Xref: utzoo misc.consumers:4397 rec.music.misc:10836 sci.electronics:2641 Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!think!ames!amdahl!pyramid!prls!philabs!mergvax!ted From: ted@mergvax.UUCP (William Klein) Newsgroups: misc.consumers,rec.music.misc,sci.electronics Subject: Re: Experience with Compact Disc Club? Message-ID: <336@mergvax.UUCP> Date: 29 Mar 88 17:43:05 GMT References: <253@antares.aero.org> <1510010@hpfcbpr.HP.COM> <328@mergvax.UUCP> <23843@clyde.ATT.COM> Organization: Linotype Co. , Hauppauge NY Lines: 46 Keywords: CD clubs, masters, CBS Summary: There are masters and then there are MASTERS... In article <23843@clyde.ATT.COM>, gwu@clyde.ATT.COM (George Wu) writes: > > In article <619@acf3.NYU.EDU> tmy6405@acf3.UUCP (Ted M. Young) writes: > >One word of caution...a friend of mine who is very involved in the > >field, tells me that some of the CDs that you get from the club may > >NOT be as good as the ones that you would buy in the store! Seems > I'm inclined to disagree here. You say the original label company > won't give a club the original *digital* master. This can be interpretted > to mean that the club gets either a digital copy of the master, or an > analog reproduction. > > Let's consider the analog reproduction first. This further implies that While at the Apple CD/ROM conference last month, I conversed with a person who ran a CD pressing shop. He did audio CD's, and wanted to get the scoop on being prepared for the digital data CD/ROM's revolution. OK. Anyone who knows more than I remember, correct me please. Faulty memory may cause blathering in the below comments. A master tape (analog or digital, the final mix tape) is delivered to the mastering shop. There it is corrected (?) and eventually converted to CD-compatible digital and 'burned' onto a nickel master. This master is then used to 'stamp' glass masters. It is apparently good for not that many glass masters, I do not remember the number but is less than 100. The nickel master goes into the vault. The glass masters are then used to 'stamp' the plastic CD's. They wear out after some number of thousand pressings and are discarded. The size of a CD production run is generally controlled by the number of glass masters made * number of output copies per glass master. The reason the glass masters are 'used up' is because they have a shelf life of about 1-2 months (breakdown mechanism? I don't know). The nickel master has a shelf life (in the vault) of no more than 6 months. So. When someone else is 'licensed' to press CD's, they start from either the mix tape (often in analog) or maybe (rarely?) the final digital repro tape. This is why there is definite differences in quality (mainly noise floor) between different pressings of the same music (Pink Floyd's DSOTM is a prime example). They are using different masters. I hope this is somewhat enlightening, and not too incorrect (as it is coming from volatile organic memory). -- Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans. Real Life: W. Ted Klein UUCP: philabs!mergvax!ted VOICE: 516-434-2687