Making Movies and Films Like a Pro

Preparing your master to send to your vendor is the most important step on the process. A master that is prepared incorrectly can cause delays and playability issues. Correctly prepping the master eliminates any problems that might cause delays. It is crucially important that you test the master in several other players other than one the player it was created on.

With so many cheap brands or media out there, it’s important to use a quality brand for the master. After all, the master is what all your other copies are going to be made from. Some of the higher quality brands are Mitsui, Maxell, and Taiyo Yuden. If you’re not sure what to use, ask the company doing the project what brand they prefer you use. This will assure you produce a quality master.

It is extremely important that you label your master clearly with your company name and project title. Duplication facilitates deal with many different titles on a daily basis and if you don’t clearly label it, you may experience a delay or worse have the project mixed up with some other project. Take the few extra moments to label the master with a label or marker that is approved to write on the face of a disc. Do not try to use a ball point pin to mark on the disc, it will ruin the disc.

Testing is probably the most crucial step. After you have burned your master, you need to test it in several different types of target players and not just on the system that produced the burned disc. Make sure the disc loads and plays as intended. Also listen to the sound quality. If you hear pops and hisses on the master, then you’re going to hear them on the duplicated or replicated discs. Many older burners produce discs that can not be played on newer players so again, make sure you have tested your master on as many players as possible before you send it in. Remember, your going to get an exact copy of what you send in so if it does not play well, neither will the copies.

Vendors are in the business to perform a service for you and if you have any questions about the mastering process, ask them. Taking a few extra moments to produce and test the master correctly will assure that your project is as trouble free as possible.