Sound to burn: audio recording tools for CD-R

Emedia Professional, Feb, 1998 by Stephen F. Nathans

As CD recorder prices plummet toward a consumer-friendly $300, and media prices hit a dirt-cheap $2 a pop, CD-R software manufacturers have tapped audio-recording capabilities old and new to lead CD-R into uncharted waters and bigger oceans. The connection between CD-R and audio CD should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the genesis of the format: after all, audio CD begat CD-ROM, which begat CD-R, and CD-R's ability to make and copy audio discs that are fully compatible with audio CD players has been a requirement of the Orange Book spec since Day One. What's changed in recent months is the tool-makers' emphasis on audio recording and a bid for consumer acceptance of CD-R in which low-end audio abilities like disc-to-disc copying and multidisc compilation have taken center stage.

Until recently, CD recording has been a professional's pursuit, and accordingly, CD-R software advertising has pursued professional markets by touting those capabilities likely to appeal to professionals. Perhaps the best evidence of the makeover of CD-R's self-image is a comparison of two Easy CD ads from November 1995 and November 1997. Easy-CD Pro, designed and distributed by Incat Systems until Adaptec bought the program in 1996, was heralded in November 1995 for the cross-platform flexibility of its "Core" technology, and its virtues proclaimed to a CD-R-savvy audience of knowledgeable professionals: "With our new Easy-CD Pro Toolkit, you can include our powerful CD-R mastering engine in your own user application."

Flash forward to November 1997 and the long-awaited release of Easy-CD Pro's direct descendant, Easy CD Creator, and it's not just the message that has changed, but the "you" to whom it's addressed. "Rock & Roll isn't dead," declares the headline, "It's just asleep in your garage." Why was Easy CD Creator created? So its mastering engine could be licensed? Not this time. Rather, it's so "you can enjoy the power to clean up your old albums and record your own personal compact discs." Rather than reminding CD-R's traditional developer and corporate clientele of the software's powerful-as-ever mastering engine, with Easy CD Creator, Adaptec is shooting for the music-hip and the CD-R novice by touting first and foremost the software's CD Spin Doctor feature, which lets users transfer LPs and cassettes to audio CD with its analog-to-digital conversion capability. Elektroson is also offering such capabilities in its standalone release, GEAR Audio.

But CD-R is also finding an ever-more comfortable home in today's recording studios, due largely to increased awareness of the technology and aggressively marketed professional audio CD recording tools from Sek'd America/Hohner Midia, Sonic Foundry, and others, including Adaptec Jam (a successor to Toast CD-DA), that feature more sophisticated subcode editing capabilities essential to professional audio work. Optimized for output-to-CD-R, these tools are also designed to integrate effectively with expert-level audio recording and editing hardware and software. Another sign that the recording studio scene is taking notice of CD-R is the recent entry of Otari Corporation--whose high-end tape duplicators are a studio staple--into the CD-R duplication market.

Also pointing toward a new exploitation of CD-R and audio's latent profit potential are recent doings on the duplication side, with duplicators from MediaFORM, ACS Innovations, Alea Systems, and others increasingly emphasizing audio features. ACS' 4X CD Master, for example, simplifies audio capabilities with a six-button keypad and an impressively direct set of function menus that enable rapid disc-to-disc copying, creating compilation audio discs, and converting analog sound signals (from tapes, LPs, and the like) to digital for recording to CD.

The past year has also seen the emergence of a handful of new multidisc recording tools like Padus' Disc Juggler and Prassi's CD Rep that highlight audio-copying capabilities as well. Disc Juggler and CD Rep are professional market tools that highlight the audio advantages of CD copying as one key feature.

From mainstream CD-R software vendors emphasizing new audio extras to the increased availability and functionality of professional audio recording tools optimized for output-to-CD, the CD-R audio trend is clear. Those requiring additional evidence need look no further than the audio-oriented capability of recorders and software supporting easy, rapid-fire audio track transfer.

CD-R has launched a quadraphonic attack upon a potentially massive audio-centric audience. CD-R's music-minded message is out; all that's left is for that prospective target audience to prick up its ears and listen.

AUDIO COPYING AND COMPILING: THE NEWEST PERK IN CD-RECORDABLE SOFTWARE

While Adaptec's Easy CD Creator Deluxe and its vaunted Cd Spin Doctor component have drawn the most attention among recent premastering tool releases, other mainstream CD-R software manufacturers have begun paying Elektroson has followed Adaptec's lead with GEAR Audio, which converts analog signals to digital for recording LPs, cassettes, and the like to CD, and offers filtering and "de-clicking" for damaged or deteriorated sound sources. Still-to-be released is Just Audio, a new tool from CeQuadrat, which promises not just the digital-to-analog conversion and pop-and-crackle clean-up available in CD Spin Doctor, but also the ability to do that clean-up in real time, i.e., three minutes per three-minute track, according to pre-release company claims.