how do you burn cd's?

[skullfisher]

I'm curious how analog users go about burning reference cd's... not mastering, but just burning cd's of rough mixes to check on different systems, in the car, etc.

this is something that I did frequently in the non-linear world and I miss it. when I'm mixing, I like to burn reference cd's every night and listen to them in various places, listen to them again in the morning to find problems or things that need to be changed, etc.

what specific gear do you use?

I'm interested in the alesis masterlink, but it might be too 'loaded' for my purpose.

any suggestions?

[Herm]

I have a descent sound card so I mix into the computer and burn from there.

Im not sure if I could justify the cost of a master link unless I was going to be sending a lot of stuff to be duped for commercial release.

[The Ghost of FM]

I use a stand alone CD recorder from Pioneer that works like a charm and has very good analog to digital converters built into it so I get superb quality transfers that I can then put into my computer that is elsewhere in the house and make copies and transfers into MP3's.

At first when I bought the Pioneer, the blank CDR media was expensive because of needing the CDR Music type disks that had a copy-write fee built into the disk but, now I am able to find blanks for as little as a dollar a disk with normal jewell case at Office Depot so I have no envy any longer for those that went out and bought the expensive professional CD recorders that could work with the computer/data blanks that were traditionally much cheaper to purchase.

At this point there are a number of consumer electronics manufacturers that offer CD recorder decks so, there is a good variety of models and features to choose from.

Cheers!

[Beck]

Pioneer all the way... and that includes the HHB CDR-850 and the Fostex CR300, which are externally and internally identical (except for the color) and made by Pioneer -- based on the PDR-555 PC board. In my opinion the Fostex and HHB units are the finest pro models available for sound quality, including the Alesis Masterlink.

Pioneer is generally a better choice than Philips/RCA, Harmon Kardon, Sony, etc. By the way, Tascam burners are built by Philips. Hence my CR300 is the sole piece of Fostex equipment in my nearly all Tascam studio.

A good stand-alone burner will give you higher quality recordings compared to a computer burner/soundcard setup.

The single well stand-alone CD burner is being phased out in favor of the double well models. Get one while you can. I can recommend any of the following in order of preference:

Fostex CR300
HHB CDR-850
Pioneer PDR-555RW
Pioneer Elite PDR-19RW
Pioneer PDR-609
Pioneer PDR-509

There are other good older pioneer units such as PDR-05, which is similar to the Fostex CR200.

As I mentioned above, the Fostex CR300 and the HHB CDR-850 are the same machines. A lot of folks seem totally unaware of this because HHB units will sell for as much as $250.00 more than the Fostex units on eBay. Maybe they like the purple color of the HHB, I don't know. The cream color of the Fostex looks more professional to my eye.

I just shake my head in disbelief as I watch bidders falling all over themselves to snag an HHB 850 for $600.00 as they pass on a perfectly good Fostex CR300 with a buy it now of $350.00.

Alas, sometimes I wish I didn't know so much. As the scripture says, " For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief" (Ecclesiastes 1:18 NIV)

[skullfisher]

I just checked out the HHB CDR-850, I think I can get a good deal on one... I'm going to get one soon!!!

thanks!