SBE in FLAC

I helped a friend out by editing his recording. I started out with a long .wav file, and split the tracks accordingly with CDWave to prevent SBE errors.

I sent him the finished CDs and saved the .wav files on my computer. Now I want to convert the tracks to .flac files for archiving and space purposes.

Since I already used CDWave to prevent SBE errors when I first tracked the recording, is it necessary to use the "align on sector boundaries" feature of the FLAC GUI again, when I compress the files to FLAC?

[Karst]

Good question. I'd say probably yes - just to be on the safe side. Never used CDWave - seems like a rather old program?

[ffooky]

It's extremely unlikely that you have SBE's anywhere but at the end of the last track but you can check for them with Trader's Little Helper. In the (highly unlikely) event that you do find them or you want correct the end track, you should also correct them with TLH as there is a bug with flac whereby non-null samples may be used at the end of any padding required to make the last track SB compliant.

[Five]

(as ffooky suggests) the first thing to do is get Traders' Little Helper so that you can run len checks. Download from the link in my signature then go to the "audio file details tab"

[Marmar]

Being an audio engineer I can say this....

1) CD wav will split tall tracks on a sector boundary EXCEPT the final track. This is due to the ending of the large wav file not being an exact length to avoid having a SBE for the end....

Having a SBE at the end of a file is NOT the end of the world.....since there are no tracks after the final track (unless it's disc 1 or 2 of a 3 disc set....) the SBE will do no damage.

The big thing is to use shntool on the large file and pad the end of it if it isn't an even multiple of secotrs.....

shntool join -o wav -postpad

This will end all your secotr boundary issues.....

Marmar

I just got a chance to look at this today.

@Karst
CDWave is the only program that I know of that will, for sure, split the tracks on sector boundaries. Seems like a pretty nice program to me.

@ffooky and Five
You're exactly right. TLH (great program btw) only found a SBE at the very end of the last track. So the answer to this question is no, you do not need to use FLAC's "align on sector boundaries" feature if you already split them that way. You can just encode the files.

@Marmar
I'm just going to leave it that way with the SBE at the end of the final track. It fades out nicely and the CD ends, so I don't see the immediate need to fix it. Of course I would have to though if there were 2 long .wav files that were edited to go on the first disk and they fell back to back. In that case, your method would be the best to use.

Thanks for the responses.

[Five]

Cdwave, EAC, CEP/Audition & Audacity (Goldwave also, but it adds some small amount of dither to all of the audio for some reason) are all progs I know of that can split on sector boundaries perfectly (if you know how to do it right). using a calculator, any wav editing prog that displays sample counts can also do it.

I still highly recommend fixing the SBE on the final track, it is such a little effort and it is so nice to see "there are no sector boundary errors" when looking at audio file details instead of seeing that there are errors and having to squint to see where they are. Don't be lazy!

Originally Posted by Five

Cdwave, EAC, CEP/Audition & Audacity (Goldwave also, but it adds some small amount of dither to all of the audio for some reason) are all progs I know of that can split on sector boundaries perfectly (if you know how to do it right). using a calculator, any wav editing prog that displays sample counts can also do it.

I still highly recommend fixing the SBE on the final track, it is such a little effort and it is so nice to see "there are no sector boundary errors" when looking at audio file details instead of seeing that there are errors and having to squint to see where they are. Don't be lazy!

I have all of the programs mentioned and I used Audacity back in July when I wanted a clean and complete version of the Pink Floyd Live 8 performance (before I knew it was going to be an official release). I took my hi-FI VHS tape of the VH1 re-broadcast and did a proper audio rip using Audacity for all of the capturing and track edits. And Audacity but a sizeable gap right between tracks 1 and 2, and I had to re-do the whole thing all over again.

Alright, I think it's pretty important to fix all of the SBE errors, but what would be the best method in that case, can I just use TLH, or should I use the shntool to pad the end of the last track?

[Five]

with audacity you have to use the "snap to CDDA sectors" function and somewhat awkwardly cut each track from the show, paste to a new file and save (make sure those export settings are 44.1kHz/16bit). With EAC you create and use a cue sheet, and with CEP/Audition right-click and "go to cue list" with the display set to samples, change all the cue types to "track" and make damn sure the beginning and end of each track are exactly where they should be before you hit "batch". I do agree that CDWave is the easiest option, but there is the minor detail of the SBE left on the last track which is a minor detail but always nice to take care of. Anyhow, I recommend everybody use what they're comfortable with and are sure works right.

I think I have the 2nd last version of TLH and for some reason it doesn't allow padding only the last track, I'm not sure if this is how it is with the most recent version. in that case you should use shntool from cmd.exe, if you've never done this somebody here can explain the steps (maybe me!). FLAC frontend is not recommended for padding the last track for all versions up to and including 1.1.2a, this feature in that prog has a small bug right now.

With CD Wave (version 194) you can split the large file and save directly to FLAC files, in the drop down menu for output mode, and select whatever FLAC compression you want.
If there is a SBE on the last track just pad it with Traders Little Helper ( version 08043) and your sorted.
The amount of downloads I've had with SBE on last track is ridiculous - I know it doesn't really matter since it is the last track, but I like to fix them all before archiving to DVD, and it only takes a short time to fix - too many lazy gits around.
Cheers
Alfie

PS Everyone should get Traders Little Helper - invaluable !!!

[range_hood]

Originally Posted by ffooky

you should also correct them with TLH as there is a bug with flac whereby non-null samples may be used at the end of any padding required to make the last track SB compliant.

Originally Posted by Five

FLAC frontend is not recommended for padding the last track for all versions up to and including 1.1.2a, this feature in that prog has a small bug right now.

I´d like to triple this. Do not use Flac frontend or flac.exe for this job till they fix this bug. It will alter your audio content by inserting repeated samples.

Originally Posted by Five

I think I have the 2nd last version of TLH and for some reason it doesn't allow padding only the last track, I'm not sure if this is how it is with the most recent version. in that case you should use shntool from cmd.exe, if you've never done this somebody here can explain the steps (maybe me!). FLAC frontend is not recommended for padding the last track for all versions up to and including 1.1.2a, this feature in that prog has a small bug right now.

OK, yes, to answer your question I do know how to use the shn tool and I fixed the final SBE.