Subject:Checking Factory Masters

Posted by: Weka

Date:6/19/2002 2:47:13 PM

Before shunting off a CD master to the factory, is there a technical reason why I should not audition (check) said master for audible errors? By that I mean, will the once careful playing of a CD in any way put the quality of a CD at risk? Or, said in yet another way, would the factory be able to detect that I have played (with due care) the CD?
I do have a valid, existential reason for asking this strange thing.
Many thanks
Weka

Subject:RE: Checking Factory Masters

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:6/19/2002 3:56:04 PM

Well, ANYTHING you do with the CD master can jeopardize it. But with due care, playing it even thousands of times should have no discernable effect. On the other hand, i can think of no reason why anyone would object to a quality control step and making sure that a good master is being delivered.

Probably the only way the factory could detect anything would be by the number of scratches on the surface from loading & unloading the CD from the tray. But that couldn't be positively correlated to the number of times it had been played.

I know you said there was a valid reason for this question, but to be honest, i'm sitting here scratching my head with a great big "HUH?" In the absence of knowing what the reason is, i'll take a wild guess and propose that the master isn't yours, it's just in your care or you're delivering it, and the creators and the factory don't want you to hear it. Am i close? ;)

Subject:RE: Checking Factory Masters

Reply by: Weka

Date:6/19/2002 4:18:49 PM

Right. I live in NZ but the factory my record company uses is in Munich, Germany. It is an expensive procedure to courier the things over. Recently I have had one returned with curt note to the effect that it was scratched and un-usable. This caused me great distress and embarrassment as I don’t sent off damaged CDs. I re-burned and sent it (at my, not the record company's expense) and exactly the same thing happened again. I panicked and rang round similar operations here and in Europe to try and get to the bottom of it.

To shorten a long story, the theory is that German Customs, ever vigilant for *illicit material* have been opening and *playing* the CDs and doing so in a less than caring manner.
So .. with my confidence a tad shaken, I need to rule out for sure any impact I may have on the material by checking the CD. I can run-off a listening copy and do, but when you send it 12000 miles you need to know the actual master is OK. Strange random things can appear on CDs to defy all logic.
Anyway, below is now what appears on all my masters for anyone who find themselves in a similar position.

Achtung Zoll: Diese CD Kassette enthält usschliesslich eine Master Audio CD im cda Format. Wir bitten Sie eindringlich, diese CD mit äusserster Sorgfalt zu behandeln, da selbst geringste Beschädigung diese CD unbrauchbar machen würde. Vielen Dank

Attention Customs: This CD case contains a Compact Disc audio master only - cda format. Please handle with extreme care as the slightest damage will render disc unusable. Thank you.

Weka

Subject:RE: Checking Factory Masters

Reply by: Weka

Date:6/19/2002 4:20:44 PM

Sorry Chien, thaks for your help!

Subject:RE: Checking Factory Masters

Reply by: drbam

Date:6/19/2002 4:28:18 PM

My mastering engineer highly recommended that I listen to it before sending it to the manufacturer. Of course he was quite emphatic about extremely careful handling.

drbam

Subject:RE: Checking Factory Masters

Reply by: Rednroll

Date:6/19/2002 5:17:35 PM

I have always recommended to clients to send 2 copies of the same disc, when shipping something off to be replicated. I even recommend 2 types of disc colors sometimes, just incase the duplication house has troubles reading a particular color of disc. In your case, if customs is listening to your CD's I doubt they would have the patience to listen to the same disk twice.

Subject:RE: Checking Factory Masters

Reply by: Weka

Date:6/19/2002 6:20:16 PM

Don't count on it - zey are wery efficient zer Deutcher Zoll. But yes this is a good idea. Thanks Red. I fancy a nice shade of violet for the backup copy!
Weka