Recording From Long Play Albums to CD's

Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

Being a novice at this I would like to have some guidance.

I want to take several hundred LP vinyl albums and record them to DVD's or CD's.

First of all what is the best procedure for cleaning the vinyl records.

What is best equipment for LP albums to be played into a computer?

Is recording to a DVD better than a CD?

What is the best software for cleaning the sound for the CD or DVD?

Anything I left out?

Your posts will be appreciated.

Aloha, Smile

Don

Richard Sevigny · From: Salmon Arm, BC, Canada

Don,

A mild soap and water solution will clean the records.

Any good quality turntable will do, though I'd recommend a preamp of some kind as the output from a turntable is usually low. Most older stereos had a turntable channel with a preamp built in. A stereo mixer will do fine.

The only advantage to recording to a DVD is that you can put more data (ie more songs) into a disc. The downside is the DVD may not be compatible with all CD players.

Most recording software have some kind sound resotring capability, ie some way to remove hiss. Clicks and pops are a lot harder to fix... it's better to have as clean a sound to begin with.

Hope this has been helpful.
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Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

Thanks, Richard.

Your post was helpful and your suggestions are a lot cheaper than the others I have heard on the internet.

From one source, I did hear that soap and water would leave a residue, but others recommend using soap and water.

Since I first posted this, I hear you can put the LP's on a DVD and play it in your computer, then burn CD's from it. Does that sound right?

Aloha, Smile

Don

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

I've been recording my old vinyls to the PC for a couple years now.

I just use CD-R discs; buy 'em when they go on sale; usually about $7.00 for 50, now.

I have a very good Technics quartz direct drive turntable and run it through an old Kenwood analog reciever. From the reciever 'out' into the 'in' on PC's soundcard.

I clean the records with distilled vinegar in a spray bottle. I actually spray the vinegar on a very soft all-cotton "rag", and wipe the record dry with another all-cotton rag.

I then put the record on the turntable and flip the speed switch to 45RPM. Get it spinning. I then either use one of those fine-haired LP comb/brush units and/or a fine 1" wide fine bristle paint brush.
Bring the speed down to 331/3RPM. The LP is now ready to go.

I always hit the stylus with the paint brush before each recording, too.

I've been quite impressed with the excellent condition of some my LPs. They hardly needed any cleaning. But others were rough.

The over-all fidelity from an LP seems to not get too lost when transformed from analog to digital. They sound super.

As far as using noise reduction eliminators, I say this. If the song really annoys you, then it's time to apply the noise reducers. However, the trade off is that your over-all sound is diminished each time you add a noise reduction applique.

I actually kind of like a few pops and scratches. It's just another reminder that this song is indeed a classic from the past. Like a character scar, so to speak. When you hear scratches and pops you actually think you're listening to a REAL vinyl record. A bit of reality, sort-of.
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Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

Chip,

That is very helpful and the information will be put to use.

Thanks!

Aloha, Smile

Don

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Don,

Good luck! I'm glad I could help you out. Very Happy

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Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

Mitch Drumm · From: Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake

Don:

I've cleaned thousands of records in a sink with a mild solution of luke warm water and Ivory liquid soap. I use an old toothbrush. Keep a trickle of water going in a second sink to rinse immediately, You can hand dry them or prop them up against a wall and air dry.

Keep the stylus on your turntable clean.

Jack Stoner of this forum has written a good guide on this process. Maybe Jack will see this thread.

Decide what format you want the songs to end up in. Generally either WAV or MP3.

WAVs are "higher quality", but very few people can consistently tell a WAV from a high quality MP3.

Decide where you want the songs to end up. Hard drive of your PC? Individual CDs?

WAV files take up a LOT more space. You can typically get only 25 or 30 WAV songs on a CD.

I think you can get 200 or 300 MP3 songs on a CD--but not all players will play them.

You can likely get over a 1000 MP3s on a DVD, but not all players will play them.

Any CD player can play WAV files.

You will have to decide if you want to chop each side of an LP up into individual song files, or leave each side as a single 15 or 20 minute file. Most people chop them up so they can play each song separately without playing the whole side.

