SACD Mastering & Authoring
The Super Audio CD has stayed alive in classical music, even though it has all but disappeared elsewhere. We master your SACD in stereo and, if required, multichannel, and handle the authoring through to the finished cutting master that the plant processes directly. Very few studios still offer this.
Why SACD lives on in classical music
For many classical labels and their audience, SACD is still the highest-quality physical format. It offers high-resolution sound and a multichannel version on a disc that, as a hybrid, still plays in any CD player. People who collect music and listen on a good system choose this format deliberately, and for an album the SACD edition can be exactly what sets it apart.
How a hybrid SACD is built
A hybrid SACD holds up to three versions of the same album:
- CD layer: a regular Red Book audio CD, playable in any CD player
- High-resolution stereo: the actual SACD layer in stereo
- Multichannel: optionally a surround version, usually 5.0 or 5.1
All three have to match: the same track order, the same lengths, and a sound that remains recognisable as the same album. That is the real mastering task on an SACD.
What we deliver: the cutting master
We master the stereo and multichannel versions and create the cutting master from them: a folder of .dat files containing the complete disc image of the SACD. It is to the SACD what the DDP is to the CD, the exact material the plant manufactures from. We supply the CD layer of the hybrid disc as a DDP alongside it. The plant therefore needs no further authoring step and no third-party service. Before handover we listen through all versions in full.
Why almost no studio offers this
An SACD requires a high-resolution production from start to finish, a multichannel monitoring environment and authoring through to the cutting master. Because the format is hardly in demand outside classical music, most studios have given this work up, and many labels have to buy in the authoring separately. We produce in stereo, surround and Dolby Atmos, master in a control room with 7.1.4 monitoring and create the cutting master ourselves. With us, the SACD stays in one pair of hands from recording to handover to the plant.
Planning an SACD release? Tell us which layers you need and which plant you are working with.