CDRLabs.com

Hi all, hope somebody can shed some light into this rather bizarre glitch I'm facing..

I'm using an external burner that connects via usb. Nero version is 5.5.10.20. I recorded quite a number of cd's (at 4x of course), and found out that overburning CDAs usually result in crackling sounds in the last few tracks. However when I checked the rest of my burned CDA's (non-overburning), at least half of them has got this bloody irritating crackle! Tried burning another 3 times, each time reducing the track times, but to no avail! The last CD that I recorded is down to 68 minutes of track time now (on an 80 min cdr), but I still get that crackle. What's the deal??

If you read the information at Why do I hear pops and clicks in my audio tracks?, you will find instructions to confirm that DAE (digital audio extraction) is being done cleanly without errors.

This doesn't sound like a DAE problem, because you are having the crackling sound only in the last tracks. This would seem to indicate a problem in the burning process. Since you can burn only at 4x max, burning at 2x may be worth a try. Be forewarned though, that the latest high speed rated media may perform poorly at low burn speeds.

What media and speed rating are you using? I would try a different media brand, preferably one that is not rated for the highest speeds. It may be hard to find media like the older 1x-12x rated types, but this may be a better match for your burn speed.

Thanx for the tips..

The burner runs up to 24x, and the media supports 48x. However I was advised to burn at 4x for CDAs, then the cds can be played (easily read) on most, if not all, players.
If this keeps going on, I'll have enough coasters for the house, and the next door neighbour. Or I'll just end up recording 40 minutes of songs, wasting half of the disk.

I assumed that since you said that you were burning at 4x that you were using USB 1.1. If you can burn at 24x, you must be using USB 2.0.

I would say that whoever told you to burn at 4x gave you bad advice. There is no guarantee that burning at low speeds will improve any kind of burn, much less audio. In fact, as you have discovered, it may cause bad burns especially when using media rated for high speed.

Given the circumstances you just disclosed, I would try burning at 24x and decrease speed in increments only if there is a problem at the highest speeds. The newer medias will produce high quality burns at fast burning speeds. I would not recommend overburning unless there is some compelling reason. Overburned audio discs may not play properly in all players, and for compatibility reasons, it's best to burn within the limits of the disc time rating.