Best workflow to creating a CD in Wavelab

WaveLab
1

Hi,
I’ve gone through the manual and looked at a few video tutorials … but still need some help and advice please on how best to use Wavelab Pro 9.5 to create a Master CD.

My Objective: To create a mastered CD image (e.g. iso) so I can burn copies of my CDs in-house with all the relevant metadata showing up when people play it in iTunes, Windows Media Player or a car stereo.

Going from Wavelab Elements to Wavelab Pro has helped a lot with the workflow which is now as follows:

  • Create Montage > Add Metadata > Add CD Text > burn to CD Image (format: DDP) … but then I’m stuck

Creating the DDP image creates the following files:

  • CDTEXT.BIN
  • CHECKSUM.MD5
  • DDPID
  • DDPMS
  • IMAGE.DAT
  • PQDESCR

What do all these files do?

What software is recommended for buring the actual CD with Meta Data and CD Text?


Regarding CD Text
Does the CD Text get added automatically to the DDP image or do I need to do an additional step or burn session to add CD Text?

Getting iTunes & Windows Media Player to show the correct album info?
This may be out of the scope of Wavelab but I’m strugglining to get itunes and windows media player to recognise the correct CD information. For Gracenote I’ve re-submitted the info and for All Music Guide I’ve sent them corrected info … but for some reason the albums are still coming up incorrectly (as different albums). So I was wondering if there was something in Wavelab and the MetaData settings that might help.

Sorry for all the questions. I’ve been trying to figure this all out for a couple of weeks now with no progress. Your help and insight would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks
Nick

2

I wouldn’t mess with .iso, I think DDP is what you want.

The thing to know is that iTunes and Windows Media Player CAN’T read CD-Text, but most car stereos can display CD-Text. Some newer and fancier cars can reference Gracenote but they are now always up to date with new Gracenote submissions. There are a few 3rd party extension options for iTunes and Windows Media Player to read CD-Text but they are generally beyond the scope of what the average consumer is going to be willing to install.

To answer the question of “What software is recommended for buring the actual CD with Meta Data and CD Text?”, the answer is WaveLab Pro!

You have to enter all the info in the CD-Text editor box and this process can be sped up by making sure the markers are correctly named first, then using the arrows in the CD-Text Editor box, you can quickly populate all the fields. If your source files are also correctly named, you can get a montage set up and ready to render in under a minute if no audio processing decisions need to be made.

When you render a DDP, any entered CD-Text in the CD-Text Editor box will be written to the DDP image. No extra steps needed.

You can also use the Metadata tab in the montage to transpose your entered CD-Text to ID3 Metadata so that if you render a WAV, mp3, or AAC file from the montage, it has the metadata that you’d like to see in most media players. This is different from CD-Text and does require some initial setup which can be saved as a preset.

It’s not uncommon for a media player to show you the info from another CD, especially if your CD is shorter and is more likely to match an exiting CD in terms of number of tracks and their respective lengths.

Gracenote and related questions come up so often I’ve prepared this PDF:

And this article:
Metadata, CD-Text, Artwork & More for Mastering Audio

WaveLab now comes with a DDP Player to check your DDP work, or you can simply load in the DDP to a new montage session but with the DDP Player sill being new with some bugs, I highly suggest getting some of the HOFA DDP tools. Using a 3rd party tool to test your DDP work can reveal some things that may not be obvious when checking in the same software used to create the DDP.

HOFA makes a very affordable DDP Player for you to double check things in, and they also make an app called DDP Player Maker that allows you to create a DDP in WaveLab (or any other app capable of DDP), and then using the HOFA app, you can create a DDP Player that anybody can use. If you have to send out DDP images to your clients or colleagues for approval, this is a great and easy to use method.

3

Fantastic … thank you for clearing up a lot of my questions and things I’ve been wondering about for a long time.

I recently upgraded to WaveLab Pro (from Elements) and can see the workflow is quite easy. But the final step is how to now create/burn CDs I can sell.

I realise I can provide a duplicator with the DDP images for them to create batches of CDs, but I also like to create small batches in house so I can sell them immediately to some of my close clients. Which software would you recommend for doing this? Which software can take the files:

  • CDTEXT.BIN
  • CHECKSUM.MD5
  • DDPID
  • DDPMS
  • IMAGE.DAT
  • PQDESCR
    and burn a CD for the consumer? Will HOFA do this? I’ve tried Nero and it didn’t work (the meta data was missing).

Many thanks
Nick

4

Well, you can burn a CD directly from the WaveLab montage that will contain the CD-Text that you have entered. You can also burn a CD from a DDP image in WaveLab using the File → Tools menu. Some people like myself like to render the DDP, check the audio and data before burning a CD.

All the files you mention are part of the DDP file set so you can really think of them as all one group of files that work together and all are needed. Usually a DDP file set folder is zipped up for transmission as one file. I don’t believe Nero can read or write a DDP but you can really do everything you are asking with WaveLab Pro.

If you want a 3rd party tool to check your DDP work and burn a CD, try the HOFA DDP Player app. I think it’s $10 USD.

5

Great thank you … I’m downloading as I type and will try it out. The cost I can see is about 80Euros for the DDP Player Maker.

If it works then well worth it!!

Thanks

6

DDP Player Maker is great for sending a DDP image to your clients for approval, and to burn their own CDs. I use it daily.

But there is also a simple HOFA DDP Player app for you to use locally that is only $15 euro:

DDP Player Maker covers both options though.

It’s a good way to double check your work. Like I said, WaveLab 9.5 now comes with a Steinberg DDP Player but it’s got some issues and I don’t think it burns CDs which is odd. Loading the rendered DDP into WaveLab to check it and burn a CD can work but sometimes special character issues and other anomalies are best revealed in an app from another company to test more variables.

7

Ah … works great!

Thank you once again for all you help and guidance!!

I better go compose some music now!!