Converting Vinyl to CD

Message

Lippy · #1 Post by **Lippy** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:42 am

For the past year, I've been buying most of my Jazz on Vinyl. It's cheaper, you find stuff you might not otherwise, and I just like it. I also just purchased a collection of over 3000 LP's and should be receiving them next week.

I know that I'll want to start getting stuff onto CD right away as I'm cleaning and checking the records so I don't have double work ahead of me.

My question is (and I know that Rochester Mike has done this) what exactly do I need to convert the material. I have a Stanton Str8-80 turntable that has a digital out. Other than software, what cabless, converters, interfaces do I need.

Mike · #2 Post by **Mike** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 12:29 pm

I use a single shielded RCA cable to connect the turntable to my SPDIF in port on my Soundblaster Live! Drive. Some PC's come with this port built in, but I would guess you'd need to get a card. Make sure it has RCA SPDIF and not just Optical SPDIF.

Mike · #3 Post by **Mike** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 12:35 pm

Oh yeah. And make sure you turn OFF the pitch control and the key correction on the turntable, even if the slider is exactly in the middle. Having these on routes the sound through the internal digital processor, and even though the speed and pitch are the same, discerning ears can hear the digital processing in the output.

Matthew · #4 Post by **Matthew** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 1:40 pm

There have been some related threads. Even if you're not dealing with 78s, you may want to check out:

buying a record player, dealing with 78's

Transferring from 78s to CD

Lippy · #5 Post by **Lippy** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:12 pm

Thanx guys. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Bob the Builder · #6 Post by **Bob the Builder** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 3:12 pm

I would say be very careful if you are trying to clean the noise off the recording. It's very easy to make a mess of it. I've done a few and when I listened back to them a while later I realized I wasn't happy with the result at all.
So make sure you hold on to the original Digital recording.

Brian

Bob the Builder · #7 Post by **Bob the Builder** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 5:38 am

An interesting experience.

I recorded some vinyl on to my computer. I was using a very average sound card and to be honest a doggie record player. After a very small clean up here are some interesting results.

The test song I was using was a live 1936 recording of “Big John Special” by Chick Webb. I also have this song on CD.

The quality of my new digital recording of the Vinyl is much better than the CD mastering. The CD Mastering makes the song sound distant.
So even though my new digital recording has some pops and a little crackle it sounds a lot better.

The other interesting thing is that I recorded the vinyl in Stereo. Now obviously it’s originally a mono recording, but I noticed the each channel on the vinyl had slightly different defects. So after any of my editing, I converted it back to mono (To save file space) and when I listened to it again it had lost a lot of its dept.
So just a note, be careful on converting mono recordings off stereo CD’s back to mono, as you may will lose some quality.

Brian

Lawrence · #8 Post by **Lawrence** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 4:44 pm

Perhaps what you noticed was the lack of an illusion of depth because you lost the stereo effect of the pops and cracks, not the music. Or the music might actually be in stereo. I'm not sure of the date stereo recording was invented, but I think stereo preceded hi-fi by about a decade.

BryanC · #9 Post by **BryanC** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:18 am

Numark just came out with their ttUSB, which apparently, is a plug-and-play turntable (USB, I believe). Don't know much about it, but it looks possibly promising.

http://www.numark.com/products/product_ ... view&n=144

Bob the Builder · #10 Post by **Bob the Builder** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:42 pm

Interesting.

ttUSB Turntable with USB Audio Interface
Featuring Plug and Play USB compatibility with both PC and Macintosh computers, the TTUSB turntable makes digitizing one’s vinyl record collection a breeze. Equipped with an adjustable anti-skating control for increased stereo balance, support for 33.33 and 45 RPM playback speeds, ± 10% adjustable pitch control, and a 1/8-inch stereo minijack input connector to facilitate the transfer of cassette tapes, Numark’s TTUSB is the perfect tool for digitally archiving one’s record collection. Combined with Audacity’s software (PC and Mac compatible) for removing clicks and other noises, the TTUSB is an easy-to-use, comprehensive solution to the challenge of transferring one’s record collection to a computer or portable music player.

> Download Product Overview

_ Anti-skating control for increased stereo balance

_ Support for both 33.33 and 45 RPM playback speeds

_ ± 10% adjustable pitch control

_ RCA line outputs

_ Plug and Play USB compatibility with both PC and Mac

_ Packaged with all necessary cables to interconnect with both a computer and stereo playback system

_ Ships with Audacity software (compatible with PC and Mac) for removing clicks, pops, and other undesirable characteristics of vinyl

_ Audacity supports high-speed recording, then returns music to original playback speed

_ Audacity software includes ability to export to WAV and MP3

I've no idea why they didn't enclude a 78 RPM speed.
Many of the turntables with a S/PDIF digital output have a 78 RPM speed.
I recently bought a Stanton T80. It is really good for home use. I haven't been able to fully test the digital output as my M-Audio Fat Track Pro hasyet to arrive.
I'm looking forward to see what I can do with the two of them.

Brian

Skippy · #11 Post by **Skippy** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:47 pm

I'm having create success with a line feed from my home amp to the laptop then using polderbits to do some cleaning and then doing a final clean on the fly with the external sound card.

Am happy thus far with the quality and didn't have any complaints in Lismore.

I will add though one final comment:
MR SHEEN IS YOUR FRIEND, YOUR BEST FRIEND IN FACT!!!!!

Bob the Builder · #12 Post by **Bob the Builder** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:24 am

I'll just give some feedback on my current set up.

Stanton T80
Capable of playing 33.3's, 44's and 78's

M-Audio Tast Track Pro.

Computer - Compaq Presario laptop.

I'm using an single RCA cable using the S/PDIF port.

After doing several test, I'm now getting as close to zero noise (less than -60dB) as I believe you can achieve.
Some things I've noted.
The transformer from your laptop or transformer of any other electrical device on the same circuit will cause noise. If you have a designated circuit (ie back to the house fuse board) with just your turntable plugged in, you shouldn't get any phasing noise coming through.
The turntable is extremely sensitive to vibrations. Ensure your turntable is on a matting of some kind (I use a bit of carpet) and that it is on a separate table than the laptop. make sure the tables are not touching. Any impact noises in your house (ie door banging) will transfer in to the recording. You don’t have to worry to much about air bound noises.
If you follow these steps you will get as close to a perfect transfer from the record to digital format.
It's just amazing the difference from doing it this way, in comparison the old set up I had of an old record player going through an amp.

I have to heighly recomend this setup. I don't believe anyone would be able to tell the differance in a transfer on this sutup in comparision to a professional set up worth several throusand dollers.

Brian

Bob the Builder · #13 Post by **Bob the Builder** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:39 am

woops - double post

russell · #14 Post by **russell** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:07 pm

I noted the discussion of DC6 on Mr Jesse and thought that would be a great product to get but the price tag was daunting. I was loooking at their website and they have a light weight version called DC Millenium that appears to do all I want in terms of audio restoration and recording from vinyl. Does anyone have any experience with it? Is it just as good as DC6 for the restoration functionality?

http://www.diamondcut.com/Catalog/millennium.htm

russell · #15 Post by **russell** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 10:25 pm

Found a partial answer on their forum

http://www.diamondcut.com/vforum/showthread.php?t=2184

Also noted they have a product called Mentor for no frills vinyl to cd.