Hi all

I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here.

I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke
sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the
time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player
http://www.numark.com/cdn35

The most annoying thing I found was;

1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause.
(it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but it
adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play)
2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just
before autopausing.

I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec silence
to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds approx 2 sec
silence to the beggining of a track.

Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media?


ps
I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to get the
most using CD media with this unit.



--


Regards
p.mc

On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:38:35 -0000, "p.mc" wrote:


Hi all

I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here.

I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke
sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the
time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player
http://www.numark.com/cdn35

The most annoying thing I found was;

1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause.
(it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but it
adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play)
2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just
before autopausing.

I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec silence
to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds approx 2 sec
silence to the beggining of a track.

Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media?


ps
I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to get the
most using CD media with this unit.

Probably the best thing you could do is move everything into a more
conducive environment for editing. Copy your CD into a PC, then use
virtually any DAW software to perform all the manipulation you want.
You can then burn back to CD with any gaps (or no gaps) that you want.

You may want to release the final versions as MP3, but don't let that
format become a part of the production process; you lose quality at
every stage and it isn't recoverable.

d

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:38:35 -0000, "p.mc" wrote:


Hi all

I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here.

I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke
sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the
time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player
http://www.numark.com/cdn35

The most annoying thing I found was;

1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause.
(it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but it
adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play)
2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just
before autopausing.

I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec silence
to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds approx 2 sec
silence to the beggining of a track.

Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media?


ps
I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to get
the
most using CD media with this unit.

Probably the best thing you could do is move everything into a more
conducive environment for editing. Copy your CD into a PC, then use
virtually any DAW software to perform all the manipulation you want.
You can then burn back to CD with any gaps (or no gaps) that you want.

You may want to release the final versions as MP3, but don't let that
format become a part of the production process; you lose quality at
every stage and it isn't recoverable.


I agree totally. Computer based editing is so vastly superior to any other
method that it's a no-brainer. If I was doing SFX for amateur dramatics
these days I use a laptop, anything else is clunky and difficult by
comparison.

David.

In article ,
p.mc wrote:

Hi all

I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here.

I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing
bespoke sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for
most of the time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player
http://www.numark.com/cdn35

The most annoying thing I found was;

1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause.
(it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but
it adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play) 2...How to stop some
tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just before autopausing.

I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec
silence to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds
approx 2 sec silence to the beggining of a track.

Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media?


ps I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to
get the most using CD media with this unit.

Personally, I'd stick with MiniDisc. Or move on to a computer based play
in system. CD sucks for this sort of thing. Although there are some
expensive pro versions that buffer things to give near instant response.
Maybe even available now at the disco end of the market.

--
*Great groups from little icons grow *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Don Pearce" wrote

Probably the best thing you could do is move everything into a more
conducive environment for editing. Copy your CD into a PC, then use
virtually any DAW software to perform all the manipulation you want.
You can then burn back to CD with any gaps (or no gaps) that you want.

You may want to release the final versions as MP3, but don't let that
format become a part of the production process; you lose quality at
every stage and it isn't recoverable.


Actually re-reading the OP's post I think maybe his *is* using a PC for
editing. He talks about using "mixcraft" and burning to CD. But these
apparently add 3 seconds and 2 seconds of silence respectively to the ends
of the files. Clearly he is using the wrong software. I use CoolEdit to
create and Nero to burn, neither necessarily adds any silence.

But I also wonder why he wants to burn to CD at all. Direct playback from a
lap-top seems to me to be far and away the easiest and most satisfactory way
of playing out SFX during a performance. For the price he paid for his dual
CD player he could have bought a suitable laptop.

David.

"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Don Pearce" wrote

Probably the best thing you could do is move everything into a more
conducive environment for editing. Copy your CD into a PC, then use
virtually any DAW software to perform all the manipulation you want.
You can then burn back to CD with any gaps (or no gaps) that you want.

You may want to release the final versions as MP3, but don't let that
format become a part of the production process; you lose quality at
every stage and it isn't recoverable.


Actually re-reading the OP's post I think maybe his *is* using a PC for
editing. He talks about using "mixcraft" and burning to CD. But these
apparently add 3 seconds and 2 seconds of silence respectively to the ends
of the files. Clearly he is using the wrong software. I use CoolEdit to
create and Nero to burn, neither necessarily adds any silence.

But I also wonder why he wants to burn to CD at all. Direct playback from
a lap-top seems to me to be far and away the easiest and most satisfactory
way of playing out SFX during a performance. For the price he paid for his
dual CD player he could have bought a suitable laptop.


