Audio specifications for digital distribution and mastering

Make sure you have the following settings in your DAW:

– No limiter or compressor on the masterbus.
– Make sure the track has about -3 / -6 db headroom.
– WAV or AIFF format at 44.1 khz and 24 bits at minimum.
– Stereo Interleaved.
– No dithering.

Audio specifications for vinyl distribution and mastering

Digital submission:
– Data files (WAV,IAFF) on CDR, on line via FTP or audio upload system.
– We prefer ZIPPED files (rarzip, winzip, stuffit, DDP etc…).
– Preferably no different samplefrequencies per track on one master.
– Please use the same sample rate throughout all your tracks (44.1 Khz, 48 Khz, 96 Khz or 192 Khz).
– The bitrate can be 16,24 or 32 bit.

Analogue tape submission:
– Tape speed: 38 cm/sec and 19 cm/sec.
– Tape width: ¼ inch.
– Noise reduction system: Dolby –A-,Dolby –C-, Telcom
– Only when supplying on DAT or U-Matic, please do not use the first minute of the tape.
– Please use a separation of 30 seconds between A and B side.
– Pause in between tracks can be 8 seconds max.
– Please supply tracks on a master in the right order, like mentioned on the labelcopy.
– A clear track-index must be supplied with the master.

A labelcopy must be supplied, mentioning format (7″, 10″ or 12″) track titles and tracks per side. Please also mention the prefered RPM in which the audio should be cut, or specify if the engineer can decide depending on the total time and the Frequency-spectrum of the supplied audio.

Extra cutting instructions always need to be mentioned on the labelcopy.

To get the most out of your audio and the cut, please take the optimum and maximum timings in consideration.

Size	RPM	Optimum.Timing	Max.Timing site
7″	45	4:00	5:00 – 7:00
7″	33	5:00	6:00 – 8:00
10″	45	7:00	9:00 – 12:00
10″	33	9:00	11:00 – 15:00
12″ DJ	33	10:00	12:00 – 15:00
12″ DJ	45	8:00	9:00 – 10:00
12″ LP	45	9:00	12:00 – 18:00
12″ LP	33	18:00	21:00 – 32:00

 

Exceeding these times and RPM can effect the quality of the audio. The longer the timings, the more consequences it will have for the sound quality (spectrum) and sound level. Please consider the spectrum for vinyl mastering.