Recording Time on CD's

Frank Sprague · Post by **Frank Sprague** » 3 Apr 2009 10:21 am

I record my own practice CD's , Guitar , Bass , Percussion etc , using a Boss /Roland 900 . . The blank CD pack indicates that it's good for 80 minutes . When I put my songs on it (after it's been bounced and mastered to two tracks / channels ) ,its lucky that I can get 40 minutes recording time . Is it because I'm putting two tracks on that it cuts the availiable time in half ?

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 3 Apr 2009 11:26 am

How many MB of data is on each song? A standard 16 bit stereo wav file song is approximatley 10MB per minute - or a 3.5 minute song would be approximately 35MB.

If you are saving it as 24 bit or even larger then the file sizes will be much bigger.

Bryan Daste · Post by **Bryan Daste** » 3 Apr 2009 4:33 pm

Are you creating audio CDs (can be played in your stereo, car, etc) or data CDs (can only be played in your computer)? There's a big difference, which may explain this mystery.

Frank Sprague · Post by **Frank Sprague** » 5 Apr 2009 3:56 pm

Bryan - Yes, I'm creating audio CD's - I record over a few weeks time until I have a dozen songs , then "finalize" so I can play them in another CD player . . Maybe the 80 mins. on the label is refering to the time availiable for data CD's ? Thanks guys for the response . . .

Bryan Daste · Post by **Bryan Daste** » 5 Apr 2009 11:51 pm

No, the 80 minutes should refer to the actual playing time of the audio CD. 24- vs. 16-bit wouldn't matter at this point, since all audio CDs are 16-bit. Make sure that the CD plays in your stereo...if it does, you should be able to get the full 80 minutes.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 6 Apr 2009 2:11 am

It sounds like you are creating "Packet Writing" method CD-RW's. Be very careful with these. The Packet Writing method (e.g. Roxio Drag to Disc (used to be called Direct CD), Nero InCD, Sonic DLA programs) are the least reliable method of creating CD's. Same way with RW media, as it has a history of either losing format and/or data. The only safe way is to create "regular" Audio CD's with CD-R media. We see lots of problems on the Dell Users support forum from people that use the Packet Writing and RW media methods.

Although CD's would appear to be able to store data, like the Floppy Diskettes could (e.g. add or delete data to the disc as needed), it's really a poor and unsafe method.

Basically, if it's worth putting on a CD then it's worth using the regular Audio or Data CD burning methods and using a CD-R, even for example if it's one song to be saved.

Frank Sprague · Post by **Frank Sprague** » 8 Apr 2009 9:20 am

I'm not using a computer with this recording - Just the BR 900 CD - I'm in contact wit TDK CD's , but I'm not really sure how much time I want to spend chasing this thing around . I was just curious . . Thanks

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 8 Apr 2009 9:26 am

Then the recorder is using the "Packet Writing" method with the CD's.

Frank Sprague · Post by **Frank Sprague** » 9 Apr 2009 11:12 am

Jack - Thanks for the input - I realize that the method i'm using now isn't the best , and I was on the verge of a major upgrade , but then I talked myself out of it for a variety of reasons ,I think the best one was that : " What am I really trying to do here"? and the answer was simply this : creating practice CD,s - Maybe in the future when I have more time (ie. - Retirement !) I'll embark on a computer /recording learning cruise . But for now I'd rather devote my time and money to playing music .