DJing What Blank CD's are the best

[shan]

Hi All,

What blank cd's do you find to be the most reliable? I find sometimes when Im mixing using cheap cds I get issues with skipped beats. Im using denon ds 1000's. anyone else experience these types of issues?

[panoulix]

Re: What Blank CD's are the best

Normally there are a few tips for getting the optimum result in burned CDs.

1) Use disks that are made of cyanine (blue layout) and with a premium coating on the non readable side. You can find such disks made by Taiyo Yuden (Japan), also labeled as "That's CDR". Most companies use pthalocyanine material (light green or light gold green layout material), which may allow burning in higher speeds, but they do not last as much as the Blue layout ones and they are not too reliable concerning audio.

2) Another tip is to burn EVERY Audio CDR at a max of 4x or 8x speed and NOT higher than that. this can lead in the best readability and reliability of your media and will also result in less stress of your player's laser mechanism.

I hope this helps.

[kassios]

Re: What Blank CD's are the best

^^ Really helpful staff man

I used tdk, sony , maxell, verbatim with no problems so far, i just make sure i burn them at low speeds.

I try to avoid unnamed cdr's by the way ......i tried once and some of the tracks were skipping even though i burned at 4x speed.

[bobjuice]

Re: What Blank CD's are the best

I tend to use TDK and find the burning is where the problems arise rather than the disc itself as has been said.

Phillips used to do an audio cd-r that came in a pack of 5, each was a different colour (looked for pic but can't find one) - i always found them to be the best but at least double the price of the tdk i now use so that's the compromise i guess.

At the cheap end i'd say just avoid - you may save a few pennies but as soon as one stops on you at a gig you'll never be looking to save pennies again

[DIDI]

Re: What Blank CD's are the best

Normally there are a few tips for getting the optimum result in burned CDs.

1) Use disks that are made of cyanine (blue layout) and with a premium coating on the non readable side. You can find such disks made by Taiyo Yuden (Japan), also labeled as "That's CDR". Most companies use pthalocyanine material (light green or light gold green layout material), which may allow burning in higher speeds, but they do not last as much as the Blue layout ones and they are not too reliable concerning audio.

2) Another tip is to burn EVERY Audio CDR at a max of 4x or 8x speed and NOT higher than that. this can lead in the best readability and reliability of your media and will also result in less stress of your player's laser mechanism.

I hope this helps.

^^^ Good advice !! When I first got into this music I asked some Djs and they consistently came back with Taiyo Yuden, and I usually only burn at 2x. Never had a problem. There was a verbatim one with the blue that I used before the the TYs, that was pretty good.

I buy 50 -100 at a time and it's pretty cheap.

Interesting that I worked out the blue thing without knowing why

[shan]

Re: What Blank CD's are the best

good advice all thanks never even thought about burning at lower speeds

[panoulix]

Re: What Blank CD's are the best

There was a verbatim one with the blue that I used before the the TYs, that was pretty good.

This batch of Verbatim was made by Taiyo Yuden and MCC (Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation) and was the finest batch of verbatim ever.

Finally there was also one more manufacturer that made amazing media, but they were in very rare quantities (and popularity) due to their high MSRP. These were the KODAK CDRs (mostly meant for video and Picture CD or CD+G purposes). Their surface was gold (pure gold reflective color) and they were meant to combine longlife span, burning tolerance at higher speeds, heat resistance (due to the golden surface) and of course reliability. I am lucky and still have around 100 pieces left for burning my favorite CDRs (or the ones I intent to use extensively).

I burn CDRs since 1997 and experimented a lot with many surfaces, makers and media codes. There is actually a software that can tell you the manufacturer of a CDR surface (at least this was handy until 2003 and I'm not sure if it ever got updated since then). I will dig through my files and post a link or reference to the software utility name.

[FM]

Re: What Blank CD's are the best

Could be your burner, software used, computer setup, or Windows/running stuff in the background while burning.

I've burned all types of CD's at 16, 24, 32, & 40 and never encountered skipping problems in my tracks as-is. That said, it isn't bad to do it at a 16/24, as the time difference is so minimal, it's negatable. Although the big issue I saw on a couple were constant buffer drops..that was also because I had other things running. So there is a key.

That being said, scratches/fingerprints on the edges of CD's will do it (so not always privy to burning "full" 80 minutes, instead shoot for 60/65, since the burning goes from the inside to the outer edge) the most after extensive usage. Or scratches in general. God forbid you burn the MP3 data disc CD's because it isn't skips, it's warbled digital distortion that sounds even worse when it happens...

These days there should be about a handful of companies making CD's for all the "brands" sold under, so there isn't much differentiation. Coatings can help a bit, your mileage may vary there. "Music CD-R's" are a joke and not any different from the regulars.

Heck could be dirty lasers in the players too...there's several things in the chain that could go wrong...