Vinyl -> Digital: How?

You plug wires from computer to turntable and play the vinyl while this programme records it. Then you sort out the levels and master it and stuff. It's very user friendly.

However, ripping vinyl does take a while.

Hari's OTM w/r/t it taking forever. Especially if you end up having to fix any damage or skips.

waves x-click/x-crackle for protools are the best automatic de-noisers, but that's probably why they cost a fucking fortune.

It's about $60, connects to the computer via USB, and has audio capture and cleanup software included in the box that's actually quite good. You'll want to use a turntable with the pre-amp built in if you want want to connect the turntable directly to the box; otherwise you'll have to loop out from the "rec out" connector on the back of your amp.

i've been doing turntable -> receiver -> rca to 1/8" headphone sized -> microphone jack on laptop -> audacity (it was free).

then i look at the wave forms for any gigantic spikes (pops) and then normalize to get the sound level loud enough. export to wav and then bring into iTunes to convert to mp3.

pain in the ass, but works fine.

headphone jack on most laptops will not work for what you just described.

cheap, cleaner alternative:

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/

on my setup (turntable, phono amp, amp, laptop) i get either nothing (input gain = 0) or clipping (input gain = 1 or above). which is annoying. i think mike had this problem before and talked about attenuators. what would i need and where would i get them from?

(oh http://www.rothwellaudioproducts.co.uk/html/inline_attenuators.html
39 pound a pair?!)

headphone jack on most laptops will not work for what you just described.

not headphone jack, microphone jack. does this still not work on most machines?

jaxon, with LAME codec, Audacity can export whatever quality MP3 you want. No need to convert in iTunes.

yeah i meant mic jack.

also, dan otm. download LAME.

I know not everyone has access to CD recorders, but this is how I've been converting vinyl to digital. Record it onto a CD, and then after you're done just rip the CD to your computer. It doesn't require any software downloads.

anybody here have any experience with high-end audio restoration? I'm doing some research on various methods and techniques. Comparing the Waves plug-ins with both more expensive set-ups like Cedar, and cheaper alternatives like WaveArts new Master Restoration suite and SoundSoap Pro. Haven't heard enough good things about SoundSoap Pro and never liked the non-pro version. the WaveArts suite is brand new so there aren't many reviews or discussions online.

What about this? http://www.johnlewis.com/Computing/Peripherals/Audio+Input+Devices/Audio+Input+Devices/5752/230415013/Product.aspx - i spotted it in John Lewis last week - i've got lots of vinyl and tapes that i'd like to digitalize but am a bit of a luddite, is it worth it?

> not headphone jack, microphone jack. does this still not work on most machines?

mic inputs are not the same as line level inputs - they are expecting different voltages from the input device - mics provide a much lower signal. it'll probably work by fiddling with input gains etc but it isn't ideal. (look at link gr8080 posted above, it has different sockets for mic and line)

leigh, that seems to do exactly the same thing as the link gr8080 posted above but is more in pounds than that one is in dollars = expensive.

here's one for £20: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Griffin-Technology-iMic-Audio-Interface/dp/B00006BALQ

Our laptop can take either mic or line-in input via the mic input, you have to select which you want on a menu somewhere (probably via volume control, can't remember), I assume it's the same on others.

although, leigh, if you've got a pc with a decent line-in socket on the pc you're using then all you need's the right cable (£3) and some software like audacity (Free). (the above is designed for macs which don't seem to come with line-in as standard, judging by the plethora of such things on amazon)

mine has mic-in and line-in. but oddly only headphone- and digital-out (on the same socket), no line-out. which is annoying should i ever want to be a laptop dj.

PC microphone inputs are different still, they provide power to the mic device, most computer mics are designed to work like this, plugging a non PC mic in here using an adapter leads to non optimal results.

Most laptop DJs are using some sort of external USB/firewire card cos if you want to preview your tracks live with a laptop setup you need 2 soundcards.

cheap, cleaner alternative

http://www.griffintechnology.com/pr

do you have me on ignore? i posted that right after the question! :-)

I asked this a while ago and people were v helpful ... here it is

What do you use to rip vinyl?

