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Burning CDs for CDJs

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  • July 11, 2011 at 12:00 am #3488
    djsubculture@gmail.com
    Participant

    Will Marshall, post: 3475 wrote:
    …
    I’m going to Burning Man this year, and will be playing several sets while I’m there. Because it’s a harsh and dusty environment, I don’t want to bring my laptop or controller. Instead, I will be making do with CDs.

    So you wanna bring CDs to a dusty enviroment?

    I’m not sure on how you should organize your CD’s but I’ll tell you this, DO NOT burn any MP3 CDs.
    Most peopkle really don’t know how to burn them properly (not trying to be insulting, just saying) and because of that, they are more prone to skipping.

    Audio (WAV) CDs are less prone to skipping and will work in ANY player.

    July 11, 2011 at 12:05 am #3489
    Will Marshall
    Member

    I have to bring some kind of playback device, but a controller/laptop is expensive, prone to failure (playa dust kills electronics about 4 months later) and very heavy. I’ll be walking all over the place, so a wallet of CDs + a couple of USB sticks is about as much as I can reasonably carry. I will be sealing them in a ziplock bag when not in use 🙂

    My concern with MP3 CDs is that old CDJs don’t support them. Also, I use WAV normally, and a WAV CD holds no more audio than a standard Redbook/Audio CD.

    July 11, 2011 at 12:09 am #3491
    djsubculture@gmail.com
    Participant

    The problem with a dusty area isn’t that dust will get on your CDs, is that it’ll get into the CD players.
    Anyway, will there be CDJs there for you to use or are you going to have to bring your own?

    July 11, 2011 at 12:14 am #1000979
    Will Marshall
    Member

    There will be CDJs there to use. I don’t know what they do to deal with dust: but every sound camp I know has CDJs, so it must work well enough.

    July 11, 2011 at 12:18 am #3494
    Arthol Gibson
    Participant

    Well.. I have done the mp3 CD thing with no hiccups. On the upnote, I knew beforehand that the CDJs id use were capable. Only thing I dont like about mp3 is that the amount you can fit on them will leave you lost if you ‘forget’ which disc you put a particular track on.
    Seeing as you seem to have a knack for organization though, it may not be an issue for you..

    All in all.. Id say do both types. Mp3 cds thatd take you through a particular set, especially if it’s freestyled, and Audio CDs for your “everything-has-to-be-perfect” set 🙂

    July 11, 2011 at 1:58 am #1000985
    ellgieff
    Member

    The two specific questions (hey Will, how you doing) I’d answer this way:

    1) Redbook Audio. Every CD player will play it, because if it doesn’t – it’s not a CD player.

    2) I used to burn 2 copies of each CD, with 8 – 10 (preferring 8 to 10) tracks in a specific Key. So I’d have 2 (‘scuse the Camelot notation) copies of a CD with 8 tracks in 1A. Then sort the CD’s into the folder by key.
    I burnt the discs with iTunes, for CD-Text capability, and printed the tracklist direct on the CD.

    mp3 cd’s can be problematic, even on players that support them – and as I know your position on full-rate vs. lossy compression, I’m sure you’ll have no issue sticking with Redbook 😉

    July 11, 2011 at 2:07 am #1000987
    Will Marshall
    Member

    Yo Kelvin,

    1) Redbook looks like the best bet. I get high-quality audio and it’ll work everywhere.

    2) Traktor will let me export my playlists, which I can dump into a spreadsheet and burn using CD-Text from iTunes. Then I can print out the spreadsheet and make little paper labels to stick inside the CD wallet. A little fiddly, but should be manageable.

    I’d probably sort by BPM, but I’m a little off Mixed in Key and can’t be bothered keying by ear.

    July 11, 2011 at 2:22 am #3523
    ellgieff
    Member

    Will Marshall, post: 3513 wrote: Yo Kelvin,

    1) Redbook looks like the best bet. I get high-quality audio and it’ll work everywhere.

    2) Traktor will let me export my playlists, which I can dump into a spreadsheet and burn using CD-Text from iTunes. Then I can print out the spreadsheet and make little paper labels to stick inside the CD wallet. A little fiddly, but should be manageable.

    I’d probably sort by BPM, but I’m a little off Mixed in Key and can’t be bothered keying by ear.

    Paper labels do get fiddly (I had to do this every now and then, when I was short of time to print to the disc directly), but can work.

    I’d definitely recommend 2 copies of each disc, though. Nothing worse than “I’d like to play this one next, but it’s on the disc already in the player).

    July 11, 2011 at 2:31 am #3524
    Will Marshall
    Member

    If I print to the disk, what do I do when the disk is in the CDJ and I can’t read it?

    July 11, 2011 at 2:33 am #3525
    ellgieff
    Member

    Will Marshall, post: 3517 wrote: If I print to the disk, what do I do when the disk is in the CDJ and I can’t read it?

    You read it off the other copy in your wallet (you don’t need to read the currently playing disc, as it’s currently playing. If the player supports CD-Text, you can read the inserted disc while it’s not playing – this helps in those “was it track 6 or 7???” moments). If the player doesn’t support CD text, and you have both copies of the disc in each player … pick a different CD to play off 😛

    July 11, 2011 at 2:35 am #3527
    Will Marshall
    Member

    If you have both copies of the disk playing in both CDJs – wtf are you doing? Mix already!

    Amirite?

    July 11, 2011 at 3:13 am #3529
    jezalenko
    Member

    Also I recomend you read this regarding burning CDs for DJing with. It’s a must read if you dont want any problems with the CDs themselves.

    July 11, 2011 at 6:33 am #3535
    djsubculture@gmail.com
    Participant

    jezalenko, post: 3522 wrote: Also I recomend you read this regarding burning CDs for DJing with. It’s a must read if you dont want any problems with the CDs themselves.

    Great link!

    If you have a printer that will print directly onto CDs (or you’re really good with a felt marker), I recommend Taiyo Yunden printable dics. These have labels that won’t come off and jam up your CDJs.

    If you want a regular CD then try the Taiyo Yunden silver discs.

    This is the brand that I have used in the past with NO coasters and NO problem with CD rot.

    And lastly, if your CD burner is old (as in has burned hundreds of discs), consider purchasing a new burner. Old CD burners cause errors making your CDs likely to cause the dreaded “Disc Error” (ask me how I know).

    July 11, 2011 at 8:31 am #3540
    josh@firestorm
    Member

    i burn 2 copies of each disc, as audio cd’s with no more than 10 tracks per disc, at the slowest speed it will let me, with cd-text enabled.

    used to use nero on pc, but now that im on mac i use toast

    EDIT: and write or print onto the disc… no stickers, especially small ones that will make the cd “weighted” and spin un-evenly

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