Burned subs to CDs

[Clamshell]

I remember there being a discussion on this. From what I remember, the subs should burn to a CD-R just fine, as long as it is a data CD-R and not a CD that converts the subs to mp3s (make any conversions that don't need to be done).

I just burned MUWAS and Think Like a Millionaire (masked) to CD to play in a CD player. So I'm just wondering if I'm going to get the right quality.

[Shannon]

As long as you don't re-encode them. They come to you as .mp3 and you can decode them into AIFF or WAV format to make a standard audio CD from. Making an mp3 CD is also fine... just as long as you don't try to encode or re-encode them as .mp3. Saving them as mp3 will destroy the subliminal audio.

The specifics depend on the software and methodology you used.

[Clamshell]

All I saw in the Windows Media Player was the Burn button. So, if anything takes away from the quality of the subs, then it wasn't my doing.

[Shannon]

The WMP isn't my idea of the most media-friendly applications. Lord only knows what it does to non-DRMed media. You are creating standard audio CDs, right? I think I would have to analyze one of the CDs you created to know exactly what the results is. Or you could simply use an alternate program to create your audio CDs. I know K3b works beautifully for this in Linux, and it's what I use to create all my physical duplicating masters.

[Clamshell]

I didn't get the same euphoric feelings I usually get when I played my CD. However, I was pretty depressed last night, so I won't know what kind of psychological effects I will get when I'm in a more optimistic mood.

[Shannon]

The only way I can think of for you to self-analyze the results is to rip the resulting CDs to a .wav file set and then download audacity load the ultrasonic track, import it and then select analyze>plot spectrum. The result should look like this: [attachment=16]

And that will indicate that the audio is all above 15 kHz frequency and goes all the way to 20 kHz. Anything else is suspect.

[Clamshell]

That quite technical. I might try that. Is that in Windows Media Player? Besides, I'm only using the masked subs for my CDs. My CD player probably isn't good enough to play the ultrasonics on.

[Shannon]

There should be a visualization that allows you to plot the volume by pitch. I think it's called "Ocean Mist". Should look something similar. Technical? Yes. These subs are not simple to build. But I don't use audacity for it, it's not yet advanced enough for my needs. I suggested it because it's free.

[Clamshell]

But does all this matter so much with the masked subs?

[Shannon]

Masked subs don't use frequency differencing, they use volume differencing. Since mp3 encoding works by removing what is commonly considered "useless data" - such as audio too low in volume to hear or too high in pitch to hear - you can't encode them either. (EDIT: To clarify, we use special methods to retain subliminal audio data in our .mp3s. You the customer won't be able to in the vast majority of cases.) It is impossible to verify these, and the only way to know if they're being damaged is to examine the ultrasonics. If the ultrasonics are damaged or significantly altered, then it's a good bet the masked program is also being stripped of its subliminal audio.

[Clamshell]

I always thought that the copies were perfect copies, unless modified. I do get the euphoric feelings from listening to the CD I made. But now I'm really concerned.

Does drag-and-dropping the programs make any difference?

[Shannon]

Drag and drop won't make any difference.

What happens when you make a CD from an mp3 is what matters. In their effort to make it mindlessly simple, did the software maker retain full CD specs? Or did they make assumptions and limit spec to whatever they liked?

When you decode an mp3 file and save it as a lossless format (wav or aiff) no data is lost. But if you clip the data... that data is lost. So the question is, does WMP clip the data, or attempt to re-encode it before burning a CD? If so, you'll have damaged results. If not, you're golden.

If you're still getting the euphoria, it sounds like you still have subliminal data present.