I recently did a bunch of stuff using my new flash audio interface (Edirol FA-101) and a hooky version of Logic. Sounded lovely. I went from turntable > phono Pre-Amp (a cambridge audio one) > audio interface. It was quite quiet, so I added a utility plug-in thingy to up the level - was that an error in quality terms?
However, using Logic for something so simple is overkill and what I would like is something that could spot the gaps and automate the chopping it up - which people spoke about on that other thread. Is there anything like that out there?

(I've only digitised new 12"s so far, so that hasn't been an issue and neither has cleanup.)

We just put an RCA to 1/8th inch adapter on the cassette out cables from our cassette deck, run it into the line in hole in our computer. We play the vinyl, set the receiver to "tape monitor" and use Audacity to record vinyl. Then we save them as wav or mp3 files.

And it sounds good! I love those mixes.

Macs have no line in, so that's why people make these things. The built-in soundcards on most PCs aren't very good, though, so it SHOULD sound better going through a decent audio interface (or soundcard), but whether it does or not ...

Macs have no line in, so that's why people make these things.

???

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html:

Audio
* Combined optical digital input/audio line in (minijack)

Could someone come round my house and do this for me? NB it will involve listening to a LOT of well-loved Mega City Four records.

audacity, which is free, lets you place markers then export the areas between markers as seperate tracks, which should make chopping up easy. It also has normalize. Those and fade in and fade out on the fronts and ends are really all you need.

I've got a bog standard Advent laptop (not my choice, it was a gift) and an 8 year old Aiwa midi system. I'm assuming that my laptop has a line in socket - does it matter that I don't have a separate amplifier on the hifi or could I just the line-in cable into the auxiliary socket?

Could someone come round my house and do this for me?

Aye that's my big problem too - the technical stuff's just an excuse not to find the time.

Leigh, are you assuming you have a line in socket with any confidence? Cos I'm pretty sure they're not standard on laptops (though a mic socket will be).

I've no idea - i've been reading elsewhere that line-in is not advisable with a laptop due to the extra noise that they generate (there is a lot of buzzing when i plug my headphones in, so much so that i don't bother anymore). I'll have a look when i get home and report back.

I've had a look at the laptop and i don't have a line in socket but do have a mic socket.

Macs have no line in, so that's why people make these things.

???

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html:

Audio
* Combined optical digital input/audio line in (minijack)

I meant ibooks don't. Sorry.

I'll have a go with audacity then, as that sounds a lot less labour intensive than recording each track separately. Thanks

since i started using a record cleaning machine the need to apply noise reduction and click removal has gone right down. also a great phono preamp really helps this too for some reason (although i don't know why this is).

When I'm trying to rip vinyl onto Audacity I can't seem to get it to record in a stereo track. If I click the record button a single track comes up only, and I can't work out how to make it stereo. Anyone know?

Ok. Forget it. I just worked it out. No idea if this is going to work though. Trying to rip "Let's Surf" by the Nightingales. Wish me luck.

Good luck!
So you figured out Ctrl-P (preferences) ~ channels (stereo).
What Audacity lets you record depends in part on your soundcard.

hi there. i have some rare records i'd like to share with the world, but as of right now i'm not set up to transfer them to my computer.

i don't want to buy one of those crappy turntables designed to do this. i have a perfectly nice turntable that has RCA output (and I think the possibility for coaxial output) that i'd prefer to use. i have a macbook pro with the usual inputs/outputs.

anyone care to recommend a system for doing this? one that hopefully will not require my purchasing a lot of equipment? (i don't want to spend more than $100, really, on this project, only because i have so little to begin with.)

btw i'm less concerned about the software end (although this is important) than the physical means of getting my turntable (or amp in the form of my amp/receiver) to input into my mac in a way that doesn't sacrifice sound quality. then i can worry about audio recording/editing software.

buy an RCA to 1/8" adaptor, run an RCA from your TAPE OUT/REC OUT on your mixer/receiver into the mic jack on the Macbook. Get Audacity or use Garageband to record.

That is exactly what I do, and it satisfies me. Like any digital conversions, you may have to rip fifty songs before getting anything that is satisfying. I wouldn't share anything until you have mastered the conversion (I don't share the files unless they are out of print / rare), they are just for my personal use.

I gave up on the "crappy" turntable and just went out and got new components....it really does matter.

yeah, i will mostly be sharing long out-of-print stuff (like, ethnomusicological albums from the 1950s).

i actually think i have a RCA-to-1/8" adapter around the house. so that's all it takes, huh?

so what software do you recommend? preferably freeware or inexpensive shareware....

