Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: Computer, Ipod or CD? Which is better?

Message

   Hello:

I do sound for a few shows (sound effects for plays, music for dance studios etc. I have always used CD's for the sound effects/music.

Has anyone used an Ipod? Is it better or worse than using CD's? I always worry about the CD skipping and the like......with sound effects, you can recover, but if you're doing a 4 minute ballet solo, it can get bad when the CD skips (even if you're using a new cd player and new cd's). I have seen other techs use a computer, but have been to productions where the computer crashes during a show and the recovery time is minutes.

Any suffestions or opinions would be helpful.

Thanks

Author	Message
Chrispy555 Walk-On Joined: 11/01/12 Location: Canada Online Status: Offline Posts: 1	Topic: Computer, Ipod or CD? Which is better? Posted: 4/16/13 at 7:41am
	Hello: I do sound for a few shows (sound effects for plays, music for dance studios etc. I have always used CD's for the sound effects/music. Has anyone used an Ipod? Is it better or worse than using CD's? I always worry about the CD skipping and the like......with sound effects, you can recover, but if you're doing a 4 minute ballet solo, it can get bad when the CD skips (even if you're using a new cd player and new cd's). I have seen other techs use a computer, but have been to productions where the computer crashes during a show and the recovery time is minutes. Any suffestions or opinions would be helpful. Thanks
	Chris

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museav Lead Joined: 11/06/09 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 38	Posted: 4/18/13 at 5:02pm
	Computers have become sort of the standard for EFX and music playback at least partially because of their flexibility in supporting multiple file types and some of the inexpensive play list and/or cue based playback software that is available. One of the ways to make that more reliable is to have a dedicated machine that has been configured for that purpose and is not trying to also receive e-mail, surf the web, getting pop up messages, etc. while also being used for playback.
	Brad W.
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TimmyP1955 Lead Joined: 12/30/09 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 37	Posted: 4/22/13 at 12:10am
	A PC using Multiplay (it's free), or a Mac using similar software (I don't know of a free one). If the monitor is a touch screen, so much the better.
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