Several hundred LPs might be 3000 songs. That many high quality MP3s would occupy only about 10 gigabytes of space. If they were WAV files, they might occupy 50 or 100 gigabaytes, I'm not sure. A standard DVD holds about 4.7 gigabytes.

So you have to make a bunch of decisions.

My advice: don't rely on CDs or DVDs as your primary place to keep the songs. Keep them on a hard drive on your PC and maybe make backup copies onto DVD. Neither CD or DVD can be relied on indefinitely as storage, can be lost, scratched up, etc. And it is much easier to edit, manage, and copy songs on a hard drive than on CD.

You should seriously consider the navigation properties of your playback equipment. On a standard CD player, you can jump from track 1 to track 14 with a button on the remote. Or quickly scan at high speed from the beginning of one song to the end of it. The last I checked, that type of navigation was not found on all MP3 or DVD playback equipment. How would you like to pop in a DVD full of 500 or 1000 MP3 songs only to find out you couldn't listen to track 177 without playing the first 176 songs first--no navigation where you can choose the track directly. Not good.

Hard drive space is very cheap--$50 or $60 for 300 gigabytes--much more space than you need. You may have enough space on your present hard drive?

You can easily play either WAV or MP3 files directly from your PC through your regular home stereo system without using CDs or DVDs at all.

If you have no hard drive space issues, I would transfer them in WAV format to the hard drive, and then burn your favorite tunes from the hard drive to CDs as necessary if you want to play back in a car.

Audacity is one of several free recording programs that many on this forum use. It can reduce hiss and clicks and pops, but there are specialist programs that do that as well. You have to decide if you are willing to spend only 20 seconds on cleaning up noise on a song or if you are willing to spend 20 minutes. I very rarely spend more than 2 or 3 minutes cleaning up noise using Audacity. Others on this forum can probably recommend a specialized product.

Craig Stenseth · From: Naperville, Illinois, USA

Don,
If you aren't connecting the turntable to a receiver with a "phono" input channel, you'll need some kind of gizmo to do the RIAA equalization. In other words, don't just plug the turntable into a mixer or the computer's sound card, use the "tape out" from the receiver that the turntable is plugged into.
Or, buy a turntable with a USB connection built in.

chuck abend · From: Kansas City,Mo.64155 U.S.A.

I found the Acousta Spin it Again software for
30.00 or so and it works great.They also sell the
8 track Recording studio for 32.oo.
Very user friendly.Can be downloaded with your
credit card.They may have a demo you can try.
Chuck Abend

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

What I wrote is several years old. But, most of it is still applicable. Reading over the comments, it's been pretty well answered.

You need to "record" the music to the PC's hard drive as wav files (not MP3). After you get the songs on the hard drive (however many at a time that you want) then you burn the Audio CD's. DO NOT record directly to a disc. You don't need to buy a "recording" program, the free Audacity will do everything you need to do.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Here is my old write (that needs updating).

http://www.the-predator.com/dell/sec7-9.html

Ron Shalita · From: California, USA

go to costco and buy a Ion turn table, 80 bucks..Google (ION Turn Table) it will hook up to your turn table with a USB line.. it says it makes MP3's but really it does not , it puts what ever song you want on your hard drive as a wave file..then you can burn it as a cd.. I am not really sure why you would want it on CD ...they are kind of out dated these days... you can get 32 gig thumb drives to put them on.. which will hold thousands of songs if you make them into MP3' if you want them into MP3's then you will need another prgram to make it into a MP3... I have been doing this the last 2 days if you need help let me know... I am here for ya.. Ron
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Cass Broadview · Posted 8 Jun 2010 8:23 pm

I have some great long plays, that are out of print now. Jack, or Chip, Craig, Mitch or anyone. Do i need a preamp, or will a small mixer be ok?

Also, i have a stand alone turntable, with just the cable, with the red & white RCA phono plugs on it. If i go into my small mixer, then from the mixer output, what do i do? I have a small usb interface, should i use that, then into a usb port??? Razz

I'll download the free software jack, thanks.
My interface

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Cass,

If you go from your reciver OUT with the two RCA patch cords, feed them into an RCA x stereo 1/8" male jack to your IN on your PC soundcard. The RCA x 1/8" would be a "Y" splitter with the 2 RCA ends being female.

