"hidden track" at end of CD

I have a client that wants a “hidden track” at end of his CD, does anyone have an idea of how to do this?

There are a few options so you’ll have to ask your client what they want.

You could add the hidden song to the end of the last track with a certain amount of silence before the hidden song starts. This way a 12 song album would still technically be 12 tracks on a CD and for digital distribution.

You could have the hidden track be it’s own track after the last listed track and you can start it right away or have a certain amount of silence before the song starts on the last track but it would be listed at a 13 track album for example on digital distribution and the CD would have 13 visible tracks.

Or you could have a certain amount of silence after the last listed song and then start the hidden track but it would be listed at a 13 track album for example on digital distribution and the CD would have 13 visible tracks.

A hidden track isn’t really hidden, it’s just not listed in the artwork typically. How you “hide” the song is up to you or the client.

It was more fun with CDs compared to the digital distribution era.

Thanks. That’s kind of what I thought. kind of a drag for people listening to the CD on random or ripping it. I thought there might be some secret way…

Really hidden would be to put the track before track 1, and in that case it won’t get a track number on a physical CD. Activate ‘audio in pauses’, put the hidden track first and the first CD track start marker at the start of the first visible track. For digital distribution this is useless, but on a physical CD the only way to hear it is to rewind after Track 1 starts playing.