You have probably just had your album or EP recorded and the proud owners of a set of .wav files or MP3’s and are probably wondering how to get these pressed into a CD format. this is where DDP mastering for CD pressing comes in.

There are 2 ways firstly you can record and make a CD-R or recordable they are great for small runs and a fast turnaround and great for freebies and promos, you could supply one of these to the plant but all CD-R discs have errors and it may get rejected from the plant if these are too high. So it’s a bit risky and you may end up with a batch of faulty discs.

Also for retail sale a pressed disc is required and not only looks better but lasts longer too. Many bands and artists like to sell CDs at gigs so having a finished packaged product is a great way to make a bit of extra money.

Why do we need a DDP master? (Disc Description Protocol)

Quite simply this is the most robust format to send to a pressing plant for manufacturing, and the one format all good plants will readily accept, you can produce a .bin and .cue file too if you have the capabilities but a DDP (Disc Description Protocol) is preferable.

So what is a DDP master?

Essentially it is a set of files which include a disc image for pressing, it has the track order, track gaps and all important MD5 checksum as well as other important files, it can contain ISRC codes (so you get paid for air play) and CD text information. The DDP can then be quickly submitted to the plant by file transfer (FTP) We can do this for you as part of the service.

What options are there?

From your tracks we can create the DDP master and supply test discs on CD-R to red book standard for checking ahead of supplying your final DDP.

We can of course do the whole job here pressing and printing and shipping your CDs from only 500 units packed into the latest digital card products (we are actively trying to reduce the use of plastics)

What about Artwork?

Artwork can be supplied ready for printing, we send templates to your designer for the production of your artwork, we do have an in-house designer too so all you need is a idea of want you would like and our designer will come up with an eye catching design ready to print including any images and stying in keeping with your style and brand.

You can choose to get the DDP and source the pressing and printing yourself it’s is up to you. Or we can make the master create the artwork from your ideas and images then  press, print and ship directly to you.

For further informtion please don’t hesitate to contact us!