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by American-In-Training on October 20th, 2006

American-In-Training

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How do I, step by step, transfer my vinyl records onto CD or as computer files ?. I use an Apple Mac but I have access to a windows PC if required (but I'll have to psych myself up before I use it).

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  • by Anonymous on October 23rd, 2006

    Anonymous

    There are more elaborate setups but, for simple transfers of LPs in decent condition, this'll get you going:

    ---Get a turntable with a fresh needle (a new cartridge wouldn't hurt either). Ebay has tons of great stereo equipment for a small fraction of their original cost. A setup costing $500-1000 years ago can be gotten now for $150 or so. Turntables alone go for $15-50 or more. Make sure you get one that fits currently-available cartridges and needles.
    --Get an adaptor from Radio Shack or Ebay, with a male mini stereo plug at one end (like one you'd plug into a Discman or iPod) and two RCA plugs at the other (and perhaps a mini plug extension cord, too). The former goes to the Mac microphone input and the latter goes to the "tape out" plugs on the stereo (which has a fixed volume coming from the stereo)
    ---Make sure your turntable has a fresh needle (ebay)
    ---Get Roxio's "CD Spin Doctor" Software ($40 or less) and the rest should be explained in their instructions. It makes it all very easy.
    ---Buy a spindle of CDs (ebay again).
    ---A good idea may be to hire a computer-geek kid for this. He/she can flip the record whens it's time and use the software to take out the "click" and "pop" noises (easy for LPs in decent condition), separate the songs into tracks, and burn the CDs...even label them.
    Who knows? He/she might do it for free if you have some good music or comedy collections to offer. Perry Como or Herb Albert probably won't be of much value in trade, though.

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  • by RedJohn on October 20th, 2006

    RedJohn

    This is a fairly involved question, because of the variations in the hardware and software required for the task.

    1. You will need a phono preamplifier to amplify the low-level signal from the turntable’s cartridge and apply the RIAA frequency correction. Phono preamps run from about $25 to over $25,000, so a recommendation depends on your pocketbook. Low-cost phono preamps include those made by Goldring, Cambridge Audio, NAD, and Rotel, among many others. Use decent cables.

    2. You will need a good A/D converter. The one that came with your PC will likely not be that great. I use an M-Audio Audiophile 2496, which works well for the money. There are many such products on the market, as well as external units that use the USB 2.0 and/or Firewire interfaces (e.g., M-Audio, Edirol, Digidesign).

    3. You will need good audio recording and editing software. I use Audacity, which is available free from audacity.sourceforge.net. Audacity runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix/Linux. It is an exceptionally good product and it is *free*. Alternates tend to be expensive (e.g., Digidesign ProTools LE).

    4. You should record the material at a high sampling rate and resolution (e.g., 24/96) if you need to do any editing, apart from chopping the audio data into separate tracks. If you normalize the amplitude of the different tracks and/or do any other operations on the data, you should be using Audacity's 32-bit float data format and not its 16-bit or 24-bit integer formats. If not and you are only planning to record CDs, you can record the data at 16/44.1.

    5. Export the audio tracks from Audacity as 16-bit signed WAV files (PCM format). Use the recording software that came with your CD (e.g., Nero Express) to create an *audio* CD. Select and add any WAV files you want on the disk and burn it following the instructions that came with the software. If you want to do more than just the basics, you will need to purchase a more comprehensive software package (e.g., Nero Ultra or Roxio Media Creator for Windows, Roxio Toast for Mac).

    Optional, for the more ambitious: Take those high resolution audio tracks that were recorded at 24/96 and converted to 32-bit float in Audacity, export them as 24-bit signed WAV files, and burn them as an *audio* DVD. (Note: this is not the same as creating a DVD-Audio or DVD-A disk.) You will need a better recording package than the one that was bundled with your CD, such as those mentioned in paragraph 5, above. All DVD players are capable of playing uncompressed 24/96 PCM audio, although the format is rarely used.

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  • by Anonymous on October 20th, 2006

    Anonymous

    This is not an answer to your question, but it is a suggestion. look at your old vinyl 45s and 33 1/3 albums. some may be very valuable, especially if they are in excellent condition.

    I was a dj back in the 60s. i kept a copy of all the dj 45s sent to the radio station i worked. today, some are worth 500 to 600 dollars, especially the dj copies of elvis presley.

    There is a book, at books a million, that gives the price on each individual record. you may have a gold mine and not know it.

    Treat your old records very gently, until you learn their value.

    One Beatle's album is worth $10,000 to 50,000 dollars, depending on its condition and which particular album it is. go read the book.

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