[woodlandjustin]

I now have a Pro-ject Perspective with a DL-103 cart, and an Alpine/Luxman LE-109 Phono stage. I want to transfer some nice old records onto CD. Any advice on this would be much appreciated!

My idea was to take the line out from the phono stage to the 1/4 inch inputs on my M-Audio Microtrack
( http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack2496-main.html )
It is a small device, hand held, but is supposed to record at 16 or 24-bit at 44.1, 48, 88.2 or 96kHz.

I was thinking to either record direct at 16 bit and 44.1kHz, then burn it straight to CD, or, at 24 bit and 88.2kHz, then use a program (which one - Audacity??) to make it 16/44.1 for CDs, and keep the 24/88.2 in case in the future anyone will use it for engineering a higher quality version for CD. (These LPs are hard to get hold of, and do not belong to me).

What do you think? Am I thinking along the right lines? I also have a new macbook (laptop). Would I be better using that to record with? And, I don't really have the time for editing. Do you think it will be okay unedited? (Should sound just like the record, right? (But at CD quality)). Or is there a sinple program that can automatically make the sound a bit better for me (without me spending ages adjusting things I mean)?

Thanks all of you, in advance!
Justin

[Zero One]

Hi woodlandjustin

Here is a little advice, record/capture at the highest bitrate you can go for 24/96 if possible, then edit and resave a copy for burning at what ever you need, 16/44 for CD.

I know you said you don't want to edit but if you use the tools available in Audacity you will be able to get really nice clean recording, free of rumble and clicks and most surface noise without too much trouble. In audacity on a mac 32bit float is probably the best option.

You can also adjust the equalisation for a better result however please note that the EQ controls in audacity have a tendency to produce dreadful ringing, there is another tool to do the EQ in audacity that works better I just can't remember what its called right now and my copy of audacity has become lost so I need to download it again to check.

Audacity will save in just about any format you could want

If your using itunes you could import the files into iTunes and burn them with the EQ applied from iTunes. iTunes will handle pretty much all the common formats.

Do keep copies of the full res files, burn them to DVD they will be big.

You could also make a DVD-V music disk that uses the higher res format and plays on your DVD player, the last version of Toast will do this for you.  DVD-A is also possible but there is not much software about to create it and really if you only need 2 channel why bother as there most players can't play them.

There are better programs for this than audacity but they all cost, however the latest version of toast does a pretty good job via spin doctor, forget the earlier versions, they are very limited.

If your using a Mac the best of the lot is probably Sound Track Pro, but of course very exy if you only want it for LP to CD work.

One last thing, the software can cure all sorts of surface noise, EQ probs and clicks and pops, what it can't do is fix issues such as tracking distortion, wow and flutter, and the stuff that just results from poor deck set-up, I imagine yours is probably set up fine, but it is worth checking it all, as once you remove the surface noise, rumble etc via the software suddenly those issues become really annoying.

Overall if properly done the results especially if played back via the computer at high bit rate, or burnt to DVD-V and played on good gear can cound better than the original LP and far better than regular CD.

Have fun.

Zero One

[Wayner]

I've put lots of vinyl on cd-rs. I have a stand alone Philips recorder. I record each track onto music Cd-RW's and manually index each track. After I've finished doing that, I put the CD-RW into the computer and download all the tracks and convert to .wav files. I use Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 software and import each track, cleaning any noise up to the start of the song and then doing a fade at the end with the software. This technique produces some CD's that sound as good as the record with zero noise between songs.

I do not do any software processing other than the fade.

W

[kirch]

Justin, I think you're right on track to go about it the way you're thinking.  Be sure and record at the absolute highest bit rate you can, then, assuming you have some sort of audio editing software - I use ProTools or Adobe Audition, you can clean up any pops or noise on the front of the songs.  I do the fade out, like Wayner does.  No other tweaking is necessary.  In my experience, eq-ing and tweaking is more a pain, and in the end has never sounded as good as the raw audio file.  It's quite a simple process.  I don't think it makes any difference what type computer you use.  Obviously a newer one will be quicker once the file is recorded.  I don't know of any software that will automatically somehow enhance your files once you've recorded them from the vinyl. 

