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[Tom Brown]

Our church has been recording sermons to cassette tape for many years but we have a tape duplicator that is on its last legs, the demand for cassettes has dropped so we are considering dropping doing cassette tape recordings and instead move to recording on a stand alone CD Recorder. I have searched and read thru many of forum threads on CD recording both to PC and a standalone CD Recorder device and would like to ask some questions with regard to getting and operating a standalone CD recorder.

I realize there are some who prefer recording to a PC, some who prefer recording to a standalone PC recorder, and some both but if possible I was hoping to ask that responses be generally limited to the scope of my standalone CD recorder questions if possible.

Just as background we currently have a cassette recorder hooked up to the tape out from our mixing board and the sound system operator does the cassette recording of the sermon. We are proposing replacing the cassette tape recorder with a CD recorder.

Now to the questions if I may:

1) I have seen mention of many CD Recorder models such as a TASCAM CDRW750, DENON DNC550R, HHB CDR830 Burnit, etc. professional level equipment with price ranges in roughly the $500 to $700 price range. But is it possible to start out with lower priced consumer CD Recorder models and still get the job done?

ie, such as this model:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlis t&A=details&Q=&sku=277123&is=REG

Has anyone been successful using lower priced consumer models or what are any negatives to using these?

Any other recommendations on models to consider?

2) Many postings about CD Recorders discussed the advantage and flexibility of features such as defining tracks manually without having to pause or lose any of the recording, automatic track insertion at user programmable times, instantaneous start of recording, and fast finalization times. Are there any other features we should be looking at?

3) Some of the CD Recorder units mention having XLR inputs. We currently take the tape out from our Mackier 24.4 mixer board and feed it into the analog L&R on the back of our cassette recorder unit. What is the advantage of these XLR inputs and where would they come from of of our sound board?

4) The backup factor. I have seen discussion about the need for backup recording methods due to factors such as bad CD media, accidentally tilting CD recorder messing up recordings, loss of power, etc. I am not to worried about the power issue but was curious how likely it could be to have CD recordings fail for reasons other than loss of power or operator error?

Depending on the likelyhood of this we could either keep our current cassette recorder or buy a CD recorder that also has a cassette recorder to do both?

5) Is some CD media better than others for doing the master recording on the CD recorder or is any CD now adays ok?

Any other perspectives we should keep in mind?

Thanks,
techgeek

[Mac Kerr]

The media issue is the best reason not to record directly to CD. the higher priced recorders usually have a hard drive that you can record to, then burn the file to CD. It is more reliable that way. There are also flash memory based recorders that work well for this, there has been a recent discussion on the Marantz.

Mac

[Paul Folkestad]

We're recording directly to a Marantz standalone unit. I feed it from a previously unused Aux send on my FOH console. Usually, there's just the Pastors voice, but every once in awhile, there may be some other folks speaking thru a different mic. Running from the Aux gives me the ability to have a full recording submix, if needs be.

Only complaint I had was that by the time I had the level up to good point, the unit would stop creating track markers automatically. (It needs 2.8 sec of -60 dB). Fortunately, I can drop a marker, whenever needed, from the remote. Very minor inconvenience. (Don't want the listener to have to deal with one, thirty minute long track)  

Consumer vs. Pro level gear... Pro level gear is generally built to be used a great deal, while consumer stuff is only good for very occasional use.

For media I use TDK pro grade & Taiyo Yuden, rebranded as Microboards. Only one coaster in the last 2 years. Avoid the super-cheap stuff.

XLR inputs... These are balanced and therefore less susceptible to RFI. They are certainly one of the best types of connections available. Their electrical conductivity is far superior to TS, TRS & RCA. Options for patching out to a recorder would be Aux sends, Subgroup outs, Direct outs & Matrix sends. You may need to use TRS-XLR cables to make this connection. Just remember to use good cables!

Personally, I don't have a redundant system set up to record for backups. As yet, it has never been an issue.

Duplication & Labeling... You'll need a way to duplicate the master. We run a week behind, so last weeks sermons are available this week and so forth. At present, I use labeling software & sheet-type labels that print on my regular, no-frills Epson inkjet. You may need the duplicates faster and there are CD printers available now.

I have folks fill out a small card to request a copy. Simply their name, phone & sermon date. I automatically do dupes for those teaching Sunday School classes, but since CD-R isn't reusable, I don't make up a big batch of extras.

[Karl P(eterson)]

I have used a wide variety of methods (consumer and professional direct cd records, an alesis masterlink (hard drive and cd recorder in a 2u), a computer with soundforge, and an entire digi 002 (protools le) setup with a g4 mac. My conclusion after all of this?

• Consumer cd recorder - crap and unreliable
• Direct cd recorders - Marantz, HHB (and others) make good quality and reliable recorders but I don't use them because I record all kinds of things and will often exceed the time limit of the cd, or often need to do a bit of editing, both of which  are more than a little painful on standalone.
• Masterlink - A great unit, but without a real graphical user interface, it can be a pain to do any meaningful editing. With that Being said, for a standalone mastering recorder, it does its job, and the sound is very good. Its high resolution mode (24/96) is great and should you need it.
• Computer / Soundforge - Probably the easiest and quickest solution (Assuming you use a computer controlled microboards duplicator like I do) Easy to do quick and dirty editing as well as getting the cds rolling out in a timely manner.
• Digi002 / Mac G4 - While I enjoyed the power of this system, it is to expensive and time consuming for most. If you see serious recording needs in your future, this can be an excellent system, but more than most need.

Take into account that on a weekly basis I use a masterlink and a microboards primera duplicator with direct cd printer. We are changing over to computer recording right now, and will be using the masterlink for our drama playback and sfx needs (which it truly does great at, and much less space consuming than a computer and related paraphernalia).

If it were my money to do over again today (it is now 4 years after i got the aforementioned system) I would recommend an MF 5906 system as it really seems to be the best of all worlds right now.

mf system: http://www.mfdigital.com/event%20recorder.html

Hopefully this gives you some help

Karl P

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