Burning records on to CD. Need help!

Factual Questions
1

I want to burn some of my old records on to CD. I’m all set to go, (burner, record player running into sound card, etc…) but the sound recording software on my computer will only allow me to record 1 minute wav files. What should I do? Is there a good wav maker that I can download for free somewhere out there? Should I use something other than a wav maker? Please help. Thanks.

2

go to http://www.musicmatch.com- free download of recorder

3

sorry-try http://www.musicmatch.com

4

Do you have a phono pre-amp? Most turntables put out sound that is not ‘flat’ - IIRC it is very high in the treble range, and also a weaker signal than ‘line level’ like a tape deck or CD player puts out. The ‘phono’ input of a standard amp has circuitry to correct for this, but if you want to put a turntable into an ‘aux’ input (or into your soundcard) you need a pre-amp that corrects this.

You can build your own, or pick one up from NAD or another maker.

I thought for sure Radio Shack would have them, but I couldn’t find it on-line.

5

douglips said “I thought for sure Radio Shack would have them, but I couldn’t find it on-line.”
They do have one. Goes for about $40 or $45.
Optitmus, Model number SA-155.

The software I use to transfer the LP to CD is:

  1. CoolEdit, shareware, to record the entire LP as one huge wav file. Available at http://www.syntrillium.com. Cost to register was about $50.

  2. LpRipper, shareware, to separate the tracks and save them as wav files. Available at http://www.cfbsoftware.com.au. Cost to register was about $15 or $20 as I recall.

  3. SoundLaundry Compact, a commercial program to remove the pops and crackles. Available at http://www.algorithmix.com. This is by far the best of the programs I tested a year or so ago. It’s not cheap at about $150 but it does such a good job it’s worth it to me.

  4. Adaptec Easy CD Creator to burn the CD, Came with my HP Cd writer. It also prints the jewel case inserts.

  5. My scanner can only scan about half of an album cover at one time, so I use Micrografx’s Picture Publisher, a commercial program, maybe $50 or $60 at Sam’s Club to “Stitch” (make one jpeg file) two album cover scans together. I paste that into the Jewel case insert in Easy CD creator. It’s pretty neat to have a CD cover that looks like the old album cover.

  6. Software that came with my “Presto” Label applier to print the CD label. When I am really ambitious I use Picture Publisher to make a half-tone copy of the album cover and paste that into the label.

6

I’m doing quite well on a Macintosh, it is well-designed for audio work. Every Mac comes with CD-quality analog stereo inputs, just hook up your turntable and a cheap preamp (for pre-equalization) and you are ready to go. Or there are fancier balanced-audio boards available, if you want to go pro-quality.
I use a program called PEAK for audio input, there is a freeware version, and an advanced (expensive) version for advanced audio editing. You could probably do everything you want in the free version.
The big problem is noise reduction, and removing the clicks and pops caused byscratches. None of the digital filters work well. I just try to manually repair the worst scratches and pops, try to get the best overall quality recording without doing any audio processing, and burn it.
You’re never going to get the quality of a real CD from an original master, but hey, you’ll never hear your records sound better, once they’re cleaned up a bit. And I hate buying the same music twice, once on LP and once on CD.

7

Chas E—

Got a reference for that PEAK software? I found one online from Bias, Inc. but it wasn’t freeware. As for the connection… you can’t just go from the turntable’s line out ports directly to the Mac’s Audio In port?

(I’m looking for a way to copy a 50-year-old, non-copyrighted, scratchy mono record.)

Thanks.

8

Bias Peak LE is the free(?)ware version I mentioned. Sometimes they give away the LE version free bundled with other apps, that’s how I got it. The full version is sorta expensive, i don’t have it, its designed for audio pros who want to do serious multitrack recordings. Even the cheapo Peak LE has the declicker plugin, that is my favorite noise reduction tool.

You can’t go directly from the turntable to a Mac audio in port (or any other computer’s audio in port for that matter) you must use a preamp. Vinyl albums were recorded with a thingie called “RIAA Equalization” and the preamp is supposed to pre-equalize the sound. If you don’t run the signal through a pre-amp, it won’t sound right, and the line levels will be all screwed up and flat. I just bought a cheapo preamp/2 channel DJ mixer for about $50, it works fine.

BTW, the new audio tools like Peak are great for enhancing old scratchy records. I first got onto this when I saw a TV show about how they were using these digital tools to restore old wire-reel and wax recordings at the Library of Congress. These voice recordings were basically inaudible until they enhanced the sound digitally. Now the LoC is releasing whole series of oral histories on CD.