Converting vinyl to mp3 or wav

[cadillac_man]

Like many aging former DJ's I have hundreds of 12" vinyl I want to slowly convert to digital. What is the best software to use for this and what is the best hardware to use so you can keep the stereo sound? I have a quality soundblaster card. Is there any software that filters out the snap crackle and pops? Also, what is a good source these days for a record cleaning system?

Back in the day i had something with a spray and 2 hand held dust brushes.

Thanks

Mark.

[ol'skinflint]

Originally Posted by cadillac_man

Like many aging former DJ's I have hundreds of 12" vinyl I want to slowly convert to digital. What is the best software to use for this and what is the best hardware to use so you can keep the stereo sound? I have a quality soundblaster card. Is there any software that filters out the snap crackle and pops? Also, what is a good source these days for a record cleaning system?

Back in the day i had something with a spray and 2 hand held dust brushes.

Thanks

Mark.

I'm saving up to buy TEAC's LP to CD recorder system as the computer software needed to convert vinyl to digital seems to require Steve Jobs-type knowledge. I bought 2 sets of the software (the Roxio CD creator and the DAK Music system, advertised here on discomusic.com) and couldn't master either. The instructions always seem to assume everyone is already computer literate and they use terminology that may as well be written in a foreign language....I've learned my lesson, though. NO MORE buying software and hoping I can learn to use it.

[Graham_Start]

I use Adobe Audition for recording, restoring, and mastering needle drops. Having said that, I use a rather tedious set of manual techniques to get the best possible results at removing surface noise.

[spacebass]

Hi first post,

Thanks for having me,

there is hardware device from 'K-World' called V-stream expert that retails for about GBP23 and is available from www.svp.co.uk that is designed to make DVDs from tape but of course has sound ins and outs too. So I guess you play your 12" and take an ouput from your aux in to the V-stream and out comes digital!!

I have not been in the UK since I discovered this searching on ebay and my 12 s are in UK, but I certainly intend to MP3 the lot when I get back to Uk. If anyone gets into this please post results.

Keep on truckin!

[tony98]

I recently bought a Ion USB turntable for converting my vinyl to digital. I invested in a Acoustica MP3 Converter Plus to help with it ,and i'm really pleased with the results. with the converter you can put your vinyl onto MP3,WAV or WMA.

[vectone]

"Cool edit pro" might do the job! I use it, you can add or take many effects, EQ, even do mixes (like I did)....

[Graham_Start]

Cool Edit Pro is now Adobe Audition.

[Naso]

I used FlexiMusic Wave Editor to record my granny's voice and to convert and save the vinyl to digital audio as Mp3 files. It worked great for me.

[ol'skinflint]

If you use and are familiar with Audacity software, can you give me a couple hints here? (THEY will not return my emails and offer no voice to voice customer service). When you transfer album tracks onto your computer's sound card, you're given 3 options for labelling the tracks as files..."Export WAV", "Export MP3" and "Export ogg vorbis". All 3 of these seem to convert the album tracks into files but when I transfer the files onto CDs there's no audio, even after converting the files to "audio files". What's the trick? thanks.

[Graham_Start]

Originally Posted by ol'skinflint

If you use and are familiar with Audacity software, can you give me a couple hints here? (THEY will not return my emails and offer no voice to voice customer service). When you transfer album tracks onto your computer's sound card, you're given 3 options for labelling the tracks as files..."Export WAV", "Export MP3" and "Export ogg vorbis". All 3 of these seem to convert the album tracks into files but when I transfer the files onto CDs there's no audio, even after converting the files to "audio files". What's the trick? thanks.

Audacity is freeware, so I think it's a bit much to expect *any* support from them. :)

First of all, if you care about sound quality, use WAV as those other two formats are lossy.

Secondly, for making audio CDs, you'll want your WAV files to be 16-bit, 44.1KHz sampling rate. Anything else will have to be converted.

Third, you need a program that can burn audio CDs, not data discs. I don't know if Audacity even has this capability. Nero, EZ-CD Creator (or whatever they're calling it these days), and iTunes can all do this.

Audio CDs (i.e. the kind you put in a regular ol' CD player and listen to) are formatted very differently from data discs (i.e. the kind you back up files to). You must ensure that the discs you are burning are formatted for audio, and are not data discs that just happen to have audio files on it.

[ol'skinflint]

Originally Posted by Graham_Start

Audacity is freeware, so I think it's a bit much to expect *any* support from them. :)

First of all, if you care about sound quality, use WAV as those other two formats are lossy.

Secondly, for making audio CDs, you'll want your WAV files to be 16-bit, 44.1KHz sampling rate. Anything else will have to be converted.

Third, you need a program that can burn audio CDs, not data discs. I don't know if Audacity even has this capability. Nero, EZ-CD Creator (or whatever they're calling it these days), and iTunes can all do this.

Audio CDs (i.e. the kind you put in a regular ol' CD player and listen to) are formatted very differently from data discs (i.e. the kind you back up files to). You must ensure that the discs you are burning are formatted for audio, and are not data discs that just happen to have audio files on it.

