Is there any way to make CDs of old records? My parents have a cabinet full of old records that they never listen to anymore but would love to have on CD. We have a burner (from iomega) attached to our computer, but no idea if it’s even possible.
If you have out jacks on your record player, you should be able to run that into your soundcard input. Radio Shack or a similar store should have the cable you need, probably dual RCA male plugs on one end to 1/8" stereo male plug on the other.
You’ll also need software to record the songs as wavs. I’m not sure, but I think the standard sound recorder in Windows only records wavs of a limited length. If you have a Mac, I don’t know what software you would use.
Keep in mind that you’ll need a good chunk of free disk space, as the average album will probably take about 400-600Mbs of disk space in wav format.
I did it with several of my old vinyl albums. Had to borrow a friend’s turntable, not having one of my own, and a pre-amp because my amplifier does not have a turntable “in” jack and turntable’s line signals are different (lower, weaker) than the line-level sound from other sound equipment.
Took the wires that the amp considers to be going to a tape deck and instead ran them into my PowerBook and used SoundEdit 16 to record the incoming sound. Saved to disk and later on cut up the AIFF files into individual tracks. Used Jam to pop them onto audio CDs.
The main thing you’ll need is time. Lots of it. Unless you have a very real interest in the stuff, you’ll get tired after the first or second. This is labor intensive stuff.
Not only is it possible, but it is the best thing to do for your old vinyl albums. Most audio editing software has a function to remove pops, clicks, and hiss from analog recordings. You also halt any future degradation of sound by going digital with your CD copy. A couple of years ago, a friend bought out a jukebox company’s inventory of old blues and C&W 45’s (good old C&W like Hank Sr, et al) and wanted to get them all onto CDs. We used my system to transfer about 400 singles and it was well worth the effort. It did take a couple of weeks, though, doing it in the evenings after work.
I’d also strongly suggest investing in a sound card that has true RCA inputs and not going the easier, lower fidelity, route of getting an RCA-1/8" jack adapter which will, I think, result in a mono signal. Not that I have any idea if you’ll be getting stereo sound w/ true RCA’s, but you will get a better sound regardless.
Personally, I have the Sound Blaster Live Platinum, which has all the features I need - including RCA inputs - but this may be overkill (and overpriced) for what you need it for.
The latest Adpatec Easy CD incorporates software for exactly that purpose. It removes the pops and crackles, sets the inter-track pauses to your desired lengths and converts each track to a wave file before burning to CD. It’s great for doing this but it sucks for most other CD burning applications.
You might want to pick up a new soundcard if you have a cheap one. Audio-in is usually the weakest point of any sound card, as most people never use it. (Recently found out, with considerable irritation, that mine dosn’t work AT ALL)
On the off chance that a Mac is involved here, the standard CD-burning software is Toast, now manufactured by Roxio.
Rather than .wav files, you end up with files in the AIFF format, the standard for CD burning. Built into Toast is a program called CD Spin Doctor, which will remove some of the pops and surface noise (though there are stand-alone programs that do a much better job of it, I’m sure).
Also, if a Mac is involved, you can disregard everyone’s references to sound cards, as the audio capabilities they enable are already built in to the Mac.
Follow-up question:
I tried doing this with some of my vinyl recently, and I attempted the recording with three different programs: RealJukebox, InternetTapeDeck, and whatever “jukebox” package comes with WindowsME on the HP we recently bought. In all three cases, although I was monitoring the recording and could hear that the records were not skipping, the resulting recordings did have some jumps and skips. What could be causing this? Is some Windows-related operation running in the background causing the program to “hiccup,” as it were? Do I need to do a Ctr+Alt+Delete and close down everything except the recording software?
Some notes:
You have to use a pre-amp. Records were cut with a non-flat frequency response. You must use a phono preamp to get the correct equalization.
Professional recording tecnicians are not impressed by the “free” canned click and pop removers a professional system costs $50000, which should tell you something. (If you do not believe me search USENET rec.audio.pro using DejaNews for their opinions.)
It may be easier to by one of the stand-alone audio CD recorders. It works just like a tape recorder. Because of surface noise you do need to tell it to change tracks. However, it makes this process as easy as using a tape deck. The CD’s are slightly more expensive. I also suggest recording first to a CDRW and then to CD, so that you can correct any mistakes.
Forgive all the typos in the above post. Aghh!
