Compact disc

Compact disc (or CD) is an optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio. It is the standard playback format for commercial audio recordings today.

The AAD, ADD, DDD code for audio CDs

Many CDs, especially classical music, but also many popular recordings (especially on early CDs), come with a three letter code printed on the back, where "A" stands for analog and "D" stands for digital. The first letter represents how the album was recorded, the second how it was mixed, and the third how it was transferred (inevitably a D, as the CD is a digital medium). As a result, almost all early CDs are "AAD" (analog recording and mixing, digital transfer to CD). Often this code was accompanied by a short description such as "Full Digital Recording" for DDD and "Digitally Mixed Analog Recording" for ADD.

Related Topics:
Analog - Digital

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Although experimental recordings exist from the 1960s, digital recording of classical and jazz music began to be made commercially in the early 1970s, pioneered by Japanese companies such as Denon; the first 16-bit PCM recording in the United States was made by Thomas Stockham at the Santa Fe Opera in 1976 on a Soundstream recorder. In most such cases, there was no mixing stage involved; a stereo digital recording was made and used unaltered as the master tape for subsequent commercial release. These, and other subsequent unmixed digital recordings are still described as DDD, as the technology involved is purely digital. (Likewise, unmixed analog recordings are usually described as ADD, to denote a single generation of analog recording).

Related Topics:
1960s - 1970s - Denon - United States - Thomas Stockham - Santa Fe Opera - 1976 - Soundstream

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The first digitally recorded (DDD) popular music album was Bop Till You Drop by Ry Cooder, recorded in late 1978; it was unmixed, being recorded straight to a two-track 3M digital recorder in the studio. Many other top recording artists, such as Stevie Wonder, were early adherents of digital recording; Wonder adopted the technology in early 1979 for Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants and all subsequent recordings. Others, such as former Beatles producer George Martin, felt that the multitrack digital recording technology of the early 1980s had not reached the sophistication of analog systems; however, he used digital mixing to eliminate the distortion and noise that an analog master tape would introduce (thus ADD). An early example of an analog recording that was digitally mixed is Tusk by Fleetwood Mac, from 1979.

Related Topics:
Bop Till You Drop - Ry Cooder - 1978 - 3M - Stevie Wonder - 1979 - Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants - Beatles - George Martin - 1980s - Tusk - Fleetwood Mac

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By the time the compact disc was introduced worldwide, digital recording and mixing was becoming commonplace among recording artists and producers known for their interest in fidelity. Two examples from 1982 are Signals by Rush, and The Nightfly by Donald Fagen.

Related Topics:
1982 - Signals - Rush - The Nightfly - Donald Fagen

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A few examples of DAD recordings exist, mostly of works that were originally recorded digitally but later remixed by artists who preferred to work with analog technology. A notable example is Herb Alpert's Rise album from 1979.

Related Topics:
Remix - Herb Alpert

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When it started making LPs and cassettes, the originally CD-only label Ryko extended this system to the other media, so that a digital recording on an LP would be DDA, and so forth.

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