Vinyl to CD/MP3

[cazzo]

I have a lot of (old) music on vinyl that I would like to convert to CD and/or MP3 to play in the car.

If I connect turntable to 'line in' on PC I assume that I can 'record' the tracks on to HDD and then put on CD etc.

Questions are;

Is line in of good enough quality? & if not is there an better way of doing this (special sound card, firewire, USB2 etc.)?

How would I save the music (.wav?)?

How would I convert to CD & MP3 - is there a good software programme I sould have?

Any advice would be welcome.

[adam1330]

You might find that you need to run your turntable through an Amp first to boost the signal. I run straight from my Stereo into my soundcard and quality seems to be fine.
If you use something like Cool Edit then you can get special filters to remove the clicks and pops you get with Vinyl.
You will most probably find when you do record, it will record directly to a .wav format, which is what CD's use, but I think most burning programs can handle .wav and Mp3. If you do need to convert, I use a free program called CDeX.

[meeja]

Although MP3 is fine for iPod and PC playback, I'd be tempted to make the initial copies in an uncompressed (.wav) format so that your master backup is in the best quality possible.

[fluffy]

Try this: www.xaudiotools.com/

It worked well on my machine.

[motco]

When audio is put onto vinyl the bass is de-emphasised if I remember rightly. Then, when it's played back through the phono input of a pre-amp, the bass is re-emphasised. The curve has an acronym something like RIAA or something of that sort. If you take the audio straight from the vinyl without applying this emphasising process the bass will be weak. The process is applied, I think, to enable the highest density of audio on to a disc. Bass needs big excursions of the stylus which make the groove wider. Therefore, not only will you need the extra gain that the phono input gives, but the equalisation will be wrong. Of course my memory might be wrong too!

[steve-p]

Don't underestimate how time consuming it is, especially if you clean up the clicks and pops. It's easier to use Kazaaa to find an existing mp3, rather than make one.

[cazzo]

Thanks for all the advice, not sure where to go now but have a few things to try.

[manek]

See the feature I wrote about it here: http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/software/homereference/0,39024150,10002388,00.htm

Enjoy!

[meeja]

steve-p said:

Don't underestimate how time consuming it is, especially if you clean up the clicks and pops. It's easier to use Kazaaa to find an existing mp3, rather than make one.

But that's illegal.....

Mind you, technically, so is transferring from vinyl to CD....

[simpo two]

Yes, I've successfully transferred vinyl to HD and thence to CD.

I got my old Thorens record deck out of the attic, bought a lead and adaptor that enabled me to connect its twin phono sockets to stereo 3.5mm jack, then bunged it in the Aux socket of my PC.

Using the audio mixer I eventually stumbled on the correct settings to get the sound through, then recoreded it using SoundForge. From there it's a relatively simple step to make a CD-R.

I kept the recordings pretty much original, just taking out the biggest clicks.

[manek]

simpo two said:

[snip] I kept the recordings pretty much original, just taking out the biggest clicks.

I agree, that's the best way. You can easily over-process audio and make it sound so artificial, so easily. I use Steinberg's Clean 4.0 in combination with Cool Edit (now called something else since the company was bought by Adobe). Clean does a fab job of lightly skimming files without affecting the music.