Recording vinyl

[bassman]

Hello all. I recently ran accross a bunch of old vinyl that I would like to burn to my HDD. I thought I could do this with WMP but I can't seem to find this function. Since I'm not real big on media player software, I am looking for recommendations. ;) I would not be affraid to pay for the right program but if there are GOOD free ones, that would be OK ;)
I have all the hardware in place, just need some way to put it to disk.

Thanks
Frank :cool:

[malcore]

If you have the full version of Nero, you can do it with that. Otherwise, there is always Audacity. Open source. Free.:)

[malcore]

If you have the full version of Nero, you can do it with that. Otherwise, there is always Audacity. Open source. Free.:)

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/

[bassman]

Thanks malcore, I will check it out :cool:

[Cavalier90]

What sort of record deck are you going to use? Depending on the cartridge type you may need a pre-amp to boost the signal enough for your sound card input. I think moving magnet cartridges need a boost whereas the other sort (ceramic?) don't.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Cavalier90,
I would have assumed the turntable would be routed through a receiver or stereo amplifier for impedance matches and Bassman would use the record out jacks on the amp/receiver. This would not be needed for cassette players, but both ceramic and magnetic cartridges would need some form of impedance matching to get the proper sound to send to the input of a pc's soundcard or 'Line In'. Magnetic cartridges would be very weak but ceramic ones also sound odd (thin) if hooked directly to a line input.

Record in/out and Line in/out are basically interchangeable. Phono input, of old, was setup for ceramic cartridges. When magnetic cartridges came about, there were preamps available for retrofitting older receiver/amps. But they still connected to the 'Phono' input, and not any if the line voltage I/O jacks.

My first stereo experiences were putting a couple of loose speakers taken from some old console (with ceramic phono :rolleyes: ) connected to an automotive 8-Trac player powered by an ac to dc PSU :o And I had only two 8-Track tapes to play... for hours on end :D It was a major improvement to stereophonic 'experiences' when magnetic cartridges came along!

You sound like we're on the same boat though ;) Good call.

[Flick]

I use the Microsoft Plus analog recorder:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme/Music.asp#analog

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,117810,pg,1,00.asp

[Cavalier90]

FTT,
My computer is in a different room to my HiFi so I need to move the record deck into the computer room. I then don't have the luxury of taking a feed direct from my amp. I forget sometimes that other people's setup may be more convenient than mine. You are correct of course that a pre-amp will not be needed if the feed is already taken from an amp.
I bought a simple pre-amp for about £25 that works fine; the phono plugs from the deck plug into the black box and the output leads plug into the sound card. Switch on and Robert's your mother's brother! ;)

[bassman]

Thanks lads. Flick, I will check out your links a little later.
As for my setup, I have an older Pioneer Quadraphonic receiver on a shelf in my office just above my comp. It runs to a pair of large floor speakers. I currently use this setup as my computer speakers. I can blow the door off the front of the garage if I feel like it :D ;) I have a real nice Yamaha turntable and I will be putting a new, quality cartrage in it for this. I think I should put in a nice sound card for this though as I am currently using onboard. I will put that in a different thread. ;)

[Flick]

I have the Sony Audio/Video Receiver (STRDE997B). It's located in my living room and is 50 feet away from my computer. I hook up three 20 foot headphone extension cords and hook that into a 6 foot 1/8" stereo phone plug connector. I connect the headphone jack from the receiver into the line-in jack on my computer sound card. It woks perfectly. No hum, no hiss and no errors. I have an extensive collection (over 7,000 disks) of vintage vinyl records including many rare 10 inch - 33 1/3 Long Play records.

I exclusively use a Beogram 8000 tangential arm deck with an MMC 20 CL pickup cartridge to play these recordings

[hawk7771us]

http://www.delback.co.uk/lp-cdr.htm This site should answer most of your questions.
The stylus should be ( new ) or used very little. Clean your records first.

[Cavalier90]

Flick,

Perfectionists would say that length of cable and all those connector plugs will be detrimental to the sound. My response is usually, if it sounds good, ignore the science and just do it.

[Flick]

Flick,

Perfectionists would say that length of cable and all those connector plugs will be detrimental to the sound. My response is usually, if it sounds good, ignore the science and just do it.
Well, to tell the truth, I am a perfectionist! I used a preamp at one point too and moved the turntable to the computer. I am very familiar with the RIAA equalization standards. My experience has been that what you really need is a good signal right out of the grove. 99% of the turntables and cartridges ruin the sound of most recordings. I would put my setup up against any professional archival studio.