Hmmm...Saturdays...always a slow day here

[Paul881]

Is this because we have better things to be doing with our time, that we only have access during "work" time?

(you can tell I'm desperately trying to get my post count up as I reach the magic number )

Or is it because we are all recording?

Don't all rush in with the answers

 

[dachay2tnr]

Did some recording last night, and today I was actually mixing!

I'm so proud of myself

 

[Paul881]

Mike, I can always rely on you to come good Glad to hear it. But I wouldn't expect anything less from an award winning music recording artiste Ladies and Gentlemen, we are in the presence of greatness here. (Dachay, take a bow )

For the record (and let the records reflect this ) I finished writing a song today I have been working on for two years. I might even record it in the next five years

 

[guitar ed]

I am sooooo down with that!!!! I swear, Boston releases songs faster than me. I'm the slowest, and I mean it!! Think you're slower than me? NOPE!!! I'll spend six months getting the damn intro right! I never had this problem when it was just me and my porta-studio!! Damn this technology!!!

ed

 

[Paul881]

Yeah I know what you mean...but it ain't just the technology with me. Although it makes a great excuse for me

 

[Pedullist]

I'm recording during the weekends....but I manage to post around here too. How I do that? I won't tell you, it's my little secret

 

[James Argo]

Don't worry Paul, everything goes crazy on Saturday. And beer tasted better on Saturday...

guitar ed, glad to hear I'm not the only one with the "intro problem" Most of the time I finished one song, I'll look again on the intro and think... "hmm, the song is good, but the intro didn't make it good lead as the right opening...lets change it" Well..

 

[mixsit]

I'm finally putting the finishing touches on a local cd project today. It seem like it takes me forever to finish mixes. The closer they get, it seems the further I want to take them. I'm ready for a break, and this is a good place to start.

Wayne

ACKUS works!

 

[Alanfc]

Hey- since its a slow day.. how about this

Hey all-
how about this to liven things up. I don't think this is double-posting:

Backing up Cakewalk bundle files- - - -

Forgive me but I am befuddled. Please clarify something for me. I have been reading and searching for this simple answer and I think the answer is so common-sense that no one addresses it!
All I want to do is have a good backup routine. One minute I think I should get and external hard drive and the next I think I should backup on CD. I know I will eventually do both...

I don't need to burn Audio CD's yet, I just need to backup as Data on to the CD drive. I have Windows XP, and a Dell 2350. Is everyone using the term "burning" generically ? Some say "save" and some say "burn". This is driving me crazy.

Like I said I have Windows XP and I'm just trying to back up big 300-400 meg. "bundle" files from Cakewalk.

I don't have a CD burner, just the average Dell CD-ROM thing on my PC tower.

Main question: can't I just pop in a CD-RW disc into the thing and save it? Just as if it were a disk in the A: drive or something? Do I really need CD burning software? This is temporary but I can't wait. (I am researching all my external hard drive options now)

A very simple answer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your patience

 

[Paul881]

Main question: can't I just pop in a CD-RW disc into the thing and save it? Just as if it were a disk in the A: drive or something? Do I really need CD burning software? This is temporary but I can't wait. (I am researching all my external hard drive options now)

It depends if your CD Rom in your computer is a CD Writer (burner) or not. If it isn't capable of recording, then that should be your priority. It is an essential tool of the Home Recorder. Why do you need an external hard disc? Most peeps here install a second drive in their computer or install a larger drive which they partition for their recording work. Its easily done and doesn't cost a lot.

I save all my Cakewalk recordings as .bun files on my hard disk and then "burn" them onto CD-RW (re-writable) or CD-R (recordable once) disks using my computer CD Writer.

BTW, if you do copy/save/burn (all means the same in this context) bun files onto your CD's like this, you will only be able to import the bun's into Cakewalk. You can't play em on any CD player Obvious maybe, but worth pointing out anyway.

"Burn" is term that applies to the act of recording onto a CD. This entails laser light burning a "hole" in the CD recording layer of the disk so that it can be read as a 1 or a 0 by the player.

