SPARS code

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The SPARS code is a three-letter identifier on an audio CD .

The letters designate the technology used for the production steps of sound recording , mixing and mastering . A stands for analog and D for digital technology. Since the 2000s, such references have been found only rarely, most often on classical CDs. The code is a development of the American Society of Professional Audio Recording Services . The name goes back to the abbreviation SPARS for the organization.

Digital recording means that the sound source is either already digital itself (e.g. digital synthesizer) or that analog signals (e.g. from microphones) have been digitized at some point in the recording process chain, but at the latest when recording. The digital recording eliminates all interfering noises that would occur with analog recording when the medium is re-scanned (e.g. tape noise). On the other hand, the quality of the recording is decisively determined by digitization. Therefore, you usually choose higher sampling rates and / or a higher word length per sample for this step than later for the duplication, e.g. B. on CD, would actually be necessary.

The following applies:

  • DDD : digital recording, digital mixing, digital mastering
  • ADD : analog recording, digital mixing, digital mastering
  • AAD : analog recording, analog mixing, digital mastering
  • DAD : digital recording, analog mixing, digital mastering

The last letter is always a D in the production of CDs, as this requires a digital master as a digital medium.

Digital remastering is the most common variant for recordings from the time before the CD was introduced. Everything is possible, from simple unchanged copies to reverberation and dynamic compression of the signals.

Source references

  1. SPARS - The Society of Professional Audio Recording Services: History - SPARS Under the Founders: 1981 - 1986 ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.spars.com archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Sighted: September 21, 2009