Nah, the type of jack is irrelevant. Almost all soundcards use a 1/8" stereo minijack; the RCA-1/8" cable will retain your stereo signal.
Depending on the speed of your machine and the amount of memory you have, yes, other apps can cause clicks & pops. Here’s why:
The encoding is done in real time. Anything that can cause the machine to slow down enough so that the CPU doesn’t have enough cycles available for the encoding software to write to disk will cause noise. So if one of your other apps makes a call to the O/S in the background, this can cause the machine to swap that program into memory, which causes the machine to slow down, causing a pop. Any realtime activities (like ripping or burning a CD) should be done with all other applications closed.
I am currently using a shareware program called looprecorder to record LPs onto CDs. See http://www.looprecorder.de/. I’m very happy with this program. But the free version won’t record a song longer than five minutes. Twelve bucks for the registration fee is well worth it.
I’ve had problems playing the super-cheap generic recordable CDs on some older Audio CD players. Am now buying TDK CDs from Costco. The read/write CDs don’t work on any but new players that specifically say so. Stick with the write-once CDs.
The turntable is connected to a receiver and the tape recorder output signal goes to the sound card in my computer.
I am currently using a shareware program called looprecorder to record LPs onto CDs. See http://www.looprecorder.de/. I’m very happy with this program. But the free version won’t record a song longer than five minutes. Twelve bucks for the registration fee is well worth it.
I’ve had problems playing the super-cheap generic recordable CDs on some older Audio CD players. Am now buying TDK CDs from Costco. The read/write CDs don’t work on any but new players that specifically say so. Stick with the write-once CDs.
The turntable is connected to a receiver and the tape recorder output signal goes to the sound card in my computer.
At first it appeared that I only had a mono sound card but I finally found configuration settings for in it the control panel where I could set it for stereo and CD quality sampling rate.
MaximumPC did an article in their mag. on this, giving specific directions, step by step, on going from vinyl to MP3 – issue June 01 – Vol 6 No 6
I’m with Keith B. above.
Get a standalone stereo-CD burner.
Your sound quality is only as good as your audio-card if you go through your computer and I haven’t heard an audio card yet that can compete with a really good stereo.
If you need to process the album to remove skips, pops and crackles, you can simply burn to a (special) CDRW, rip it to your HDD, process to your heart’s content and then burn it to a normal CD
This all assumes that you have good stereo equiptment and a lot of records. If you’ve only got a few, it won’t be worth it.
I have about four hundred albums that’ll (most likely) never be released on CD, so I’m slowly working my way through my collection.
Circuit City has a couple of very good lower priced versions. Lemme know if you want more info.
Fenris
Thanks everybody for your help!
It’s a Windows-based computer (with ME, I believe, but it isn’t my computer, it’s the family one that would be doing this, and I know even less about it than I do about my own).
What is a pre-amp? How much does it cost? How much would one of these stand-alone burners that people have mentioned cost? My parents have a few hundred records, including some stuff that they’ll never find on CD, and our sterio equipment is pretty good. Not the audiophile, sterio-obsessed type of good, but the normal person with a decent ear who likes music kind of good.
I won’t be the one doing this; I have neither the patience nor the technical knowledge. Alas, my brother, who will do it, is away at the moment, so I can’t ask him what he needs to know.
It’s built into your (parent’s) stereo or it’s a stand alone. It boosts the sound before the sound gets to the amp. If they have a turntable, they have a pre-amp. You can get a cheapie one for $25.00-$50.00 if you’re lucky and find one used. You can pay thousands for a top-end one.
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About $250-300 give or take for a low-end one. It just plugs into the back of your stereo, you play the record and at the end of each song, hit a button on the remote which tells the burner to end the track. No muss, no fuss. If you have several hundred records, trust me. Go for the stand-alone. The sound quality 'll be better and the time and aggrivation you save’ll be worth it.
Fenris
I spent about $500 for my Phillips model with a 3 CD (player) changer and separate burner. There are cheaper versions available. (I do suggest getting one with a player drawer and recorder drawer so you can copy CD’s at double or quadruple speed.) As I said above, if the person recording can work a tape deck, they can use one of these stand-alone CD recorders.
If the record player is plugged into the stereo and you are using the tapedeck outputs, then a pre-amp is not required, the pre-amp is built in to the stereo. The pre-amp is only required if you are going directly from the turntable to the soundcard.