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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 1 response by seandtaylor99

seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
Onhwy61 is spot on. As an engineer I used to work with once told me "You can't polish a turd". The most important element in the chain is the mic, its placement relative to instruments and the room. I've used ADAT and 2" analogue and both can sound either lousy or great depending on whether the mic'ing is done correctly or not. I have never heard any amount of "aural exciters", EQs or any such tool create a good sound from a mediocre source.
I've had best results from Neumann and AKG mics, and it seems that you get what you pay for ... expect $1000 up for a really good mic.
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