BY THE WAY - I just took a look that the unit you're using, be sure and record using the PCM format NOT mp3, and again, stick with the highest bit rate.  I assume it has a stereo input.  Couldn't tell from its specifications.

Anyway, that's my two cents worth.  Good luck! 

[mfsoa]

Please keep up the suggestions, I was hoping to do this for my mom. I have an external USB soundcard I was going to use into a Windows laptop. I was thinking I could just use Windows Media Player or Itunes for recording and burning, no?

Sounds like Audacity is free? What can it do that WMP / Itunes can't?

I've never tried anything remotely close to this, so I don't know what limitations there are for WMP/Itunes.

Thanks for any advice in the future!

[Charles Calkins]

I too would like to transfer some LP's to my computer itune library then on to slimserver. I found an ART USB phono plus preamp that might do the job. But if and when I get it up and running will I be able to get itunes to add the songs to it's library.

                                                Cheers
                                               Charlie

[kirch]

Charlie - honestly, you don't have to buy a separate piece of equipment to record from your turntable to your computer, but you do need recording software that will record in stereo.  That's easy to find and cheap.  A quick search should turn up something that you can work with. 

I'll assume you know how to edit audio.  Just go phono pre out directly to your soundcard in.  All I needed was a long enough stereo cable to connect from my system to my computer here in my office.  It's really, really easy.  Record at 44,100 16 bit (or 24 bit if you want, but I don't think you'll hear a difference IMO).  Then just save the file as a Windows PCM wav (Obviously I'm assuming you're using Windows).  While I don't use the SlimDevice, I know people who do and all say you should go with FLAC format when importing into it.  Do a search here in AC for more info on the lossless FLAC format.

Good Luck - I've dumped a lot records to digital files and have had great success.  By the way, to add any file to your iTunes library, just use "import" under the file menu, then just point to the song/file.  Did that for my daughter just yesterday.

[Charles Calkins]

Kirch:

  Thanks for the info. Now I need to find the software you're talking me about. Where should I look? I assume the software will come with "How to" instructions. I have mucho trouble getting the hang of computer mumbo jumbo. I'm a kind of plug it in and play it guy.

                                Cheers
                               Charlie

[kirch]

I have mucho trouble getting the hang of computer mumbo jumbo

Hmmmmm.  This, is not good.  Regardless of the route you take, you'll still need some audio editing knowledge to record, edit and save your files.  Unless there's some plug and play route that I'm not familiar with . . .

[Charles Calkins]

Kirch:

 I found some Roemer software that might be what I need. It's the Easy HI-Q recorder version 2.0 If you can take a look and tell me if this is what I need.

   Romersoftware.com

                                           Cheers
                                           Charlie

[woodlandjustin]

Overall if properly done the results especially if played back via the computer at high bit rate, or burnt to DVD-V and played on good gear can cound better than the original LP and far better than regular CD.

Have fun.

Zero One

Firstly, thanks everyone for replying! I thought no-one had, because when I made other threads the reply notice always came to my mailbox! I got nothing about this one!! (Lucky I checked now!)

And now, so what is this about DVD-v? A digital way to play better than CD? I have been wanting something that could play better than CD. So, how does it work? Do you burn the DVD in WAV and then just play it on a DVD player? Can you choose whatever bit rate and kHz you want?

And to get rid of pops and clicks, is there a good program that anyone recommends which is somewhat automatic? I have heard some programs make the music worse. I would put keeling a much musicality as a higher priority than taking out any clicks or surface noise. To preserve as much of the music as possible, and, if possible take out "noise" but at no cost to the music itself. Any ideas?

Thanks all!
Justin