Hello.
I am using Audacity 2.0.3 and my computer is using MS Vista.
I have made to correct cable connections.
Is it ok to use the project rate 0f 96000 to convert music on a cassette? I make no other changes to the default setup of Audacity, except for volume setting. I am using Maxell CD-R discs(the Yellow ‘Music’ ) to burn to using MS Media Player.
My cassettes have music recorded from LP and from FM radio. I use these for personal use only.
The reason I ask this is because my CD player is now encountering problems reading some of my retail bought cd’s.
I contacted the maker of my CD player and they suggested that I have a ‘Noisy Laser’.
Could I have caused this ‘Noisy Laser’ problem by using the incorrect Project Rate or something else in Audacity?
I was burning the CD’s using medium speed.
Thanks for any help
Dean
Audio CDs are 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo. If you record at a higher resolution, your CD burning software will (hopefully) make the conversion when you tell it to make an audio CD.
You can burn WAV files or MP3 files, etc, in any format you wish directly onto a CD as “data”, and it will play on your computer, but that’s not an “audio CD” and it won’t play on an standard audio CD player. (Don’t use MP3 or AAC if you are making a regular audio CD, since these are lossy formats.)
I contacted the maker of my CD player and they suggested that I have a ‘Noisy Laser’.
Could I have caused this ‘Noisy Laser’ problem by using the incorrect Project Rate or something else in Audacity?
That would be a hardware problem with your CD player. If you are having a problem wht homemade (“burned”) CDs, that could be an issue with your CD burner, (and/or burnng speed) or it could be a bad batch of CDs.
I was burning the CD’s using medium speed.
It’s a good idea to use something less than maximum speed. There may not be a difference, but the “burned pits” can sometimes be sort-of “blured” at high burning speeds. I test all of my burns with [u]Nero DiscSpeed[/u] (FREE!!!). It shows you a graph of playback speed and if there’s a glitch where your CD reader has to go back an re-read or slow-down, you’ll see it. (This is unrelated to your sample rate of 96,000, 48,000, or 44,100.)
Hi Doug.
Thanks for the quick and informative reply.
I export the ‘multiple’ tracks from Audacity as ‘WAV’ files.
I burn ‘audio’ cds’ with MS Media player. The cds’ I burn do play ok on my standard cd player ( which is cabled to my integrated amp).
I do not know if MS Media Player converts it to 44.1kHz, 16-bit stereo.
The reason I use 96000 for the project rate is because when I listen the the cds’ I burn the sound seems to be crisper and with more detail. It could be just my imagination.
Just to clear up my point about the ‘Noisy’ laser problem, before I started burning the cds’ I had no problem with my standard cd player, now after playing some of the cds’ I burned, when I play for example a Simon & Garfunkle cd (I bought a couple of years ago from a local store), my cd player is having problems reading some of the tracks properly on that cd. Do you have some idea why all of a sudden I would have the ‘noisy’ laser problem?
Dean
I do not know if MS Media Player converts it to 44.1kHz, 16-bit stereo.
Yes. It has to be if it’s going to play on a regular CD player.
The reason I use 96000 for the project rate is because when I listen the the cds’ I burn the sound seems to be crisper and with more detail. It could be just my imagination.
There’s nothing wrong with using 96kHz. 24 bit/96kHz seems to be the pro studio standard. But, it’s probably your imagination… 
For two reasons - The guys who do [u]scientific blind ABX tests[/u] have pretty-much demonstrated that there is no audible difference between a higher-resolution file and the same file downsampled to 16/44.1. (Audiophiles who claim to hear a difference usually claim there’s something wrong with the test when they “fail” a blind test). And, any additional information/resolution in the 24/96 file has to be thrown-away when you downsample anyway.
Also, LPs, cassettes, and FM radio have far less dynamic range and resolution than CDs… For starters, just listen to the noise between analog tracks compared to the silence between tracks on a CD.
Hi Doug.
Thanks again for a very informative reply.
That is very helpful.
Dean