the CD just to take the CD player out of the equation. Here is he web link http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/  Excellent ripping program.

FWIW
Title: Re: importing CDs into projects & DMM vinyl preparation
Post by: Thomas T on November 23, 2014, 06:57:02 AM
thanks a lot, will try out.
what interests me is the theory behind it, but if I remember right, even Bob Katz wasn´t 100% definite how ´these things´ are translated audio-wise. I remember (been 10 years since I read his ´mastering audio´) that he once checked the bits with a ´bit-o-scope´ in several digital processes, and realized that not the whole wordlength is passed all the time. that in a 16 bit file, the last 1 or 2 bits aren´t always passed on correctly. and ´the end´ of the word length is where the detail/depth is.
this, plus jitter, could be a possibility (if there´s any and I´m not just esoteric and playing tricks on myself with my A/B comparison).

so I would be interested if this could be the case in such a process, importing audio CDs into Cubase and playing back the files.
but if it´s jitter from playback, I can´t think of the RME having a more jittery output than the Yamaha hifi stereo (not to the extent that one believes to hear it).