Yes. He needs a "park on a sixpence" player, with a rotary
cue control if he wants to play from CD. As you say, playing
out from a laptop with visual cueing would be much better.


Iain

"p.mc" wrote in message
...

Hi all

I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here.

I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke
sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the
time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player
http://www.numark.com/cdn35

The most annoying thing I found was;

1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause.
(it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but it
adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play)
2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just
before autopausing.

I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec silence
to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds approx 2 sec
silence to the beggining of a track.

Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media?


ps
I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to get
the most using CD media with this unit.




I have two early CD players by Denon which were designed
for broadcast and audio post, which do precisely what you are
trying to do, and cue with extreme accuracy.to 1/3 frame (1/75 second)
with material both from published libraries such as Sound Ideas,
or your own CD SFX compilations.

http://img.tweedehands.nl/f/normal/5...dge-player.jpg

They were triggered from the console by a GP relay, but there
is no reason which you could not trigger them manually, or with a wired
remote, to a script or a visual cue. The sound assistant loaded the
CDs and cued each machine in turn, either using headphones, or to
a written time code displayed by the machine (see pic) which he/she
had written in the margin of the script. By this method, we could
lay fairly long sequences of music and FX without stopping.

These machines also have varispeed, which was useful in
matching the pitch of tuned FX (gong etc) to a music track.

But surely, in your case playing out SFX from a PC with
visual cueing would be much better.

Iain







Iain

Right, I know I use Nero, and you can elect to have no silences except atthe
start of the first track. This I have used to make track breaks in
continuous live recordings and as long as you make the markers at CD frame
boundaries, all is sweetness and light.

The thing is that my last comment above is why you will always get a tiny
bit of the previous track when you do pause. The CD system is based on
frames of data, You cannot actually play a bit of a frame. So, if you want
to do things like this, you would really need a recording medium which does
not work this way. Over to someone else who's knowledge of this is greater
than mine. However Minidisc does, in some incarnations at leaset seem to
offer this and although its a compressed format, its not bad quality wise.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"p.mc" wrote in message
...

Hi all

I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here.

I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke
sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the
time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player
http://www.numark.com/cdn35

The most annoying thing I found was;

1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause.
(it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but it
adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play)
2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just
before autopausing.

I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec silence
to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds approx 2 sec
silence to the beggining of a track.

Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media?


ps
I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to get
the most using CD media with this unit.



--


Regards
p.mc

On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:38:35 -0000, "p.mc" wrote:

I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke
sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the
time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player

That seems a step backwards for your requirements! Most things can be
made to work, but using CD makes the job harder.

I see why you're looking for a replacement for minidisc - this most
useful format is unfortunately becoming rapidly unsupported. But I'm
not sure the answer is CD.

"p.mc" wrote in message

Hi all

I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound
advice from here.
I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years
providing bespoke sfx for their productions. I've been
using minidisc format for most of the time untill
recentley I invested in a dual cd player
http://www.numark.com/cdn35

What you really should have done is moved into the 21st century, and started
using a computer as your delivery platform for SFX.

But, the CD format is not all that bad.

The most annoying thing I found was;

1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit
autopause. (it's annoying when you have some cues
pretty close together, but it adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play)

+1 to all the other people who pointed out that you need to learn how to do
digital audio editing.

It doesn't take a degree in rocket science or all of the hardware at Cape
Canaveral. In fact all you need is:

(1) Just about any modern PC, even a laptop.

(2) Hardware and software that will allow you to load audio from the various
delivery sources that you use.
(a) The internet
(b) CDs
(i) EAC freeware for pulling digital audio files off of audio CDs
(ii) Audacity freeware is a good servicable audio editor for your
purposes

(c) DVDs
(i) FFMPEG and other freeware video editing software
(ii) Adobe Premiere Elements

(3) Hardware and software for re-encoding your finished work into a delivery
format.
(i) Nero

2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the
neaxt track just before autopausing.

Track marks and burning software that honors them.

I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds
approx 3 sec silence to the end of the saved file, and CD
burning software adds approx 2 sec silence to the
beggining of a track.

It doesn't have to be that way. Nero CD burning software for example has an
option for not inserting the 2 second silence.

Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved
with CD media?

I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job,
but I need to get the most using CD media with this unit.

I did that for a number of years before I moved on.

The superset of what you are doing is basically the same thing but also with
video. I've been doing that for the past 3 years at church. But, I still
remember the audio-only days.