THANKS Graham, sure is handy to have an audioexpert on here. And I want to repeat what I said earlier, after I master the LP-to-CD transfer process I'll be happy to share a few of my recordings with others. I know there's nothing more frustrating for a music lover who wants a certain recording and is having trouble locating it.....

[ol'skinflint]

Originally Posted by ol'skinflint

THANKS Graham, sure is handy to have an audioexpert on here. And I want to repeat what I said earlier, after I master the LP-to-CD transfer process I'll be happy to share a few of my recordings with others. I know there's nothing more frustrating for a music lover who wants a certain recording and is having trouble locating it.....

Still trying and feel I'm getting closer. The big, BIG problem is that both Audacity AND Roxio Easy CD creator have "gaps" in their tutorials that keep tripping me up (for example, certain functions have to be performed in a certain sequence). You're probably right about it possibly being unreasonable to expect customer assistance from the manufacturers of free, downloadable software like Audacity but Roxio costs money and they offer no real customer service either, which wouldn't be so bad if they responded to email requests for help. Oh well, I've learned most computer functions from trial and error and if that doesn't work I'll try the other software you mention. Thanks again.

[Graham_Start]

I take it you're still having problems?

[ol'skinflint]

Originally Posted by Graham_Start

I take it you're still having problems?

Graham: you're gonna love this. I finally got through to the Customer Service Representative at Newark (I bought a Newark Plug 'n' Play) and told them the trouble I was having converting vinyl album tracks to audio files even though I was following the Audacity Owner's manual to the letter. They said something to the effect of "you're having trouble because the owner's manual we sent with the turntable is outdated and useless." They sent me revised, current instructions and NOW I can finally do these transfers. I could have just used software other than Audacity but since I DID know how to use all the effects they included (like noise reduction and other features) I was pretty determined to master it. I'm still learning how to control the quality of the sound but at long last I can now do transfers. As for these "plug and play" turntables themselves, the fact that I can plug one directly into my computer almost makes me overlook the features they have that I don't like (I suspect they were rushed onto the market for the holiday season). By the time I get tired of this one hopefully there will be others available with better features, but at least now I'm no longer planning on spending $20 just to get CD versions of "Midnight Love Affair", "If There's Love", "Brazil", "African Queens" or other favorites. And I'm planning on making a CD compilation of all of Alec Costandinos' disco suites since I doubt they'll ever be officially released.

[QUINNY]

WARNING
NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED!!

I've done about 1200 12" transfers to digital over the past few years (I tend to have spurts of activity, then get really fed up with it) and have a few tips for anyone willing to risk the outcome.

Rumble, Crackle and pop is a particular problem, especially in the intros of tracks where the density of the sound may not be as bludgeoning as later on. I tried soooo many different techniques to help with this and two actually work. Apart from having as good a copy as possible (even mint copies can have terrible noise, so even this isn't a guarantee), try the following.

Firstly, place a little liquid soap onto the record, add a little water and lather. What you need to end up with is a fairly thick consistency of bubbles (you'll soon get the hang), that'll last for a few minutes. As soon as you have the lather all over the 12", transfer to digital ASAP, before the lather dries out too much.

(2) If this doesn't work, (this is where real alchemy takes over).......have a drink and place as much saliva as possible onto the affected parts of the 12". This may sound a tad gross, BUT it really can work. Just don't do it after you've had something to eat, as you'll end up with food particles on the record. Once again, transfer ASAP to digital, before the saliva dries up. After doing this, make sure you give the record a good wash.

Neither will fully remove crackles and pops, BUT it is amazing how much cleaner, soundwise, the records actually can sound. I don't know how or why this should work, but it does....(probably something to do with the catilever of the stylus having its travel limited and static being fully discharged).

Apart from that, I have a single ended noise reduction unit (...actually I have a rather expensive piece of kit, a TC Finalizer that I have programmed to emulate single ended noise reduction) that helps with rumble, hiss and low level crackle/groove noise. If bad crackles and pops still exist, I will do some noise removal via Audacity, but I find this rather tedious. Forget the noise reduction and click removal add ons in Audacity, in my experience, THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY USELESS!!!

Secondly, if you can, put the record deck through a mixer of some decription that allows you to E.Q. the tracks. Virtually every record can do with some E.Q. tweaks to beef up the bass end (at around 50-80 Hz) and add some sparkle to the top end (above 12.5 KHz). Since doing this, my transfers sound sooo much sweeter (but still relatively flat). WARNING: When adding E.Q. DO NOT overdo it, otherwise you might end up destroying your speakers. Most records are relatively flat from 90 Hz up to 10 KHz, maybe 12.5 KHz, so a little boost at the audio extremities is all that's required.

I ain't saying I end up with perfect tranfers, BUT they sound sweet enough, some slightly nicer (to my ears) than the same tracks I have on commercial CD.