Mastering the art.

As with cassette ministries, the process begins with recording a master. There are two ways in which this can be accomplished. Recordings can be made directly to the hard-drive of a computer, and although setting this up initially is a little complicated, it has a number of advantages. CD's can only store 74 minutes of audio ( 80 minute discs are available, but not compatible with all players). For most people, this means their service will need a little bit of editing - leaving out the offering is a favourite time saver! With a computer based system it is relatively easy to record the entire service, and edit it in the computer afterwards to fill the disc, before "burning" a master. (The term "burn" is used, because in fact this is what happens - a laser beam burns a dye inside the blank CD). This is all very well for those who are computer literate, but a rather daunting prospect for others who are quite happy with "press play and record together at the start of the service" as their most technical instruction. Fortunately the second solution will be very familiar to these operators - the dedicated CD recorder.

CD recorders are designed to look like, and behave like, conventional hi-fi cassette decks. They are almost as easy to use. Drop a blank CD in the drawer and close it, press the "record" button, wait a few seconds while the machine gets the disc ready, and press the play/pause button to begin. Stop and start using the play/pause button just as you do on most cassette decks, and press stop at the end. The only major difference is that when you have finished, the disc needs to be "finalised" - which usually means pressing the "finalise" button, pressing play, and waiting for about two minutes for the operation to complete. At that stage, you've got a finished CD, ready to play in any ordinary CD player.

> Duplication