How are Track Separations and Indexing done?  

Let me start by explaining there is no magic button that searches the recording and places track markers at all the right places. I sure wish there was.

The fact is I have to place them manually by hand. In order to do that, the track is brought up on a screen and I visually look for the separation between songs. Sometimes it is very obvious (Ilust. 1) but sometimes it is almost impossible to tell (Illust. 2).

If the recording is spoken word or is a music that has many starts and stops, I will not be able to place track separation markers at the correct places. The industry standard for situations like this is to place markers every 5 minutes. This is what I do. However, some companies do nothing. So your CD will be just one long recording with no ability to jump to different sections of the recording.

Illustration 1- an example of a recording that can be indexed properly. The space between songs is clearly visible.

Illustration 2- an example of a recording that cannot be indexed except every 5 minutes.