LP to CD Recording

The Crowing One

So after a long, long time I have finally gotten my turntable hooked up through my PC and I want to begin converting some of my old 7" and 12" vinyl to mp3.

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a recording program? The line is coming directly into the PC, so I assume I'll need some equalizer, as well, later on.

Thanks!

evilmrhenry

I use Audacity. Free, OSS. I don't think it allows you to burn a CD directly, but you can export to wav, and just use whatever for that. It also has an anti-click filter.

evilmrhenry

evilmrhenry wrote: »

I use Audacity. Free, OSS. I don't think it allows you to burn a CD directly, but you can export to wav, and just use whatever for that. It also has an anti-click filter.

Edit: Oh, you want mp3, not CD. That's easier. Just export to mp3.

shutz

I second Audacity, because it's surprisingly powerful considering it's free.

I use it sometimes, but I mostly use Cool Edit Pro 2.1 (after this version, the software was bought up by Adobe, and remade / rebranded as Adobe Audition, but that doesn't seem to work as well on my laptop.)

Anyway, Cool Edit Pro has some kickass noise reduction filters, such as a click/pop restoration filter which actually makes most clicks and pops disappear, leaving only the great-sounding audio that was under there. Obviously, the more restoration is required, the less the results are going to sound like the original, but the algorithm surprisingly good at interpolating what should be where the pop occurred.

I'll run it on an entire LP side if the clicks and pops are fairly constant, otherwise, I just look at the waveform and find the obvious loud clicks and pops, and fix those. Sometimes I get lucky and get a nice, clean rip that doesn't require any of this sort of cleanum. In those cases, all I do is some normalization.

[EDIT] - If it wasn't already clear: Cool Edit Pro 2.1, while being somewhat old, is still considered commercial software, so it's harder to recommend, especially since I doubt it's possible to find a legal download of it, anywhere. But if you can find someone with a legal copy who's not using it anymore (because they've moved on to more recent software) check it out, you might actually like it. I find it fairly easy to use but still very powerful.

Also, I'm using this: http://www.ionaudio.com/profilelp

I know you said you already have a turntable, but this particular turntable solves a lot of issues from the get-go: it gives you ideal levels, and no degradation of signal between the turntable and your computer, because the turntable does the analog-to-digital conversion itself.

LaPuzza

I understand that the ion usb turntable is The Shit. I don't know personally, but a small turntable that does all the work is pretty neat.

The Crowing One

That Ion table looks sweet! If I can't seem to get a good sound out of my 1970's machine, it'll be tempting.

Audacity looks exactly like what I need. I began looking around google and download.com, but got nervous. I'll give Audacity a spin; I remember using it for wav to mp3 conversions awhile ago.

Thanks!

RUNN1NGMAN

I think the Ion also comes with software that will clean up the audio and also will try to divide the import into tracks for you. Technica also makes a USB turntable.

Kivutar

I've used Audacity, using Acid Pro now mostly because I can burn directly from it (and disc at once), but Audacity is obviously a much cheaper option if you don't already own an Acid license.

Waldo

I have the ion usbtt10 (I think) turntable, and I digitized about 6 records this summer, using audacity. I exported both to mp3 and also to WAV to have a backup (dunno why), and it was very easy, all you have to do is mark when each track begins on the side. Also, don't forget to use the "amplify" tool before you export, or your mp3s will sound about 1/8th as loud as your other mp3s.

But whatever you do, if you get a usb turntable (like mine), please don't use the usb output, it sounds horrible compared to the analog (RCA) outputs (which sound like, you know, the record). Probably the cheap DACs they use in usb turntables. Just get an rca-to-mini cable to connect the RCA output to your soundcard/mobo analog in, and you're good to go.