Analog out of the md8 to stand alone cdr

[Ray J]

A similar topic came up a few months ago and i did a search and found a little info. After suffering many mixdown woes, i'm finally have a good feel for my monitors system and am interested in mixing down straight to cd. I've pretty much narrowed my choices down the the phillips 775 or something similar and the pioneer 509.

Does anyone know which unit converts analog to digital better? What is this crazy little thing called dithering? I've read where the pioneer has input level, does the phillips? I'm having a hard time finding this info.

ANy past experiences with mixing straight to a standalone from the md8 would be helpful. I'm currently mixing down to any dat I can borrow but it's a hassle and if I'm going to buy, I'm going to buy a cd burner because it will have more uses, especially if I can use it for a mixdown deck.

Thanks
Ray J

 

[TaxMan88]

Why not just . . . .

Get a burner for your computer and mix down to your hard drive??

It won't affect your sound in any noticeable way and if you screw up you won't have wasted a CD.

If you've got a sound card, all you need is a very simple .WAV editor to record to . . . I mix down to an old (1993) version of WinDat. I could have gotten better, but I kept the old version because I like the simplicity of it. All you have to do is go out of the MD8 with RCA cables. You will need to get some adaptors, though. Pretty cheap stuff. Get two RCA to 1/4" adaptors and then a two 1/4" to one 1/8" adaptor and plug into the line in on your sound card. Just be sure to turn off your computer speakers first so they won't interfere with the monitors.

When you've got your perfect mixdown, just save the file as a .wav and then burn THAT to your CDR.

And you'll spend a lot less money on ruined CDs

--Tax

 

[Ray J]

Thanks for the suggestion but it's not practical to use my computer at this time. Too many people use it.

Since I trust my monitors why cant I mix down to CDRWs until I get the mix right then either put mix it on cdr when everything's set or dupe the RW with a dual tray deck. Just asking.

Ray J

 

[TaxMan88]

No probs with that.

Ray,

That would work just fine. Didn't know that your comp was public domain I wasn't saying not to trust your monitors. I was talking about the human error factor when I said you might screw up a CD. One slip of the finger during mixdown and your levels are SHOT. Know what I mean? But if you've gone through the routine, you trust your monitors, and you're using a CDRW instead of a CDR to mixdown to, then it should work fine!

And once you've got your good mix, like you said, just dupe it to a CDR and you're set and then you can clear the CDRW to mixdown to again.

As for suggesting a burner, I can't do much in the way of that. My Philips is doing fine for me, but I don't mixdown straight to CD.

Hope I've helped even a teeny tiny bit
--Tax

 

[Ray J]

I do know what you mean about a slip of the finger and such, and I'm sure I'll screw up a cd or 2, particularly if I'm riding faders during mixdown but, as I said, I'm borrowing dats now and then running to the local studio to burn cds. Besides, I never borrow the same dat and in turn my loudness is different with each one. I think this will work better for me.

Thanks for the help.

Ray J

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Ray: [you can call me Jay, you can call me Ray, but don't call me Mr. Johnson]

I just wanted to add this to the comments above. I am assuming that if I bought an Alesis Masterlink, I would reduce the problems of finger errors because I would mix my tune to the Link's hard drive [similar to doing it with a PC] and then the Masterlink does have on board DSP and I could hear the track before I pushed the button to burn it.

Is all of this true? That is how I read the information about the Masterlink. But, other friends here have told me that they get along quite well with one or two other CDR burners; but, I wonder if they first mix to their PC's hard drive and then from there do it to CD?

Just some thoughts.

Green Hornet

 

[Ray J]

Thanks GH. I'm hoping to use my RWs for that and save a thousand. I know the masterlink has a lot of advantages if it does what it advertises but I'm hoping to save a step. I think I'm gonna take the plunge.

 

[gbrigman]

mixdown deck

i bought a pioneer pdr-609 to run dubs on from my md8 - got it for 299.99 at best buy - flawless - works great and i get great mixes from the md8 - it allows for analog & digital input recording levels to be manually adjusted - whereas alot of them either use fixed adjustments or none at all - it even lets you adjust digital levels !!! - also has analog and 2 different digital ins/outs - the recording level adjustment is also quite sensitive - which is great -

 

[vulcanofga]

HI RAY, i also have a md8 and i use the phillips to "master." it does not have a record level and it's signal display is rather "cheesy" you can clip the red in a heart beat. i have however made some good sounding cd's with the md8 to the phillips.i always start my recording at 4 1/2 on the md8's stereo fader and i'm in the ball park on the level readout on the phillips.i really think if i would go with the pioneer, it sounds like the best bet for the same investment. if you do go with the phillips Sam's Club has a new 3 disc model on sale for $349 hope this helps. oh and i don't know what the heck "dither" is either i thought it was Dagwood Bumsteads boss. ha ha ha monty

 

[Ray J]

Thanks everyone,

Thanks to you guys, I looked more closely into the pioneers and took the plunge on a CDR-W 739 3 disc for $269. I think it has what I need and they retail for $599. It's the pioneer that's in most of the equipment books such as AMS etc. so I'm thinking it's gonna be functional as a mixdown unit. Anyone familiar with these? Did I screw up?

Ray J

 

[gbrigman]

i think you'll be ok - i have the single deck - pdr609 and it's great - i like it much better than the pihillips - think you'll really like the ability to control the recording input either analog or digital