Jetrell Fo said:

I find it best to record no higher than maybe somewhere between -6 to -3 decibels....it's far simpler to give it a boost then try to bring it down and still have it sound pleasing.

This

Nerfherder said:

It's FAR better to get a very good deck and cartridge, into an average soundcard and do little to no digital tweaking to get the purest sound.

and this..

Though if you're doing 24bit you can't skimp too much on the soundcard either.. ;)

Also, any software that can't handle 24 or maybe 32bit these days, I personally would consider outdated.

And don't worry too much about digital cleaning/noise removal/depopping.. It will not/should not make or break the capture.

I listened to your samples just now (never got a chance to listen to your other stuff being extremely busy the last few weeks), I'm not familiar with the source material, but they sound very good to me, just the occasional pop/crackle as might be expected. 'Poor' LP transfers usually have this 'sibilant hiss', but it sounds natural here and not harsh to me.

 

Nerfherder said:

digital processing (if any) LAST! Not the other way around. Digital trickery cannot be a substitute for the original sound with a decent turntable...

Hehe..

I know what you mean but I can't help but smile at this since the whole point is to digitize the LPs... Which is definitely digital processing.. ;)

satanika said:

Nerfherder said:

digital processing (if any) LAST! Not the other way around. Digital trickery cannot be a substitute for the original sound with a decent turntable...

Hehe..

I know what you mean but I can't help but smile at this since the whole point is to digitize the LPs... Which is definitely digital processing.. ;)

Agreed on this as well....you want the most natural sound the LP can provide because most of the time they can sound far better than any CD....I get giddy over the ritual of pulling out the album and looking at the sleeve, putting the vinyl on the table and dropping in the needle.....it's just awesome.

:)

Makes me think of that old 80's song, "put the needle on the record, put the needle on the record" LOL.

Something else to know in case you go the receiver route.......

The output from a receiver is normally not affected by the volume control and the line input to most sound cards goes straight to the mixer so there's a possible case of overload. You could need a separate volume control between the receiver and the sound card.

Molly said:

dark_jedi said:

Makes me think of that old 80's song, "put the needle on the record, put the needle on the record" LOL.

I want to say that's Pump Up The Volume by M/A/R/R/S.

That's the name of it, LOL.

You could ask someone here with much more experience than some of us here to see if they'd have the time and willing to do a capture of your vinyl.  Maybe someone here you've worked with that you would trust....and offer to pay for shipping of the vinyl both ways.

I know it's not the most optimal solution but it could provide an solution that benefits everyone and saves you money for things you need in these tough times.

Just a thought anyways.....

Jetrell Fo said:

Mielr said:

 

Jetrell Fo said:

Using a stand alone CD burner along with a turntable might yield better results for you and then you could take the audio to your PC and tweak it there.

When I record, I never let the audio clip....

That's what I do too- I've had good results. When you say you never let the audio "clip" do you mean you never let it go into the red?

 

Correct............

:)

Could you please explain that a bit more- I'm interested in your process.

I'm careful with my levels (now), I only let things flirt with the red briefly- no more than once or twice per song (am I doing wrong?).

I always play things first and then lower the level on the CD recorder the amount of dbs necessary before recording. Most of my LPs and 45s end up being about -3 or -4 dbs. Most of my cassettes are homemade and the levels are all over the place, so I sometimes have to adjust levels as I'm recording, very often the louder segments end up being -7 or -8 dbs. Time consuming!!!!

Jetrell Fo said:

Mielr said:

 

JediTray said:

I lost my home theater in the divorce, so I don't have the means to go the receiver route unless I want to buy it, a recorder, and a turntable.  What do you do, just record via the receiver, then do your tweaking with the resulting files from the CD?

***EDIT***

I see it was answered.  :)

I see now that it's a whole integrated system. I'm curious if you'd get different results without the computer involved in the recording process, but I guess that's not an option for you right now.

Yeah, I'm in the process of converting a lot of LPs and audio cassettes to CD thru my stereo receiver. My cassette deck came with a built-in digital noise filter (Pioneer CT-05D) which helps a lot with the cassettes as most of them are 30+ years old and were recorded without any type of Dolby. I haven't done any tweaking at all with the LP recordings yet, and I may not if I don't have any major problems with pops and clicks.

 

Be careful, it's always a possibility that your receiver may be re-sampling your audio signal.

How is that? Pls explain! :-)

Mielr said:

 

Jetrell Fo said:

Mielr said:

 

Jetrell Fo said:

Using a stand alone CD burner along with a turntable might yield better results for you and then you could take the audio to your PC and tweak it there.

When I record, I never let the audio clip....

That's what I do too- I've had good results. When you say you never let the audio "clip" do you mean you never let it go into the red?

 

Correct............

:)

Could you please explain that a bit more- I'm interested in your process.

I'm careful with my levels (now), I only let things flirt with the red briefly- no more than once or twice per song (am I doing wrong?).

I always play things first and then lower the level on the CD recorder the amount of dbs necessary before recording. Most of my LPs and 45s end up being about -3 or -4 dbs. Most of my cassettes are homemade and the levels are all over the place, so I sometimes have to adjust levels as I'm recording, very often the louder segments end up being -7 or -8 dbs. Time consuming!!!!

 

I have an external sound card and a tube pre-amp. 

I adjust the pre-amp for gain and then I use louder tracks on the vinyl to adjust the sound card while keeping an eye in adobe audition.  Once I get the louder tracks recording levels adjusted I usually am able to find my safety zone.  I never let anything go in the red but that is preference.  I believe once or twice here and there isn't an issue as you can compensate for that later but I prefer to try and limit any digital/software processing by adjusting the hardware so it can do what it is made to do.......

 

JediTray said:

I think I'm going to save up and buy the DAK kit again.  I'm also thinking that, although it might be redundant, that I would try an RCA to USB converter.  My thinking is that, if my sound card was part of the problem, then the sound could be converted to digital via USB, rather than the 3/5mm input on the sound card.  The only restriction I see so far is that the one I linked to is 16 bit only.

Too many connections in the chain can cause anomalies in the audio...degradation of signal and such.  You want to keep as straight a connection as you can.  An external sound card with a USB connection would be a better solution.