No Substitute for Listening
Posted on | April 29, 2010 | No Comments
The other day I got the go-ahead from a client to finalize their master disc. I cut the disc and error checked it. Everything seemed good. Then, I put my headphones on to listen through for one final check, with RME’s DigiCheck metering software running to make sure the disc didn’t have any overs, and something interesting happened: the disc just stopped playing sound halfway through the second track. The counter kept moving, as if the disc was still playing. Just no sound.
I ran the error-check on it again and everything came up normal: no C2 or CU errors and all 12 tracks registered. I listened again and — same spot — every went silent. I yanked the disc and cut another one. This time, no problems.
I think that’s the first, possibly second, time in 10 years anything like that’s happened. But it’s proof that anything can happen and you can’t rely on software alone to proof a final product. There’s no substitute for listening.
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From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
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