Vinyl Record to CD



Posted: Monday, July 12, 2004

by Rick
The Laughing Papillon

Introduction

If you want to buy music recorded in the last 10 years then, for the most part, your only choice is to purchase a CD, and I own a lot of CDs. There are many reasons to collect vinyl records and record albums and that discussion is handled at "collecting vinyl. Here we want to discuss how to take a vinyl record or cassette recording and make it digital.

Collectors, you may have some rare, hard to find vinyl records that are worth quite a bit of money. Keeping that vinyl record safe may be more important to you than enjoying the rich sound of the vinyl. Collectible hard to find records can be recorded onto a CD and now you have a copy that can be played without risk.

Once a vinyl record or record album is digital it is possible to make CDs for use in a car or on a portable CD player. The MP3 or WAV files can be played while sitting at a computer and it is possible to use them on an MP3 player - these little devices are relatively inexpensive and hold a lot of music. It is also possible to start an Internet radio station (see www.live365.com as an example).

If you are a collector of vinyl records or want to become a collector then you are probably spoiled. When compared to CDs most vinyl records are inexpensive. Vinyl records and record albums can increase in value - Elvis and the Rolling Stones vinyl records, and much of the music you want to listen to may be difficult to find on CDs. My experience is that most of the music I like falls into one of the following categories:

1. Not available on CD

2. Available on CD but not remastered, or remastered by someone who didn't know what they were doing (these CDs tend to have very poor audio quality)

3. Available on CD but only on a greatest hits or compilation format, which means that most of the music I want to hear isn't available

4. Available in box sets that cost 4 to 10 times what a normal CD costs - I get more music than I want for much more than I want to pay. This seems to be particularly true when it comes to rare, hard to find records

5. Available online but now I have to pay for each song downloaded which adds up very quickly.

In other words, if I buy CDs of classic rock or jazz (my favorites), I get to spend more money and I get to listen to the music someone else thinks I should listen to and live with his or her decisions on the audio quality of the music.

If you are experiencing some of these same frustrations and want to listen to your music outside your home, then this article may help you take the plunge into vinyl to digital transfer. I decided that making my own CDs couldn't be that hard, and I was right, but I did run into some bumps along the way. I want to share my experiences so you can avoid the mistakes I made, some of which cost me money. You will still have your own challenges, but this gives you a place to start.

Hardware/Software Required

You probably have most of what is required for converting your vinyl record albums or 45s to digital format. Here is a list of requirements:



First Steps

The first thing I needed to understand was how to get the sound from my turntable into my computer. This turned out to be pretty simple.

1. You will need a turntable, an amp or preamp, a sound card and cables to connect the amp or preamp to the sound card.

2. Do you need a new amp or a preamp?

a. Before you make that decision, take a look at your vinyl or cassette tape collection and decide how many hours it would take you to listen to everything you want to convert to digital format CD.

b. Now multiply that by at least 2 to get an idea of the number of hours it will take you to do this conversion. A 2:1 ratio is probably conservative. I would say it would be more like 3:1, but give your self the benefit of the doubt - you are a fast learner.

c. If you own an amplifier, it probably serves some purpose - home theatre, audio system, etc. Ask your self if you and your family are willing to have a home theatre system that won't work or an audio system that can't play music for the length of the conversion.

d. If the answer is NO, then you need to either buy an amp or a preamp for this project. (see the discussion on Clean software below)

3. If you are using an amplifier, the connections from the turntable to the amp are just as you might expect - the cables or wires coming from the turntable plug into the "Phono/Turntable In" connectors, usually located on the back of the amp.

4. The next step is to connect the "Cassette Out" on the back of the amp to the sound card. To get these cables you may have to visit a Best Buy, Tweeter, Circuit City or another electronics store. Most of the big electronics stores will have exactly what you are looking for. Take a little drawing of what the "Cassette Out" connections on the back of the amp look like and they can set you up. I think I paid $25 for the cables I needed. It is best to get good cables if you can, as the quality of the connection will make a difference in the quality of your recordings.

5. If you are not going to use an amp but want a preamp (see the discussion on Clean software below), the process is the same but the preamp may come with the extra cables you need so you don't have to buy them. Do your homework and avoid extra cost.



Software

You are probably thinking - how hard can this be? I take a record or cassette and play it while it plays I record it with my computer - anyone can do that. You would be absolutely right but I can guarantee that within an hour or 2 of starting your project you will want more - a lot more. I believe you will want software that will:

a. Remove clicks, pops and background noise from the recordings

b. Use presets to set default filters for cassettes, CDs and vinyl recordings

c. Allow you to restore an old recording by adding effects like reverb

d. Accomplish the entire process - recording, cleaning and processing the audio file and then cutting a CD

e. Allow you to set your equalizers for your own enjoyment. I have a family member who is suffering from hearing loss. They are losing part of their hearing in higher frequencies. What a neat thing to be able to take their music, alter it so they get more treble, and then cut them a CD. They can now hear the music the way they used to, even though it doesn't sound that way to others.

These software requirements are where we separate the men from the boys. There is a lot of software out there that I'm sure works great if you know all about the frequencies and filters of audio recording. I am not trained as an audio engineer and don't want to be therefore I needed something that was pretty idiot proof.

1. I evaluated a lot of software and even purchased a number of different programs. I quickly determined that I didn't have the knowledge or skill to use most of the software on the market or, that the software didn't work as advertised.

2. My recommendation is that you take a look at Clean or Clean Plus (http://www.pinnaclesys.com/) and no, we don't make any money off our recommendations.. Clean sells for around $50.00 and Clean Plus sells for about $100.00. The difference being, that Clean Plus comes with an amplifier that plugs into your sound card (see our earlier discussion on hardware).

a. Clean will help you from start to finish. It gives you an easy way to record the audio, clean it up and then cut an audio CD.

b. Clean offers an easy to use interface with check boxes and slider bars. It also allows you to hear what each filter is actually removing from the audio track.

c. You can also allow you to enhance the track with a lot of different options.

d. The best part is these can all be done on the fly. As you listen, you check a button and you hear the sound with the filter active. Uncheck it and you hear the sound without the filter.

e. You can also tell it to do the cleaning, sound normalizing and burning a CD automatically.

3. Another popular software for these types of projects is Sound Forge. I have never used it and can't tell you whether it is easy to use or hard.



Summary

Taking your vinyl recordings or cassette tapes and converting them to digital format is easy: all you need are the right tools and some time at your computer.

I hope this helps. It isn't meant to be a college course, but it does give you an idea of what I have found that works and what doesn't. Your experiences may be different. I hope you will send me feedback as you work on your projects.

Rick Morey

rcmorey@thelaughingpapillon.com

P.S. I should probably say something about the "right" and "wrong" ways to use this digital music technology. I am not an attorney so let me say that The Laughing Papillon does not promote or condone any activity that would be considered illegal.

Copywrite 2003 The Laughing Papillon

www.thelaughingpapillon.com

used by permission by searchwarp.com

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Tee from Wichita KS. 6 years 284 days ago.
For the longest time, I've wondered if my albums could be digitalized and put on CD's. It's exciting to think I'll be able to do it. Thank you for taking the time to write all this wonderful useful information. I'm eager to get started.
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