CD Recorders at DVinfo.net

Ron Cooper · February 3rd, 2014, 01:44 AM

I'm in Australia & have been out of the loop for a while, and am interested in a dedicated cd recorder (not via PC) so I'm wondering what's out there. Are DVD recorders capable of recording audio on to a CD ? If so I think they may be a good low price option. The application is for recording church services quickly on the fly for immediate playback in average cd players.

Comments please.

Regards,

RonC.

Vincent Oliver · February 3rd, 2014, 04:23 AM

A laptop may be your best answer

Roger Gunkel · February 3rd, 2014, 06:15 AM

Hi Ron,

The simplest way to record what you are suggesting, is to buy a modern mp3/wav recorder and use external mic/s, rather than the onboard ones, although Some have very good onboard mics and the whole recorder can be placed wherever you want. There are many types available, just about all have a minimum of stereo input and record to sd card. You simply remove the card, and put it in the card reader of your laptop or PC to transfer to CD/DVD or to edit it first.

Some of the recorders are available with multi track recording facilities, so that you can record independent tracks from different mics to remix later. The stereo ones are all small enough for carrying in a pocket, most also have inbuilt memory as well as removable sd card facility, and most if not all have a USB output for direct transfer to a PC etc. You will also probably surprised at how little they cost.

Roger

Jay Massengill · February 3rd, 2014, 07:09 AM

CD recorders are still commonly available, like the Tascam CD-RW900SL for $260 in the US. (Assuming you would be connecting this recorder to the output of an existing sound system.)

Then to make lots of copies of your original disc efficiently you need a multi-drive duplicator.

Greg Miller · February 3rd, 2014, 07:41 AM

The Tascam would work fine for recording from a mixing board. It gets mostly good reviews on Amazon (from an admittedly "mixed bag" of customers).

Remember: some day you will experience a malfunction. Either an aged laser in the recorder, a blank disc with a flaw, etc. At that point you will have lost the recording of that day's service. If you record first to a RAM-based recorder and then convert to CD, or if you at least make a backup recording on a RAM-based recorder (simultaneously with making the "live" CD recording), then you'll have a good digital recording to use as a starting point to make your CD recording later.

Also, does this recorder have "disc at once" recording mode? If not, you will have problems if you push the "new track" button during the service. If it records only in "track at once" mode, every time you start a new track, it will replace two seconds of your [live] audio with two seconds of silence, leaving two second gaps in the audio when played back. And if the minister starts to speak, or the choir starts to sing, before that two seconds has elapsed, you may lose something really imortant. I don't see any mention of "track at once" vs. "disc at once" on the Amazon product page, although admittedly I did not look elsewhere for more info. But if this is important to you, you might want to do some additional research. (Of course if you plan to record the entire service as a single hour-long track, this is of no importance.)

Ron Cooper · February 3rd, 2014, 10:51 PM

Thanks for your replies.

I should have mentioned that we only want to make very small quantities and there is a direct input from the PA so micing is not a problem, just finding a quick & cheap way to make a CD.

Down here, the Tascam is rather expensive so that is why I was hoping to use a DVD recorder if possible.

I looked at the PC issue but it just becomes too time consuming & complicated compared with simply connecting up a recorder and directly recording straight to a CD during the service. Further, when the service is over, we are able to give out a CD for instantly playing to people in a nursing home.

It was all so simple when all we & everyone had was cassettes !!

Regards,

RonC.

Tim Lewis · February 3rd, 2014, 10:56 PM

I suspected from your original post Ron that you must be trying to address the needs of an older congregation. If this were for a youth service, it would be a simple matter of uploading the file to a streaming service like iTunes and letting everyone listen to it on their computers or phones. But I don't like your chances of getting that technology past octogenarians and the like!

Maybe there are some tech savvy nurses at the home who could broadcast it there from such a service?

Ron Cooper · February 4th, 2014, 12:14 AM

Spot on Tim !

Even the younger ones (over 60), are not that tech savvy either, & don't want to fuss over re-recording onto a CD via a PC later and frankly I don't blame them. I would not expect the Nurses to spend any time on this either.

RonC.