Then you would probably have to use some audio program like Audacity to hear and record what you're playing.

That interface you show may work in lieu of the reciever.

Radio Shack has quite an assortment of RCA "Y" splitters.
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Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

Cass Broadview · Posted 9 Jun 2010 7:49 am

I don't have a receiver, or anything with a "phono in" on it...sorry, thats why i'm asking about the mixer situation, and the interface.

Delvin Morgan · From: Lindstrom, Minnesota, USA

I heard from an old DJ, to reduce those pops and scratches from an LP is to spray a little water on the record as it is playing. Anyone ever do that?

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

OK,

I must have misread you the first time around.

The interface looks like just that, with no amping or preamping capability. Is there a volume control?

It may work without a preamp or amp [reciever].

Turntable to 'IN' on interface; patch cords from interface 'OUT' to that previously mentioned RCA x 1/8" stereo mini plug "Y" splitter; 1/8" plug into soundcard.

Cass, all you can do is give it a try. You can always use patch cords. You may wind up having to use a preamp or even a regular old-fashion AM-FM Hi-Fi reciever.

Hope this is more helpful. Smile

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Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

Alain-Yves Pigeon · From: Quebec, Canada

Hi to all, I'm all set for recording an LP to my computer but I'd like to use a program that would split the tracks automaticaly. It seems to me that I've read somewhere that such a program exists but I can't remember the name. I just bought off ebay a vinyl record of Buddy Ackers and I'd like to transfer it to my computer.

BTW. you really need to use a preamp (for RIAA equalization purposes) to record from a turntable. You can get one on ebay for around $35.00 and it can also be used on newer integrated amps without a phono input (I used to test these for a local audio mag so I've had a couple under my hand for testing purposes. As usual, you could find something for 35 bucks or 3 grands and, unless you had a very high end system, you could hardly tell the difference. In conclusion, your wallet spoke more than your ears in the selection you made and of course, if you had chosen the expensive one, you would want to leave the price tag on it... to show off).

Best to all,

ayp
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Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Alain-Yves,

www.goldwave.com can do this. It's automatic, or you can expand the time between songs, too.

You first record the entire album to your HDD. Then you go into GW and use the CUE function. I've used it and it works well; usually; as long as the album was recorded pretty straight-up. Not much tweaking at all, if you do use the auto mode. BUT, it is not that automatic; not with GW, anyway. I guess what you are saying is that you want to have separate tracks. It's a two-step operation. Really takes no time at all.

Audacity [free] might do it, too. I know GW better than I do Audacity.

GW probably still costs around $50 whammos, now.
_________________
Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

I found a nostalgic record player.........

that plays all three record speeds, and cassettes and transfers them directly onto a self-contained CD player/recorder.

No mess! No fuss! No additional software!
No wires........

Makes great CD's!

Shop around or give me a call or email.

Alan Brookes · From: Brummy living in Southern California

Magix Audio Cleaning will remove crackles and hiss and recognise where tracks start and end automatically. I've had LPs with so much surface noise they're almost unintelligible, and the Magix software has cleaned up the recordings to the extent that you wouldn't know there had ever been any scratches.

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

Alain-Yves Pigeon · From: Quebec, Canada

Well, you see how things are funny sometimes. I happen to own a Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card and with the card comes a CD on which you can find a lovely small program called Intelligent Recorder that does exactly what I'm looking for including getting rid of clicks and pops. You can record in MP3, WMA and Wave. You can select the definition you want in MP3 and WMA or you can select Wave mono or stereo. When you record in Wave, you can then have the program split the tracks according to the silence in between tracks. You can choose the decibels factor (silence in -dB) and the duration of the silence. Of course, this means you record one complete side of an album and then split the tracks. Neat little program.

ayp
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Steel working to play it right!

Mitch Drumm · From: Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake

Cass Broadview · Posted 30 Jun 2010 4:49 pm

I got the Edirol to work ok, no grounding situation. The outputs i ran to the aux in on a powered ipod dock. So i was able to monitor what i was recording. I know, i know, but hey it works....hehehe Very Happy

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