#WAVELAB VS DSP QUATTRO CODE#

Doing any additional fades on a 16-bit WAV will introduce floating point audio again and either require additional dithering or result in truncated bits. In these cases, the files they considered “mastered” are far from a final master. Some clients are unsure if they need or want extra time added between songs, and some even ask for fade-outs. Sometimes files will be hitting or exceeding 0dBFS which can result in some nasty sounds/artifacts and audible distortion down the line with playback on cheap systems and inevitable mp3 or AAC encoding. Some people will send 48k (or higher) WAV files, some files have undetected sounds or noises before or after songs due to inattentive listening or poor analyzation before sending them in. When I’m doing these kinds of jobs, I see all sorts of problematic files as well. Either a DDP image or CD-R master is needed. Many people don’t realize that individual 16-bit/44.1k WAV files are not a CD production ready format. Normally I do not touch the audio sonically, I just assemble the songs and create a DDP image for CD production. These projects usually involve assembling DDP images from individual WAV files that their clients send them claiming to be already mastered. I do a lot of work for a major CD manufacturing broker. Without a true mastering DAW, this can very easily get complicated and messy. If you’re serious about your project, it’s very important that the spacing between the songs and the heads and tails of each song/track remain totally consistent from format to format. Reference mp3s can also include metadata and artwork which a mastering DAW can easily add automatically instead of managing this with another app for each project which can be too time-consuming.

#WAVELAB VS DSP QUATTRO CODE#

You also may need to produce a vinyl pre-master, cassette pre-master, instrumental album master, and reference mp3 files which are sometimes also needed for download code cards that accompany vinyl and cassette releases nowadays. TIDAL and some others are also rolling out 24-bit/high sample rate streaming.

These various master formats are typically a DDP image or physical CD-R for CD production, 16-bit/44.1k WAV files for basic digital distribution, and 24-bit/high sample rate WAV files for distribution via websites like Bandcamp, SoundCloud, as well as the Mastered For iTunes program. There are many portions of the mastering workflow that can be done in any DAW really, but finalizing your project in an audio editor/mastering DAW that is specifically designed for mastering will not only save you time, but it will likely produce better results, and provide consistency between all the various master formats that are required these days. Not so much sonically, but in the quality control department for sure. Using an audio editor/DAW with mastering focused features will make things like this much easier for you, save time, and improve results. I’m a firm believer that your project isn’t fully “mastered” until it’s production and/or distribution ready without any further processing or changes. One thing I see a lot on audio forums is a person saying something like “I have all my songs mastered in my DAW (Logic/Pro Tools/Cubase etc.), now I just need to sequence them and convert to 16-bit/44.1k” for digital distribution and CD production.

Wavelab vs dsp quattro