Dubbing LPs to CDRs

[Unregistered]

Would anyone care to suggest some ways to dub LPs to CDRs? Currently, I am taking high quality output from my stereo system and piping it through a laptop soundcard to generate wave files, which I then burn onto CDRs. I am sure there are better ways to do it .. (specialized hardware? etc)

Thanks,
Alex

 

[Unregistered]

Sounds like you are already doing it the best way. Why bother with 'specialized' hardware. The only way that might be better is if the adc/dacs were better in the external hardware. As long as you have a decent soundcard, everything will work out fine. Just make sure you are plugged into line-in, not mic-in, and set the recording level appropriately - somewhere around -3db will leave room for unexpected peaks without clipping. You can always normalize it closer to 0dB if you want it as hot as possible (or compress to make it insanely hot like modern cds).

The only thing I would suggest is to use a good audio editor, like Sound Forge, to do the recording. That way you can then edit the files, make tracks, remove hiss, compress, normalize, etc to get them the way you like.

I've yet to record from an LP but I do it all the time for cassettes. I record the entire side of one cassette as a wave file, then edit it and split into tracks, then burn.

 

[Unregistered]

Should I take the signal straight from the turntable into the line-in, or does it make sense to have it first be processed by the pre-amplifier (I have a very good one - Classe CP47.5, so it can do no harm)?

 

[Unregistered]

You can't go straight to the line-in unless the turntable has a built-in preamp. The output of a turntable is much lower than line level. Also records have some equilization curve applied to them (RIAA curve?) when they are pressed and the signal needs to be re-equalized to remove it - that's what phono inputs on pre-amplifiers do; they boost the signal and apply the opposite equilization to what was used when the record was pressed.

I think you have a pretty good setup as you've described and should just use your current Clase pre-amp. I assume you have the turntable connected to phono-in on the pre-amp and then one of the line-outs of the pre-amp connected to the soundcard line-in. If so, you are golden.
Get recording.

 

[Jaycan]

Clean the LPs

Guest is correct. You are doing it the right way. A wave file is the most accurate way to reproduce the analog signal. As for crackle and pop- removing software-they degrade the signal quality by removing information (bits) from the wave file. The best solution to increase your signal quality is to CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN those vinyl. That's probably the biggest improvement you can make.

 

[Unregistered]

audioboots

im absolutely sure there is a better way.

I use the alesis masterlink. ml9600. (theres a review on the stereophile website) i clean the vinyl, not too much to wory about here as they are genrally clean anyway. i run my thorens td180 into my B&K preamp, which has a preamp section built in. i then output that into the masterlinks analog inputs, and set the incoming frequency at 96khz, and if theres room on the masterlinks hdd, the word length at 24 bit. this then is set to record, and i can either switch my preamp to listen (so i can add in tracks and cut out the start/end groove rumble) or i cna do al this later while listening to a cd, which would have to come from my Denon DJS5000 as the main cd player is the masterlink. it might sound confusing, but the benefit is you can save the 96k/24 bit file, replay it at that fidelity anytime,downsample to a normal cd after editing, or even burn a cd24, (refer to the to the alesis website and manual. yes, you can have cd's with 24bit properties!) . infinitely better, if your seeking the great properties ofvinyl ! mkru5447@mail.usyd.edu.au

 

[Rob Babcock]

Using Eximius' DVD+Audio software, you could also take the 24 bit CDs you burned with your Masterlink and compile them onto DVD-R at full 24 bit resolution. This would give you a disc that's an exact duplicate of the CD-R except that you can fit 2 hours at full quality.

 

[Mudcat]

Yeah it will work, But....

Most recent Guest,

Yeah you can do it that way, I've done it that way using my Vestax HDR. But the key is that I have the HDR and you have the ML9600. The original Guest is doing the job correctly with what is available to them without having to go and spend another 2000 quid.

Also, CD24 can only be played by the ML9600 or a computer, not a regular CD player. Plus it is only CD-R, most computer CD divices handle CD-RW

 

[Unregistered]

Plus if you KNOW the final destination is going to be CD, you don't want to record at 96/24 and then have to resample and bit convert to 44/16.

 

[Unregistered]

turntable & catridge suggestions?

Hi all,

I am getting ready to dub my small vinyl collection to CDR, and was wondering if the table and cartidge are as important as some say. My old cartridge is shot but the table has a lot of life in it (pretty new direct drive Stanton str-8. Does it matter that much?

If you were to recommend a new needle specifically for this task, what would you choose?

My setup: *5 dual 2.0, emagic 2/6 card, Audacity app. Above mentioned table. Probably get a preamp for this too...

Thanks for all of the useful tidbits. This site is awesome!

from the USA, I did not vote for him,

noobie