 

[Alanfc]

Indeed

Thank you sir

After my incident with losing and recovering all my work I am going to be fanatical about backup. I'm getting an external CD writer/burner and hard drive too. If I have the .BUN as data on CD I can put it back into my computer if it crashes and my external hard drive crashes (is that right?)

Any advice on burners & external hard drives? I would prefer USB for both of these for simplicity and the fact its all only backup and not active use.

Anything you know would be useful if you can

thanks again

 

[Paul881]

You are welcome. I don't use any external or USB storage, so I can't really help you with that one. I would have thought that a good internal computer CD burner would be quicker to save your files than a USB device. An external Hard Disc as well seems to be a little over the top, especially if you save to your internal HD too? And you still have the problem of the relative slow speed of the USB compared to an internal IDE drive.

A firewire card and f/wire HD may be a better solution if you really want to have an external HD.

Other members here might give you better guidance than me on this subject. Remember, always do your own research and get to the bottom of all your options before parting with your hard earned cash

 

[mixsit]

To chime in here...
In either case, internal drives and CD writers save you a bit on the hardware costs, but might be a wash if you have to pay for installation.(?)
If you go to the effort of a second drive, an internal in a removable tray ('In-Close' brand trays for example are about $25) are a good way to go vs external. Much cheaper overall, and just as fast as your system allows (vs USB).
I do this with two trays- one for recording, the second for b/u. This might seem over kill untill you run into 1+ gig bun files, and multiple projects - and the anal paranoia that come with it...
Wayne

ps; Just to be complete these cheap trays have cheap little cooling fans. They add noise to your system. (Dells I've heard seem to be pretty quiet) AND they sometimes get worse -piss poor bearings. They can be easily replaced. Jim at StudioCats that built my machine uses better quality trays for this reason, but I can't find the damned things, so I switched back...

"A-ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble....
Raam... BLEN"

 

[Alanfc]

OK I've changed my mind

for the moment-

So then one last question regarding a CDRW drive - as well as for making my backup Data CD's - - could it also serve as the Burner for making my final product Audio CD's (for test mixes on different stereos, and for the final product I take to the Mastering House)?

I heard that Windows XP already has Burning software and that I don't need to get Nero, etc..

But what if I'd like to find the highest quality External Burning unit I can find and the best Burning software I can get? I don't want to buy a Ferrari for a job I could do with a Hyundai. What are the key differences between cheap and expensive units? (I am searching our Forums now for those opinions too)

Thanks alot

Mixsit- Steve Martin was incredible in those days wasn't he?....

 

[Paul881]

So then one last question regarding a CDRW drive - as well as for making my backup Data CD's - - could it also serve as the Burner for making my final product Audio CD's (for test mixes on different stereos, and for the final product I take to the Mastering House)?

Yes, yes, yes, yes The quality of a '1' or a '0' is the same in any burner. The differentiators are speed and ...er....speed .

The only differences between CD recorders/players is on playback. But thats more a function of your soundcard and recording quality than anything else.

BTW, A CDRW burner can also be used to playback but most peeps have at least a CDRW and a CD Rom in their computer. This enables direct CD copying.

 

[laptoppop]

One other thing I'd like to add to this discussion --

I've used .bun files a lot for backup - works real well. However, if you start having lots of audio tracks, the .bun can grow too big to fit on a CD. I have found that .bun files compress nicely using winzip, or the built in zip compressor in XP. They take a LOOONG time to compress, but it can make the difference between being able to back up the song, or not.

-lee-

 

[Porter]

There is an advantage in using a product from the guys who write Nero.. there is a product called InCD. You load a CD-RW disc in the drive... load this product up and it's like a big a: drive. You can copy files to and from the disc like a normal HDD. ( I haven't used this program however my wife has used it and says it works well)

Once you want to eject the disk you need to open the program and eject it from there as if it were a PC Device you need to disable before removing it

Porter

 

[Porter]

As for Saturdays, I'm always busy doing things at home like moving things about, house work, etc... you know the usually married stuff... most of my recording is done after 7pm in the evening... mostly week nights...

Mind you I haven't had a chance to do much recording recently.

That is the downside of the just after getting married (however there are the good sides )

Porter