Vinyl to CD

Mr_Oink

It's a really slow process (even whizzing the vinyl in at 78 and adjusting it in software - which I don't recommend) but I'd say this much. The quality of the TURNTABLE and cart is really important if quality matters to you. When I did mine I made use of a Technics 1210 with a Ortofon Cart. Stabilty via quartz lock was important for me (don't like wandering speed). Used a half decent preamp into a delta 44 soundcard and good results I was happy with using SoundForge. Audacity is OK but I don't really like the way it 'feels'.

As far as hardware goes I've been told that the Citronic USB Phono preamp and the Behringer UFO202 are pretty respectable for taking care of the interfacing, but use a decent turntable is the best advice I can give.

It's important to point out the quality is dependent on the condition of the record and I'd personally only transfer vinyl to digital if it were rare and not obtainable elsewhere. Also, as it's so time consuming it is expensive to get someone else to do it. We were charging £16 per hour for it around 5 years ago.

googler

Fergie76 wrote: »

Only because s/he thought it would be too hard a process, but as you can see I linked a page that tells them how to do, quite easily.

Once they burn them to CD, they will no longer be MP3, will they?

Yes, I agree if you rip the vinyl to mp3 and then burn those files to CD in red book format, they will no longer BE mp3s, but your method involves taking a lossless medium (LP), putting it through a processing stage that discards some of the music (mp3), then reconstituting it in a format that could, given a decent source, be better than the mp3s you're burning.

The OP wanted vinyl to CD - without a PC, and not necessarily via mp3....

Mr_Oink

I'm sure there used to be a range of cheap cd recorders around that would have done this, but I think they may be a bit out of fashion as all I can find at Richer Sounds is this one:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/cd-players-recorders-dacs/sony/rcdw100/sony-rcdw100-blk

There is this, but it looks like overpriced tat
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=224773

googler

Yes, there was the Pioneer PDR609, and Aiwa made a similar model. Long gone now.

I think Tascam still make them, but they're targeted at the professional rather than domestic market.

artha

googler wrote: »

Exactly the way I described above.

You can store it in standard CD format, which is 44.1kHz sampling rate, 16-bit words, or at higher resolutions (better than CD), up to 96kHz, 24-bit.

Storing the higher-resolution files on disc uses up more discs than 'regular' CDs as the files are larger, but that's the trade-off for better quality.

OR

You can use a PC program like Audacity and a good soundcard to store the vinyl as 44.1 16-bit WAV or FLAC files, then burn them to CD with a suitable program.

So when using something like an ION usb turntable with the supplied Audacity software the soundcard on the PC has an effect on he transferred quality?

googler

artha wrote: »

So when using something like an ION usb turntable with the supplied Audacity software the soundcard on the PC has an effect on he transferred quality?

I haven't used one, but the name implies that you're bypassing the soundcard by going through USB - in which case the soundcard won't affect it.

My comment above that you're replying to here presumed that the recording to Audacity was achieved by connecting Turntable to Amplifier, and taking Tape Out from Amplifier to Line In on soundcard. Connecting turntable direct to soundcard will not work unless the soundcard has a phono preamp and RIAA equalisation built in - which few, if any, have.

Stompa

Mr_Oink wrote: »

I'm sure there used to be a range of cheap cd recorders around that would have done this, but I think they may be a bit out of fashion

Are there any DVD recorders that will also record audio to CD?

KillerWatt

jakem wrote: »

TBH, I was sort of after someone who could it for me.

There are plenty of people (and companies) who will do it for you, but you would be far better off financially by buying that £40 USB analogue to digital audio convertor that Googler linked to earlier.

I have personal experience of that hardware as I needed something that was "cheap & cheerful" for recording our (local) pub band.

I can tell you for free that the included software is nothing short of "f**king c*@p", but it will capture whatever you put in and save it as slightly better than CD quality on the bandwidth front - and it is also a full on digital soundcard with optical output.

artha wrote: »

So when using something like an ION usb turntable with the supplied Audacity software the soundcard on the PC has an effect on he transferred quality?

Yes it does.
Also, regardless of the hardware used (including the cheap chinese USB rubbish), there WILL be losses when transferring analogue to digital.

timmmers

Last time I did this I just ran audio connections from the turntable into the PC and needed no other hardware...software was a pain and so was splitting it. I already had it though. I spent quite while on a useless album or two due to not cleaning them fully...didn't notice as it took ages and i wasn't listening 100% of the time, crackles transfer very well.
it's time consuming, but it wasn't a rush to do for me so that didn't matter much.

I don't think that downloading the tracks when you already bought the albums legit would be seen as piracy...you paid for them and maybe some are out of their time limit anyway?

t

fwor

timmmers wrote: »

Last time I did this I just ran audio connections from the turntable into the PC and needed no other hardware...software was a pain and so was splitting it.

As someone has already pointed out, if you don't go via a preamp with a phono stage, the result will be bad because you won't get the "RIAA equalisation" needed to account for the non-linear frequency response of the cartridge in your turntable. It's possible to make this correction later in software (e.g. Audacity has an Effect that will do this), but it's obviously a separate step that you need to know about.

Further, the signal level direct from a turntable will be too low for the "Line in" on most PCs, which will also lead to bad sound quality.

timmmers wrote: »

I don't think that downloading the tracks when you already bought the albums legit would be seen as piracy...you paid for them and maybe some are out of their time limit anyway?

It's nowhere near that simple. I personally would have no moral problem with downloading in those circumstances, but the legal position (as I understand it) is such that it would probably still be seen as piracy.

Time limit? It depends on where in the world you are, but to quote the copyright wiki "In most of the world, the default length of copyright is the life of the author plus either 50 or 70 years", which means that most people's vinyl collection will probably not be out of time limit.