Sound to burn: audio recording tools for CD-R

Emedia Professional, Feb, 1998 by Stephen F. Nathans

From mainstream CD-R software vendors like Adaptec, GEAR, and Elektroson to manufacturers of high-end audio production tools who've taken the CD-R plunge, there are a whole lot of people making a whole lot of noise about the revolutionary home and studio recording prospects that CD-R technology creates.

Whether the record-collecting consumer or the recording studio professional will hear those rumblings remains a question; CD-R has taken aim at constituencies outside its corporate and institutional base before and repeatedly missed the mark. And it isn't as if CD audio writing hasn't been intrinsic to the medium since its introduction.

But perhaps time is on CD-R's side in this case. Drives and media are cheaper than ever, and if the audio capabilities increasingly bandied about in the latest evangelizing about the technology aren't exactly new, they're certainly provided more simply and more accessibly to the user than ever before. Drives and software are also more reliable today than ever before. And there's no denying that the software vendors' message to a new market--rock 'n' roll ain't dead, it's just waiting for CD-R to wake it, up--is ringing out clear as a bell.

RELATED ARTICLE: Waxing Recordable

CD-R IN THE RECORDING STUDIO

Jonathan Wyner sees CD-Recordable in his future. As founder of M Works, a professional mastering studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he keeps himself aware of emerging technologies and understands why CD-R has gained such immense popularity. "We'll probably rely a lot more on it in the future," he admits. "CD-R media is incredibly convenient, durable, and easy to ship. It's also less expensive to make a master recording on disc than with tape."

At M Works, Wyner opens his studio doors to musicians and software companies ready to master their discs for professional release. To meet the growing demand from his clients for CD-R facilities, Wyner purchased his first CD recorder, a Philips Marantz CDR-610, within one year of starting his business. "It had a large role in our recordings," he recalls. "It's very fine for audio-only work. I can simply plug it in, press record, and burn a disc. The only downside with it is that I can't master recordings on it." To solve that problem, he has since expanded his collection to include two CD recorders with mastering capability: the Sony CDW-900E and Sony CDU-920.

The Sony CDW-900E is a disc-at-once, or DAO, machine. It's well-equipped to meet the needs of the audio producer, working with a single-session format that permits the user to record from beginning to end all at once. Though the newer recorders, such as the CDU-920, feature multisession and track-at-once capabilities, they also have a higher rate of error than their DAO-only predecessors. Consumers of CD-R media are now beginning to realize the advantages of the earlier models, and appreciate the simplicity of recording everything at once, rather than on a pertrack basis. Owners of disc-at-once models, such as Wyner, praise their efficiency.