How do I burn an audio CD? (Windows)

PDF

PRINT

EMAIL

The purpose of this short tutorial is to help you burn an audio CD once you have received mastered files from  Synaesthesia Studios.

In the case you already own some burning software, and know how to set it to burn your audio CDs, keep using  it. Remember that although there is some tolerance in burning an audio CD (the way shown here is not the  professional format, which should be Red Book compliant), it’s always better to use a decent brand of CDs.  Your CDs are probably of good quality, but try not to use really cheap CDs in any circumstances, as you could  face problems and data losses that don’t make the cheaper price worth it.

If you’ve never burned audio CDs before, here are step-by-step instructions explaining the basics that have to be  known. All you need to do is download a freeware, and set its parameters properly. After this, you will be able  to burn CDs that you can play on most audio systems.

- Download the freeware CDBurnerXP Pro: http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

- Double-click on the file, proceed to the installation and open the program. This screen should appear:

- Click on the central option ‘Create a new Audio-CD, with or without gaps between the tracks.’ A new window opens.

This is the main window: it contains three mains zone that have lists. In the upper left, you can see the first  zone, showing the content of your hard drive. Go to the folder where you have placed the mastered versions of  your songs (Musical Project/New Album/Mastered Songs in the screenshot above.) The audio files appear in the  second zone, on the right of the first zone. Select the audio files you wish to burn and drag’n’drop them in the  lower part. This is the third zone, that shows the CD playlist.

There is a bar between the first/second zones and the third one, that has icons in it. Look at the left side of this  bar: you see a ‘Burn’ icon. At its right, there is a down arrow: click on it and select ‘Burn and let me choose  settings.’

- Insert a blank CD and click on the ‘Burn’ icon.

The Write Audio window appears:

- Modify the following settings in the Options zone, so that your window looks like the one above:  

- Click on 'Disc At Once'

- Declick 'Detect Optimal Write Speed'

- Use the lowest proposed speed for 'Writing Speed'

- Click on Write Disc: your audio CD is being burned.

When it is finished, play your music in different places to get a better feeling of how it sounds on various equipments.