SOUND ON SOUND

[mikehende]

Hey guys, I need to make 3 audio cd's for someone for use on a standalone cd boombox. I need to create the audio cd's on my pc maybe through iTunes or Windows Media Player.

Can anyone link me to or tell me which CD blanks I would need for this please?

[Mike Stranks]

Some of us are very happy with the CD-Rs we get from this supplier: https://www.cvbmedia.co.uk/

You can blank ones that can be printed on an ink-jet printer or standard branded ones.

Many people swear by Taiyo Yuden. Personally I use any white-face CD-R (I always print on them) from this supplier. I've never had any faults.

I burn using Express Burn from NCH Software. It's free! This allows you to choose the burn-speed. For critical work I use 16x rather than the maximum.

[mikehende]

Thanks Mike. So if I understand this better now, an audio cdr like the Maxell Music cd's can only be burned on a standalone CD Recorder and one can use any "data" cd to burn an audio cd on a pc to work on standalone CD players?

[James Perrett]

Things are the opposite way round - a home audio CD recorder will only record onto audio blanks whereas a computer CD recorder will record onto any blanks. It doesn't really make sense to use audio blanks with a computer CD recorder because they are more expensive due to the royalty payment included in the price. In theory the audio blanks are also optimised for low speed recording.

I've bought CD's from the place Mike mentioned although I've not bought any since Taiyo Yuden/JVC stopped making discs in Japan because I stocked up on the Japanese discs.

Mike is also right to mention the burn speed. CD's are burned from the inside to the outside of the disc. When you play a disc in a player where you can see the disc spinning you will notice that it spins quickly at the start of the disc and then slows down at the end of a long disc. This is because the density of the pits is kept constant so you can fit more pits in each revolution of the disc as you move out towards the edge. This is known as Constant Linear Velocity (CLV).

At 16X the discs are burned at the same linear velocity across the whole disc so, as with the player, the discs will spin faster at the start than at the end. At higher speeds the linear velocity changes from about 16X up to the maximum which means that the burn quality can vary across the disc. The reason is that if you spin the disc too fast the disc will shatter so 16-20X is about as fast as you can safely go at the start of the disc. At these high burn speeds the spin speed is kept the same all the way through the burn (also known as Constant Angular Velocity or CAV).

[mikehende]

So any data cdr blank such as this will work for the guy to play his music on his boombox right?

https://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-94691-7 ... 55QSRHKX4R

[James Perrett]

Yes, those ones will probably work fine for general use. However, the cheaper Verbatim discs could be sourced from any manufacturer and are no better quality than most other budget brands. If you wanted something for serious use I'd look at one of the alternatives offered at the bottom of the page which claims to use the Super Azo dye which means that it is likely to be a genuine Verbatim manufactured disc.

https://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-700MB-D ... BF7P7XF85G

[The Bunk]

If I may sort of hijack / chip in on a related subject, can I ask the same question of DVDs? The reason is that I have burnt Verbatim DVDs which always seem to have worked on my TV but more recently, while they have worked on my PC, they have not on my TV. However, I am burning an MP4 format DVD and even on Taiyo Yuden discs that is the case as well. So is that likely to be down to the MP4 format as opposed to the disc?

[ef37a]

If I may sort of hijack / chip in on a related subject, can I ask the same question of DVDs? The reason is that I have burnt Verbatim DVDs which always seem to have worked on my TV but more recently, while they have worked on my PC, they have not on my TV. However, I am burning an MP4 format DVD and even on Taiyo Yuden discs that is the case as well. So is that likely to be down to the MP4 format as opposed to the disc?

I burned a CD for first time in years the other day, bog S 'four' in a pack, Pound Land. Played fine on my Panasonic Freeview recorder ( HDD and CD/DVD). Mostly I burn video on DVD and find anything works.

Note, you might get an option to "Save as USB for certain players or computers...Or save for CD players". You will want the latter. Also, if 'normalizing' the tracks don't slam them to withing 0.01dB of 0dBfs, some players, my old Philips e.g. don't like it up'em! Neg 3 is loud enough.

Dave.

[The Bunk]

Also, if 'normalizing' the tracks don't slam them to withing 0.01dB of 0dBfs, some players, my old Philips e.g. don't like it up'em! Neg 3 is loud enough.

Dave.

Now you mention it.....thanks Dave, that might well have something to do with it.

[mikehende]

Thanks guys, I will try this as I will be able to pickup here locally:

https://www.target.com/p/memorex-cd-r-s ... nk=sametab

[James Perrett]

If I may sort of hijack / chip in on a related subject, can I ask the same question of DVDs? The reason is that I have burnt Verbatim DVDs which always seem to have worked on my TV but more recently, while they have worked on my PC, they have not on my TV. However, I am burning an MP4 format DVD and even on Taiyo Yuden discs that is the case as well. So is that likely to be down to the MP4 format as opposed to the disc?

If you want a DVD to play in every DVD player you need to burn it in a specific format with the correct file and directory structure. Look for the option to burn DVD-Video which should automatically create the correct structure and hopefully convert the videos to the mpeg layer 2 format that DVD video requires.

Some DVD players will play computer video files but the formats they accept will probably be fairly limited.

[mikehende]

I got the blanks mentioned and burned them at 8x speed, plays good in WMP so I have to hope they will work in the standalone, will report back, thx.

[The Bunk]

If you want a DVD to play in every DVD player you need to burn it in a specific format with the correct file and directory structure. Look for the option to burn DVD-Video which should automatically create the correct structure and hopefully convert the videos to the mpeg layer 2 format that DVD video requires.

Some DVD players will play computer video files but the formats they accept will probably be fairly limited.

Thanks James. I think the other issue I currently have is that with my new PC I've only got the very standard Windows Movie making facility which doesn't give you many options. I was using Adobe Elements for previous projects and that was usually hassle-free. I'm just getting onto getting the latest Adobe Premiere.

[blinddrew]

I used to use Premiere Elements but their cloud-only model just doesn't work for me, well, the price doesn't. So I've jumped to Shotcut, it's basic and free but much more capable than Movie-Maker.

[ef37a]

We used Nero 6 for years. Worked well and has a lot of configurations.
They keep trying to sell me an upgrade for W10 but I just don't need it amymore!

Dave.