Klarinet Archive - Posting 000362.txt from 2001/12

From: "Benjamin Maas" <benmaas@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] MP3 vs CD audio
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 16:29:07 -0500

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Mack Endres [mailto:endres@-----.com]
>
> OK, I knew that Audio CD-Rs will play on most players, and Digital
> CD-Rs only on newer units (I've had pretty good success with this,
> btw). But I hadn't heard they couldn't be copied? Can't they be ripped
> to a hard disk .wav just like a commercial audio CD?

Gotta watch the terminology here... CDRs are by their very nature
digital... As I've said before the only difference between the "audio" and
"data" CDs is a code for a tax has been placed on the audio discs. Other
than that, they are identical. They can all be "ripped" to your hard drive
on a computer. Consumer stand-alone CD recorders must use the audio CDs.
Professional stand-alone CD recorders can use either...

Also, as a side note, the record companies have just adopted a new copy
protection for major releases to keep them from ending up as MP3s. What it
does is it keeps the CD from playing on computers. I don't know exactly how
it works, but if you play one of these discs on a computer, you will end up
with pops and clicks in your sound. You'd still be able to play them on a
normal CD player, though. If you wanted to copy something, you'd have to
play it into your computer through an analog or digital port on a sound card
in real time.

> I want to burn CD's of some of my favorites, and plan to try an audio
> CD recorder. Some need cleanup, and I also want to make compilations
> (7 or 8 versions of K622, mvmt 1 on 1 CD for example). My proposed
> workflow is
> 1. burn an Audio CD-R first
> 2. then rip to hard disk
> 3. lastly cleanup and burn a CD-R from the desktop for the
> recordings that require tweaking or compilation
>
> This is better than running a 20-ft audio cable
> between my audio setup and the desktop on which I propose to do the
> cleanup. Is there a problem with this plan?

This is a much better plan... 20 feet of unbalanced audio cable will end up
the possibility of substantial signal loss. I try to keep my unbalanced
cables under 8 feet total.

There are several good programs that aren't terribly expensive for audio
restoration. Diamond Cut Audio Restoration tools are pretty good
(www.diamondcut.com) for the price. Steinberg Clean is another option, but
I've never used it. Be aware that if you try to clean too much of the hiss
and pops with bad software, you *WILL* end up with nasty artifacts in your
audio. There is a reason why the pros use multiple tools for doing
restoration and they can run from $5000-$30,000 each. You may end up with a
better product by just burning to CD and leaving it that way.

You'd then need another program to actually burn the discs. Sound Forge
would probably be fine for that, but there are better programs. Gear might
be ok as well. I generally try to stay away from EZ CD Creator for audio...
I've had really bad experiences with that.

--Ben

Benjamin Maas
Fifth Circle Audio
Los Angeles, CA
benmaas@-----.com
http://www.fifthcircle.com

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