Question for recording artist/engineers


Let's say you have a jazz band who wants to sell cds of their music with the best quality of sound they can achieve at the lowest out-sourced cost or do-it-yourself. If one wants to do a just-in-time type of manufacturing of their cd, how can they improve things?

Currently they are recording at 48k in Pro-tools, mastered in Sonic Solutions by Air Show Mastering, and then they use top of the line cds (Taiyo Yuden) with a Microboards Orbit II Duplicator. This has produced average cds but we want to do better.

What would you engineers do to improve this so it gets closer to audiophile quality? Would you recommend using a different mastering house, different cds, or a different Duplicator? Or would you just bite the money bullet and go directly to a full-scale manufacturer? We are trying not to have that much money tied up in inventory.

If this is the wrong place to post this question, please suggest another message board to post.

Thank you for your feedback and assistance.
lngbruno

Showing 4 responses by piedpiper

Thanks for the input. The low pass filter makes sense but why wouldn't they just throw out every other sample? Why go with higher sample rate then? Archival only?
Minimalism will always gain you alot asuuming what gear is left in the signal chain is good. I routinely use a battery powered Crown SASSP that I've heavily modified incorporating a built in hand made minimalist battery powered mic pre feeding a modified Alesis Masterlink through a one meter pair of Maplshade/Insound ribbon interconnects at 88.2k sampling at 24 bit later reduced to redbook standard. All editing is done on the Masterlink. The sound becomes very dependent on the room and mic/musician placement. Sound is superb. Price is very reasonable.
Again, 96k is a waste of reconversion. 88.2 is just halved into 44.1 without total reconversion. You gain the higher res for recording, signal processing, if at all, editing and archiving with no down side.
Thanks for the info! You obviously know your stuff. Are you saying that 88.2 has no advantage at all over 96k. Would it not still be a simpler conversion. I'll do some listening.