Need to record live to CD

Live to stand-alone CD recorder was very popular for a time for this scenario. Treat it like a tape deck... very intuitive... very easy. I recommend an older discontinued model for features and sound quality; the HHB CDR-850. Very reliable and sonically outstanding for the breed. Of course I would rather use an analog reel-to-reel half-track for this purpose, but the real-time burner is a good option when you're pressed for time and people waiting in line as you describe.
 
A ton of my original work was live to CD. We recorded all rehearsals live to cassette and when we were ready, we burned a CD of live performances.) I used a CD duplicator with two bays, one for the original and one to record to. I thought, 'could I record direct?' I tried it and it worked. For your situation, you would be missing a mastering suite. Check and see if Nuendo has a way to set up everything to a stereo group and then run the multiband compressor in the effects wing of your group outs. Pick a nice punchy preset and do some tests with one of the similar instrument set ups; maybe your own band. Do it with the MBC off and then on and see if the system can handle it. That would give you a commercial sounding CD on the fly. Good Luck,
Rod Norman, Recording Engineer

blue_luke said:
Hi all! First post here. :)

I searched this forum, and others but did not find a satisfying answer so far.
Next June, I will record all (about 30) the contestants performance in a classical music competition we have here in Québec.

This will imply about 40 hours of recording in total for the week! :facepalm:

I want to give each contestant an MP3 encoded CD at the end of their performance. (I have chosen MP3 for a reason I do not want to discuss here at this moment.)

So the plan is: set the Mics on stage, record on the laptop with Nuendo, send a live mix to the CD deck and burn a CD live. At the end, I give the CD in hand to the contestant and reposition the mics for the next performer.
I will have 15 minutes at most between each contestant. I have the feeling this will be a long (fun) week! :)

So right now, I am looking at the Tascam SS-CDR200
This unit is within my budget, say up to 1200$, and seems to do what I need.
Does anyone here have experience with what lurks ahead of me?
Is there another way of doing this? I really will not have time to prepare a CD redbook, authoring, burning etc... I use Wavelab for this, but I really don't have the time in this situation.
Thanks, Luc
Click to expand...
 
Actually, you could do this on a computer with some sort of basic 2-track mp3 recording program set to write to the USB drive. You might need to get Jack to route audio to the mp3 recording software.
 
Two things......what do you mean nobody listens to cd's anymore! People listen to cassettes, vinyl ,reel to reel tapes , we dont all like the hell compressed out of recordings.
With regard to burning direct to cd, of course people do it.
I get exasperated reading some of the 'advice' and opinions on here.....just consider what great recordings people have made with what you no doubt consider prehistoric gear. Pathetic ...and with that i am departing from my brief sojurn with this board.
 
Just say no to cd recording.

Jitters, skips, bad disks....record to a HD and burn later. I work for a place that provides CDs of lectures after a day's session and it is a two-step two person job. I'd seriously reconsider what you plan to do.
 
"My rationale is that everybody can play a CD anywhere, so it is still the universal medium." - I respectfully disagree. Digital formats (MP3, M4a, WAV, AAC, etc) on non-WORM media replaced WORM media, cassettes, etc. years ago. You asked, "Does anyone here have experience with what lurks ahead of me?" and "Is there another way of doing this?". Yes and Yes are the answers, others have already laid out better options. If you are hell-bent on doing this using the 'universal MP3 on CD', my advice would be to test it out at home extensively before relying on it in the field. A 'pro' rig would include at least another machine as a backup. Best of luck.
 
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