I use Technics with a firewire interface with WaveEditor. Audacity didn't work for me and I tried to get it to work many times. WaveEditor is the best software I have found and I tried a lot. What's the mic jack on a macbook?

uh i dunno it's the silly little round jack -- same as you might find on an ipod.

Oh the headphone jack is also the mic jack?

i'd spend £100 on an interface. i'll have a look but if you can find one with its own bulit in preamp and ground that would be ideal, that way you wouldn't have to use an amp.

last time i did this i used an EMU-1640

http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/computers-software/peripherals/input-devices/audio-interfaces/1616m-21580/review

which has a dedicated input for a turntable

there must be some audiophile device that does this without the other inputs

the interface does make a big difference

amps tend to colour the sound quite a lot and it makes the chain longer which tends to introduce more noise / interference

it's weird this, especially with rare stuff, if you're going to put something out there, i really think it's worth doing a nice quality recording

oh and software isn't really important at allm, garageband or any free audio editor is fine, it's all about the analogue to digital conversion in the interface

don't try and clean anything up with plugins etc, if the record is fucked and a bit noisy, so be it, leave it as it is

also FLAC plz and make sure you share it over on leonardo or something :p

i think outputting from his amp to the "audio in" macbook jack would be good enough. no? Crackle Box i guess you're saying the stock electronics in the macbook aren't as high-qual as a dedicated audio interface.. which surely must be true, i just wonder HOW much of a diff it actually makes

it depends on what you're listening to, what you're listening on. and if you know what to listen out for.

i use a lot of audio interfaces and so my ear can hear these weird slight differences. my digidesign 002 sounds a bit more "spongy" than our pro tools HD system for example, even though they are both very high end pieces of gear

the "little tiny 1/8" jacks" that go into macbooks aren't shielded from interference. this can cause problems because macbooks can whack out a fair bit of inteference on their own. plug one into your amp and turn it WAY LOUD and then make the macbook do lots of difficult things. you'll hear the noise of the hard disks and cpu struggling. do this with an external interface and you'll hear way less noise and it shouldn't be affected by what the computer is doing.

the analogue to digital converters in macbooks aren't great. there are more errors. this creates a less "focused" sound. the stereo image will be slightly less defined.

but you're completely right. these are small differences. most people won't hear them. some people will even prefer the noisier recordings. running through an amp will create a spongier sound. if it sounds good, it is good. that's the only real rule.

whenever i've done this though, it's been for preservation, i want to capture a very "honest" and accurate recording of what THAT PIECE OF WAX THERE sounds like. not what my amp sounds like. or what the converters in my macbook sound like. i want it to be as transparent and "pure" as possible. and it's very achievable today with a decent turntable and a £100 interface.

Gear used by a guy who posted flac rips of Pink Floyd audiophile vinyl (so you know this is going to be over the top) to a torrent site:

Nitty Gritty RCM 1.5
Technics SL-1200MK2 DD Turntable with KAB Fluid Damping and KAB record grip
Ortofon 2M Black MM Cartridge
Pro-ject Tube Box SE II Preamp (2x GroveTubes GT-12AX7-R3)
Tascam US-144 external USB 2.0 Audiointerface
Mac Pro Dual Xeon 2.66 GHz
Bias Peak LE 6.2 recording software
Click Repair 3.3.1 for de-click (manual mode only)
iZotope RX Advanced 1.21 for Vinyl NR
iZotope RX Advanced 1.21 for Redbook conversion
xACT 1.71 for Redbook SBE correction
XLD Version 20100518 (120.3) for FLAC conversion

Obviously anything less is a travesty

so how does that interface eventually plug into the mac? via ethernet cables?

i can't afford that EMU thing, unfortunately. i'd consider one that's 100 pounds, maybe.

http://www.gear4music.com/Recording-and-Computers/Behringer-U-Phono-UFO202-USB-Vinyl-Audio-Interface/AMM

that's exactly what you want

Nice!

Crackle Box what audio interface would you recommend for somebody who just needs a) 1 line input and b) 1 mic input? Or something. Like, stripped-down and basic but high-qual

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/one.php

no real competition imo

warning: the line input isn't stereo. which is stupid.

haha well that's kind of.. useless then?

so all of those boxes listed as DAC -- will they also function as ADC?