Please someone help me to record from MD to CD

[Guest Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

I am desperate for help. Need to record from MD to CD. I've got a portable MD MZR70 (quite old) which has a mic slot, line in and 2 headphone sockets. I've got a Sony hi-fi with MD which is brand new and a new computer which has a mic jack, speaker jack, line in jack and CDRW. Also got a tape deck on stereo if that helps.

I would appreciate any help whatsoever but I'm a bit clueless when It comes to electrical gadgets. Please e-mail me if you prefer on btsmith_uk@hotmail.com

Many thanks in anticipation

Ben

[Andy]

I've done it with my MZ-R70 in 2 different ways. The first (more expensive - but really good) was to use a standalone CD recorder - no computer involved. I got really good results from that, but those CD recorders can be costly.

If you are using a computer, then depending on your sound card, quality might be an issue. But here is the basic process:

1) Restart your computer, don't open any new programs (the best way to make sure you have as much free memory as possible). Turn off the screensaver and anything else which is likely to happen periodically (like a virus checker which scans for viruses every 10 minutes)

2) Grab a 3.5 to 3.5 cable (headphone jacks on both ends) and plug it into the headphone out of the minidisc and to the line in on your sound card.

3) Double click on the volume icon down in the system tray.

4) Click on Options->Properties, then select Adjust volume for... Recording (make sure Line-In has a tick next to it)

5) For some sound cards, you need to select the line in. Use the check boxes at the bottom to select stuff. Keep this volume control open.

6) Double click on the volume control thing again so you also have the playback volume controls on the screen.

7) Start playing your MD. We aren't recording yet, just playing. Turn off megabass, AVLS, Beep and turn the volume up to the maximum.

8) Open the sound recorder that comes with Windows (Start->Programs->Accessories->Entertainment(?)->Sound Recorder.

9) Click on File->Properties->Convert Now. Select the quality you want (*) and press OK (twice)

10) Press record in sound recorder and have it record about 1 minute of stuff. When this is done press stop.

11) Save the file somewhere and do the following

- Check the size of it. Will you have enough hard disc space to record your entire MD at this quality setting?

- Check the quality of it - does it sound good? Is it too loud/too soft?

- Is there hisses, pops and other stuff like that?

12) See if you can resolve all those issues before you do the actual recording.

13) For the recording, stop the MD. Start it, and press pause before it actually starts playing. Press Record in sound recorder and Unpause the MD. Try not to do anything with the computer while it is recording - a single glitch is extremely hard to get rid of.

14) When it is done, save it immediately.

15) You will now have a very big wav file. If you want to put tracks into it, then this is how:

- Back it up (possibly to CD-RW if you don't have room on your hard drive)

- Open the file in Sound Recorder. Using the two commands in the edit menu (Delete Before/After current possition) you can create wav files for each track. It might take a while to do it, but unless you have some fancier software, then this is probably the best way.

- After you are done, you should have each track as its own .wav file

16) Making the CD. This depends on the software that comes with your CD burner - the main thing to watch out for is that you don't accidentally create a data CD. What you want to create is a music CD. I'm pretty sure most software can do these. Read the help that comes with it if you have any trouble.

(*) Quality: My rule is to use the highest possible quality setting you can for recording and drop quality just before it goes to CD, but some CD burner software will only work with 16bit 44.1KHz Stereo wavs, so either test it out, or go for the safe option and just do 16/44/Stereo (which is what a CD is). Also, your sound card might not be able to record at some qualitysettings - try getting the latest drivers for it too.