[BC] copying church programs

[SHAFFER, RANDY L" <RandyShaffer@ClearChannel.com]

Willie wrote -
 >There is an advantage to recording to the computer, though. Once 
you have the
 >WAV file there, you can use Cool Edit (or other audio editor) to "clean up"
 >the tape hiss, hum, or other distortions. IMHO, a direct-to-CD recorder is a
 >waste of money. First, on the unit, itself, second, because of the topic
 >currently being discussed: Extra fees on a seperate media.

 >With the PC, you can adjust the level (normalize or even use a little
 >dynamics compression) to optimise the CD for on-road listening. We 
are encouraging
 >the local Churches who air programs on our station to record directly to PC,
 >tweak the audio, then burn to CD. We have four that are still using 
cassettes.
 >Two of those are on the verge of going digital. Many are now 100% 
digital, using
 >e-mail or FTP to get their programs to us.

Willie, I've helped to produce a program for a local pastor for over 
20 years. We switched to DAT about 10 years ago and then shortly 
thereafter to Minidisc. When we switched to MD, we bought players for 
all the stations carrying the program. Later, one station broke our 
unit and upgraded by installing proMD in all their studios. Another 
station moved the MD to the production room. And at this point the 
stations wanted the program on CD. We didn't have the money to buy a 
PC and spend time with settings. We recorded to CD but it wasn't as 
reliable or fast as MD. The easiest path was to just convert the MD 
to CD with a Sony home CDR. We have been burning shows that way for 
over 2 years. Now the stations want the show sent to them via email. 
At some point soon we'll be forced to buy a PC and software and go 
through the learning curve. The program doesn't have the money to do 
that. The church collapsed due to a money scam several years ago, so 
I bought the CDR to keep the program on the air.


I agree it would be nice to clean up the program a bit and then burn 
it, but time is a big issue. The pastor and I have been working 
together for years. The program is scripted and timed so that we can 
produce it in one take. We only have a few hours to knock out three 
programs at a time. There really isn't much time to play with fine 
details and render and burn to CD. BTW, I never had a MD that 
wouldn't play because the disc was scratched or dirty. One of the 
reasons we have been on the air so many years is because of our high 
quality, I don't like making change when it really doesn't help us. 
The biggest benefit would be the ability to distribute via Email.

Randy Shaffer