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.

"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

"Iain Churches" wrote in message

"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.

Amen, brother! I use those very same tools for the very same purpose and
obtain exactly what I want.

The only thing I can add is that while I continue to do this with audio,
we've upped the ante at church, and do just about everything as video.


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.

Again, Amen.

A good CD player will cue and hold cue accurately, but not so with DVD
players. It was scripting video that forced us into using a PC.

There may be production grade DVD players that cue and hold cue, but for the
same money or less you can get a PC and do so much more with it.

We script our audio and video files using PowerPoint or similar software
that is more tailored for the needs of churches.

Yes. He needs a "park on a sixpence" player, with a rotary
cue control if he wants to play from CD.

One can cue well if one makes effective use of trackmarks or a collection of
separate files running under an A/V scripting program like Powerpoint.

As you say, playing out from a laptop with visual cueing would be
much better.

Exactly. It is what modern AV presenters do, whether corporate, artistic, or
evangelical. In the evangelical church we notice that the traditional and
liturgical churches are generally technically challenged.

On 12/03/2010 12:17, Arny Krueger wrote:

In the evangelical church we notice that the traditional and
liturgical churches

meaningless distinction.

are generally technically challenged.


Amongst other things, yes, agreed - Billy Graham certainly got caught
out by a bit of covert recording ;-)

In article , David Looser
wrote:
"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.

I could not tell if he was saying either

A) That the CD tracks have silences added. e.g. were perhaps created by a
method like 'Track at Once' rather then 'Disc at Once'.

or

B) The player takes a few seconds to start playing a track (and this
delay is variable).

or maybe both.

As others, my reaction is to use a small computer for playing (and
editing). The alternative might be a solid state recorder as they can have
essentially instant play. Matter of which is more convenient for him.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

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.


If he has a decent sound card preferably an external one to the PC...
--
Tony Sayer

"tony sayer" wrote in message
...
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.


If he has a decent sound card preferably an external one to the PC...
--

We are talking about SFX for stage plays here, not listening to music in a
quiet room. The on-board audio of a laptop will be perfectly good enough for
the purpose.

David.