Vincent Oliver · February 4th, 2014, 03:06 AM

A laptop is still your best option, if you need to produce multiple copies. Other than that, most TV recorders will also burn CD's I have a Sony unit which cost about £150 and will record directly onto it's on-board hard drive, from there I can burn a DVD or CD. However, you would have to link it to a TV to see the menu etc.

Greg Miller · February 4th, 2014, 07:09 AM

Mr. Cooper,

Please help me understand your ultimate goal. At one point you mentioned "small quantities" but at another point you talk about just one CD for transport to and playing at a nursing home. Can you please clarify this?

Also, would it be "the end of the world" if, on some given week, your recording system failed and you had no record of that week's service?

Here are a few thoughts which may be more or less relevant, depending on your answers to the above.

1.) Any mechanical recording system if likely to fail at some point. Fatigued laser in CD recorder, flawed blank CD disc, broken/stretched belt in cassette recorder, flawed cassette tape, etc. If reliability is of great importance, a $50 recorder that uses an SD or CF card is probably more reliable.

2.) If you want only one copy of the service, for playback on some probably-less-than-stellar-audio-quality system at a nursing home, why not use a cassette, if you really like them? Cassette recorders and players are easy to come by, and blank cassettes won't break the bank. They cost more than blank CD-R discs, but they can be erased and re-used, if you aren't saving every service for archival purposes. And even my 89-year-old mother can find the "record" button on her cassette machine.

3.) Recording a CD on a PC is really very simple, and you shouldn't be intimidated by the idea. I know many folks who do this who are past the age of 60 (my God, man, 60 is young these days!) including myself, and I know some folks who do this who are in their 70s and even 80s.

Admittedly, it is a 2-step process. First, you click something to record the service on your hard drive. Then you click something else to "burn" that audio onto a blank CD-R disc. But no, you can't pull a finished CD out of the machine immediately at the end of the service, that "buring" step will take about 5 minutes.

I bring this up again only because you seem to be concerned about the cost of a dedicated CD recorder. You can probably find a used XP machine for a lower price... maybe even for free. But, indeed, there is more hardware involved, and it is not quite as simple as a dedicated recorder... that's the tradeoff: simplest solution, or least expensive solution. The choice is yours.

4.) If you want only one copy of the service, for playback at the nursing home, you could record directly onto a memory card, on a $50 recorder, with no tape or CD involved. Then transport the memory card (the size of a postage stamp) to the nursing home, let them put it in a $10 MP3 player there, and play it. Of course the memory card might cost as much as $5.00, but it can be erased and re-used hundreds of times.

Anyway, there are a lot of technological options, but please clarify your needs and priorities, per those first two questions, so we can narrow down the pros and cons of different processes.

Greg Miller · February 4th, 2014, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vincent Oliver

A laptop may be your best answer
__________________
Hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once

Maybe he should just take a picture of the service. It would be better than a hundred CDs. ;-)

Vincent Oliver · February 4th, 2014, 08:03 AM

Thanks Greg,

I asked for that with my strap-line :-)

Greg Miller · February 4th, 2014, 08:30 AM

Vincent,

If you spend enough time hanging out in this forum, eventually we'll make a convert of you. ;-)

Vincent Oliver · February 4th, 2014, 08:38 AM

For you Greg. x

Roger Gunkel · February 4th, 2014, 09:06 AM

How about one of these Ron? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-ICDPX33...productDetails

You can record by connecting it to the PA output, or use the onboard or external mics. You can also record to the onboard memory or a removeable sd card, and you can play back directly from the recorder into a HiFi line input in the nursing home. For CDs, just plug the card or the USB output directly to your PC and burn straight to cd for as many copies as you want.

It will record several hours to the built in memory, or if you use an external card, enough hours to record many services and of course you can erase and re-record over and over again. Very simple to use and one button to push to stop and start, couldn't be simpler!

Roger

February 3rd, 2014, 01:44 AM	#1
Ron Cooper Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 481	CD Recorders I'm in Australia & have been out of the loop for a while, and am interested in a dedicated cd recorder (not via PC) so I'm wondering what's out there. Are DVD recorders capable of recording audio on to a CD ? If so I think they may be a good low price option. The application is for recording church services quickly on the fly for immediate playback in average cd players. Comments please. Regards, RonC.

