Moving vinyl recordings to CD

[rloggie]

My wife would like to have her old LP family Christmas albums recorded on CD's. Could someone educate me on how this might be possible? I have a late model laptop to burn them with and an A/D converter with various outs, but how would I interface the converter to the laptop? Or am I missing an eaiser way. Thanks, Robin

[louped garouv]

depending on what (soundcard/pregrams) you have on the computer, you may be able to just plug RCA,s into the soundcard and just start the recording process.... assuming you are running the TT signal through a phono pre-amp.....


Also if you have a DVD-R machine, you can normally record audio CD,s to it, also using RCA cords....

Good luck!

And please get a decent Cart/stylus set for best results.....

[duaneage]

I use a sound blaster Audigy soundcard to record vinyl. I run a Denon DP-37F turntable with a Shure V15-V xmR cartridge. My preamp ups the signal to line level and I send it into my soundcard. I record the tracks into the computer with a program called sound forge, expensive, but you can uyse other programs. Audiograbber (www.audiograbber.com (http://www.audiograbber.com)) is a decent converter that will take the signal right from the preamp and write to a mp3. This is good if all you want is to record them and don't need to clean up the records or edit them. PM if you need specific help, I have been doing this for a few years already and have a few tricks .

[rloggie]

The problem for me is that the Sony Vaio laptop that is my only computer, does not have rca's. There is a microphone mini plug. I don't know if it's stereo?? When I look in "my computer"_"Device manager"_ "sound video game controllers" I find Sigma-Tel C-Major Audio.

Maybe I can find a rca stereo to mini plup adapter??

[johnaec]

Maybe I can find a rca stereo to mini plup adapter??Absolutely - those are readily available - any Radio Shack, etc., will have them. And yes, the mini-plug is stereo. I've done this many times to get casette tapes into my system, (using the outputs from the preamp it's plugged into). It should work fine as long as you use preamp outputs, or something else that has the correct RIAA curve for phono cartridges.

John

[rloggie]

Thanks for all the info. Radio Shack here I come.:)

[Rusnzha]

You need a mixer to control the volume going in. Next, you need a decent sound card. I'm having good luck with Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. It is priced reasonably. I use AIPL Singulator to play it into the computer. You might want to clean the the record noise. BIAS has some good stuff for this that doesn't cost too much. If you have a good wave file editor like Sound Forge, you can paste silence in between the tracks. Probem is that Sound Forge is pricey. It might be possible to get an old version for not that much. Sound Forge will burn wave files to CD. You can't insert tracks with it so you need to burn your tunes one at a time. CD architect is a good program for producing your CDs. If you get the neccessary plug ins for Sound Forge, you can really improve the sound of your old records. Hyper Prism from Arboretum is a good example of this. Unfortunately all of this can run into some serious bucks, but if you have a lot of vinyl it is worth it. Also, your CDs don't sound as good as they should and these applications can do wonders for them also.

[Titanium Dome]

I use the Mac and Windows compatible iMic from Griffin Technology.

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/

It's predominantly a software-based solution with a USB dongle. I use it successfully with my PowerBook, since I've long since dumped the desktop machines for an all notebook, wireless network in my house.

Yes, this little thing:

[Rusnzha]

Interesting! -- It is definitely simpler and costs less than my setup which is about 2 years old. How is volume optimized with it?

[Titanium Dome]

Interesting! -- It is definitely simpler and costs less than my setup which is about 2 years old. How is volume optimized with it?


Since the unit can be used with any USB aware audio software, that'll depend on the software's capabilities. In the included Mac software, Final Vinyl, there's a -20dB, +20dB slider that controls input level, then there's a -30dB, +30db gain control in the 10 band equalizer. For LPs there's a five position RIAA curve selector, and you can make a direct connection to your turntable--no preamp needed.

[rloggie]

OUTSTANDING! If I can find some software for pc I'll be set. No preamp is key for me. The records I'm recording are old and scratched with a big dose of pops. The aforementioned Sound Forge may be the best solution but it would be nice to have a little less powerful program as I'll never use the majority of it's features.:applaud:

[Rusnzha]

BIAS can be used as stand alone and the current version has some enhancement powers along with its hiss, click and pop filtering.

Check these, they should get you going

http://www.rhythmdragonrecording.com/onlinestore/detail.cfm?ID=220&storeid=1

http://www.cd-burner.biz/

[Titanium Dome]

The iMic includes Audacity software for Windows on the CD, plus a free trial or two of other software. Audacity is open source (free).

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/features

[JuniorJBL]

The records I'm recording are old and scratched with a big dose of pops.


Also try some Gruv Glide on the albums to clean them up before recording.

[louped garouv]

Also try some Gruv Glide on the albums to clean them up before recording.


be sure not to use that stuff too often or in excess... IME gunks stuff up......


oh and I think i heard that the Shure V15-V xmR cartridge was being discontinued -- so buy them all up!

http://www.wavemusic.com/community/showthread.php?threadid=3796&highlight=discontinued

[duaneage]

be sure not to use that stuff too often or in excess... IME gunks stuff up......


oh and I think i heard that the Shure V15-V xmR cartridge was being discontinued -- so buy them all up!

http://www.wavemusic.com/community/showthread.php?threadid=3796&highlight=discontinued

Only one place has any left. It is a place in Chicago that bought up all the rest that were available. Needles are available for 5 years more and that is it. I bought one because it is a classic and a true reference cartridge, although there are thousands of opinions on what the best sounding cartridge is, the V-15 tested better at tracking than any of them.

[duaneage]

Soundblaster also makes a USB device called the Extigy that works with laptops, provides RCA and optical in/outs, headphone connections, and level controls. It is affordable and has pretty good specs

http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=207&product=585

[bryantkenneth]

something like this might be easier?

http://www.memorylanedigital.com/

[JuniorJBL]

Try www.m-audio.com (http://www.m-audio.com)
Very good stuff:D

[louped garouv]

Only one place has any left. It is a place in Chicago that bought up all the rest that were available. Needles are available for 5 years more and that is it. I bought one because it is a classic and a true reference cartridge, although there are thousands of opinions on what the best sounding cartridge is, the V-15 tested better at tracking than any of them.

if you don't mind, do you have the contact info for that store?

Thanx