Prefered Blank CD's ?

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 28 Oct 2007 8:53 am

Need input for those that have had trial and error with CD recording, which is your prefered brand of empty CD's for recording?
Thanks

Leroy Golden · Post by **Leroy Golden** » 29 Oct 2007 5:11 am

When I sent in my first master to be duplicated to Disc factory they sent me a letter stating that Maxell was one of the consumer discs they recommend because of the denser dyes they use, and I have had none rejected since I started using them! Leroy, Goldclone Recording.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 29 Oct 2007 9:00 am

Avoid Memorex. On the Dell Users forum, we see more CD burning problems related to Memorex than any other brand. I use Verbatim that I buy at Sam's Club and have never had a problem with them.

One note, if you are going to burn Audio CD's, keep the burn speed low, so the CD's will be compatible with any audio CD player. I use 8X as my burn "Standard". Also NEVER use paper labels.

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 29 Oct 2007 11:24 am

Jack, what happens if you try and go with the fastest burn speed if your burner supports it?

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 29 Oct 2007 3:24 pm

Nothing wrong with the recording. However, many audio CD players (especially older ones and the in-dash CD players in cars up to about 2002) have problems playing audio CD's that are burned at high speed. On some players they will skip and on others they will not play at all or only some tracks will play. We did a lot of experimenting and found that 12X was a "safe" speed for most but ocasionally there were still some playing problems on some older and the low end equipment. Burning at 8X assured they would play on 99.9% without problems.

If you are only burning them for your own equipment and your equipment will play the CD's burned at high speed, no problem. However, I sell my instrumental CD's at concerts and who knows what they will be played on, so to be safe I use the 8X burn speed.

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 29 Oct 2007 7:47 pm

Taiyo Yuden is THE brand the pro's choose, hands down. You may have to get them on line. They're not that much more expensive, and they are by far the most reliable.

I'll second what Jack said about paper labels. Not only can they cause jam-up problems, but they can also throw a spinning disk out of balance which can be very bad regarding readability. Also agreed on the burn speeds Jack mentioned. 12x is a good safe speed in general. With the Taiyo Yudens in a Plextor Premium burner, 8x has shown to be a very good, perhaps the best, low error burn rate. Super slow burning (like 1x or 2x) is not always a good idea even though it seems like it would be. There are other issues like overburning due to laser strength at slow speeds, especially with todays fast burners.

The problem with super fast burns is that the data can get sloppily burned with regards to the timing (jitter) as well as the integrity and detectability of each burned pit (the ones and zeroes). It may actually be quite readable by a computer for data, but audio can be less detectable by some CD players. Good blank disks made at good burn speeds will make reliable disks nearly every time.

Brad

www.bluejadeaudio.com

Ernest Cawby · Post by **Ernest Cawby** » 30 Oct 2007 6:11 am

If you buy from wal mart make sure on the disc label it says DIGTAL AUDIO they will play in units other disc will not play.

ernie

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 30 Oct 2007 9:41 am

Ernie, the only difference in the "Audio" CD's and regular "Data" CD's is that the Audio CD's have a special identifier track on them that the older standalone CD burners needed or they would not burn. This was a concession to the music industry to allow standalone auido CD burning. There is no other difference.

ALL audio on CD's is "Digital" so "Digial CD blanks" is just some marketing ploy. It means nothing.

Gordy Hall · Post by **Gordy Hall** » 30 Oct 2007 10:27 am

Has anyone had problems with 'lightscribe' discs?

The cds seem okay, but the dvds have some issues on some of my stand-alone players.

But the titles look great!

TIA,

Gordy

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 30 Oct 2007 1:49 pm

What brand of Lightscribe are you using? I've seen several brands including HP and Memorex. Some DVD players like DVD-R or DVD+R better than the other.

I use an Epson ink jet printer that prints full color labels in under 2 minutes. A lot better than the up to 30 minutes for a full lightscribe label and it's in full color not the one color you are limited to with Lightscribe.

Michael McGee · Post by **Michael McGee** » 31 Oct 2007 6:29 am

Brad Sarno wrote:Taiyo Yuden is THE brand the pro's choose, hands down. You may have to get them on line. They're not that much more expensive, and they are by far the most reliable.

I'll second what Jack said about paper labels. Not only can they cause jam-up problems, but they can also throw a spinning disk out of balance which can be very bad regarding readability. Also agreed on the burn speeds Jack mentioned. 12x is a good safe speed in general. With the Taiyo Yudens in a Plextor Premium burner, 8x has shown to be a very good, perhaps the best, low error burn rate. Super slow burning (like 1x or 2x) is not always a good idea even though it seems like it would be. There are other issues like overburning due to laser strength at slow speeds, especially with todays fast burners.

The problem with super fast burns is that the data can get sloppily burned with regards to the timing (jitter) as well as the integrity and detectability of each burned pit (the ones and zeroes). It may actually be quite readable by a computer for data, but audio can be less detectable by some CD players. Good blank disks made at good burn speeds will make reliable disks nearly every time.

Brad

www.bluejadeaudio.com

I get TY's here because they are down the street from where I work:

http://nationalaudiocompany.com/

but if you can't find TY's locally, you can order online.

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 31 Oct 2007 10:19 pm

Jack Stoner, is the "Music CD" nomenclature also just marketing? I usually buy those since I'm burning mostly music to disc.

Anyone recommend a superior brand of printable blank discs? My new Epson printer can print on the disc, so I'm going to want to do that henceforth (and forthwith, I might add...and I do).

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 1 Nov 2007 2:27 am

As noted, the "music CD's" are CD blanks that have a special track on them that is needed by most older standalone audio CD recorders (I don't know about new ones). This was a concession to the music industry as the industry gets a certain amount of money for each "music CD" that is sold.

If you are making audio CD's on a computer you do not need these higher priced CD blanks. Just standard "data" CD-R is all that is needed.

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 1 Nov 2007 3:55 am

Sideline topic:
I can't get the finalizer to work on my Fostex CR300. Any suggestions? I'm awaiting word from Fostex online support.
Update: I bought it used. The manual neglected to inform the need to double click the go button. Asian to English glitch in translation? Problem solved.