February 3rd, 2014, 04:23 AM	#2
Vincent Oliver Trustee Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Chislehurst, London Posts: 1,724	Re: CD Recorders A laptop may be your best answer __________________ Eyes are a deaf man’s ears. Ears are a blind man’s eyes

February 3rd, 2014, 06:15 AM	#3
Roger Gunkel Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: LIncolnshire, UK Posts: 2,213	Re: CD Recorders Hi Ron, The simplest way to record what you are suggesting, is to buy a modern mp3/wav recorder and use external mic/s, rather than the onboard ones, although Some have very good onboard mics and the whole recorder can be placed wherever you want. There are many types available, just about all have a minimum of stereo input and record to sd card. You simply remove the card, and put it in the card reader of your laptop or PC to transfer to CD/DVD or to edit it first. Some of the recorders are available with multi track recording facilities, so that you can record independent tracks from different mics to remix later. The stereo ones are all small enough for carrying in a pocket, most also have inbuilt memory as well as removable sd card facility, and most if not all have a USB output for direct transfer to a PC etc. You will also probably surprised at how little they cost. Roger

February 3rd, 2014, 07:09 AM	#4
Jay Massengill Trustee Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Burlington Posts: 1,976	Re: CD Recorders CD recorders are still commonly available, like the Tascam CD-RW900SL for $260 in the US. (Assuming you would be connecting this recorder to the output of an existing sound system.) Then to make lots of copies of your original disc efficiently you need a multi-drive duplicator.

February 3rd, 2014, 07:41 AM	#5
Greg Miller Trustee Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,791	Re: CD Recorders The Tascam would work fine for recording from a mixing board. It gets mostly good reviews on Amazon (from an admittedly "mixed bag" of customers). Remember: some day you will experience a malfunction. Either an aged laser in the recorder, a blank disc with a flaw, etc. At that point you will have lost the recording of that day's service. If you record first to a RAM-based recorder and then convert to CD, or if you at least make a backup recording on a RAM-based recorder (simultaneously with making the "live" CD recording), then you'll have a good digital recording to use as a starting point to make your CD recording later. Also, does this recorder have "disc at once" recording mode? If not, you will have problems if you push the "new track" button during the service. If it records only in "track at once" mode, every time you start a new track, it will replace two seconds of your [live] audio with two seconds of silence, leaving two second gaps in the audio when played back. And if the minister starts to speak, or the choir starts to sing, before that two seconds has elapsed, you may lose something really imortant. I don't see any mention of "track at once" vs. "disc at once" on the Amazon product page, although admittedly I did not look elsewhere for more info. But if this is important to you, you might want to do some additional research. (Of course if you plan to record the entire service as a single hour-long track, this is of no importance.)

February 3rd, 2014, 10:51 PM	#6
Ron Cooper Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 481	Re: CD Recorders Thanks for your replies. I should have mentioned that we only want to make very small quantities and there is a direct input from the PA so micing is not a problem, just finding a quick & cheap way to make a CD. Down here, the Tascam is rather expensive so that is why I was hoping to use a DVD recorder if possible. I looked at the PC issue but it just becomes too time consuming & complicated compared with simply connecting up a recorder and directly recording straight to a CD during the service. Further, when the service is over, we are able to give out a CD for instantly playing to people in a nursing home. It was all so simple when all we & everyone had was cassettes !! Regards, RonC.

February 3rd, 2014, 10:56 PM	#7
Tim Lewis Major Player Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Perth, Western Australia. Posts: 591	Re: CD Recorders I suspected from your original post Ron that you must be trying to address the needs of an older congregation. If this were for a youth service, it would be a simple matter of uploading the file to a streaming service like iTunes and letting everyone listen to it on their computers or phones. But I don't like your chances of getting that technology past octogenarians and the like! Maybe there are some tech savvy nurses at the home who could broadcast it there from such a service? __________________ Cheers Tim

February 4th, 2014, 12:14 AM	#8
Ron Cooper Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 481	Re: CD Recorders Spot on Tim ! Even the younger ones (over 60), are not that tech savvy either, & don't want to fuss over re-recording onto a CD via a PC later and frankly I don't blame them. I would not expect the Nurses to spend any time on this either. RonC.

February 4th, 2014, 03:06 AM	#9
Vincent Oliver Trustee Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Chislehurst, London Posts: 1,724	Re: CD Recorders A laptop is still your best option, if you need to produce multiple copies. Other than that, most TV recorders will also burn CD's I have a Sony unit which cost about £150 and will record directly onto it's on-board hard drive, from there I can burn a DVD or CD. However, you would have to link it to a TV to see the menu etc. __________________ Eyes are a deaf man’s ears. Ears are a blind man’s eyes

February 4th, 2014, 07:09 AM	#10
Greg Miller Trustee Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,791	Re: CD Recorders Mr. Cooper, Please help me understand your ultimate goal. At one point you mentioned "small quantities" but at another point you talk about just one CD for transport to and playing at a nursing home. Can you please clarify this? Also, would it be "the end of the world" if, on some given week, your recording system failed and you had no record of that week's service? Here are a few thoughts which may be more or less relevant, depending on your answers to the above. 1.) Any mechanical recording system if likely to fail at some point. Fatigued laser in CD recorder, flawed blank CD disc, broken/stretched belt in cassette recorder, flawed cassette tape, etc. If reliability is of great importance, a $50 recorder that uses an SD or CF card is probably more reliable. 2.) If you want only one copy of the service, for playback on some probably-less-than-stellar-audio-quality system at a nursing home, why not use a cassette, if you really like them? Cassette recorders and players are easy to come by, and blank cassettes won't break the bank. They cost more than blank CD-R discs, but they can be erased and re-used, if you aren't saving every service for archival purposes. And even my 89-year-old mother can find the "record" button on her cassette machine. 3.) Recording a CD on a PC is really very simple, and you shouldn't be intimidated by the idea. I know many folks who do this who are past the age of 60 (my God, man, 60 is young these days!) including myself, and I know some folks who do this who are in their 70s and even 80s. Admittedly, it is a 2-step process. First, you click something to record the service on your hard drive. Then you click something else to "burn" that audio onto a blank CD-R disc. But no, you can't pull a finished CD out of the machine immediately at the end of the service, that "buring" step will take about 5 minutes. I bring this up again only because you seem to be concerned about the cost of a dedicated CD recorder. You can probably find a used XP machine for a lower price... maybe even for free. But, indeed, there is more hardware involved, and it is not quite as simple as a dedicated recorder... that's the tradeoff: simplest solution, or least expensive solution. The choice is yours. 4.) If you want only one copy of the service, for playback at the nursing home, you could record directly onto a memory card, on a $50 recorder, with no tape or CD involved. Then transport the memory card (the size of a postage stamp) to the nursing home, let them put it in a $10 MP3 player there, and play it. Of course the memory card might cost as much as $5.00, but it can be erased and re-used hundreds of times. Anyway, there are a lot of technological options, but please clarify your needs and priorities, per those first two questions, so we can narrow down the pros and cons of different processes.

February 4th, 2014, 08:03 AM	#12
Vincent Oliver Trustee Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Chislehurst, London Posts: 1,724	Re: CD Recorders Thanks Greg, I asked for that with my strap-line :-) __________________ Eyes are a deaf man’s ears. Ears are a blind man’s eyes

February 4th, 2014, 08:30 AM	#13
Greg Miller Trustee Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,791	Re: CD Recorders Vincent, If you spend enough time hanging out in this forum, eventually we'll make a convert of you. ;-)

February 4th, 2014, 08:38 AM	#14
Vincent Oliver Trustee Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Chislehurst, London Posts: 1,724	Re: CD Recorders For you Greg. x __________________ Eyes are a deaf man’s ears. Ears are a blind man’s eyes

February 4th, 2014, 09:06 AM	#15
Roger Gunkel Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: LIncolnshire, UK Posts: 2,213	Re: CD Recorders How about one of these Ron? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-ICDPX33...productDetails You can record by connecting it to the PA output, or use the onboard or external mics. You can also record to the onboard memory or a removeable sd card, and you can play back directly from the recorder into a HiFi line input in the nursing home. For CDs, just plug the card or the USB output directly to your PC and burn straight to cd for as many copies as you want. It will record several hours to the built in memory, or if you use an external card, enough hours to record many services and of course you can erase and re-record over and over again. Very simple to use and one button to push to stop and start, couldn't be simpler! Roger