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What's the best / easiest way to convert vinyl to digital?

When I tried Audacity and failed I got to the place where Audacity gave me a big ticker tape of all the songs as though it was one song. I couldn't figure out what to do with that what looked like a heart ekg print out. Well, anyway, I won't be using it anyway now that there are easier programs like Vinyl Nirvana etc.
 
The easiest? Buy the CD.

It's usually not worth your trouble to convert your albums unless it's something extremely rare and not available in any digital format anywhere.
 
KappaNut said:
I've been offered a rather nice collection of albums in mint condition if I'd be willing to convert some of them to digital. My current setup is a Cary SLP-98P preamp hooked up to a VPI Scout 1.1 with Rogue Audio M-150 tube amps. What is the easiest way to convert these and what software or converter do I need? I've got a new and an old laptop that I could use.
Please let me know your suggestions.
Thanks!
Randy
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Best way? Great equipment! Easiest way? There is no easy way! :no:

OK - there is an easy. Get one of those cheap ION or Crosley setups and hope your records survive it - and your ears from the sound of them.

I've done well over 1000 transfers personally and professionally (and that includes commercial work as well). If you want it done right, you need good equipment, good programs to clean them up, and here's the hard part - knowledge how to use them. That's what usually trips everyone up.
 
DustyOldPile said:
The easiest? Buy the CD.

It's usually not worth your trouble to convert your albums unless it's something extremely rare and not available in any digital format anywhere.
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Exactly, I have hundreds of LPs not available on CD or digi. Also I must leave my huge LP mountain behind when I move overseas.

Todays e-mag Analog Planet has profiles of some Analog to digital converters. Unfortunately they are the high end ones up around $2,000. They do include at least one affordable one, the HRT, at $350. Not the NAD PP 4 that I am on the edge of buying for $200.

http://www.analogplanet.com/content/analog-digital-converter-files-identified-converters-profiled : "...Most of the samples here were recorded using Vinyl Studio primarily because it’s more convenient to use than Pure Vinyl when recording short excerpts..."
 
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Well, then the easiest way that I've found is as follows. You need a good turntable and cartridge, for starters.

1. Need a phono preamp or receiver
2. Need RCA stereo to stereo mini 1/8" plug
3. Need passably decent soundcard in your computer or laptop, most modern ones will work.
4. I use Sound Forge 9. It's an older version, but works well. You can find downloads online if you know where to look. Get the version that has the Noise Reduction plug in. Set some test levels...the meters should barely, if ever, hit red, but be as close to red (zero) as possible. Better to error on the lower side than the higher one. Record an entire side of a record as one .wav file, at CD-Rom resolution.
5. Under Noise Reduction, take one swipe at each .wav file with the Click and Pop Reduction filter, accept default settings. This does an incredible job of cleaning up surface noise in an unobtrusive manner...you can't hear it work. Some software packages' noise reduction 'breathes' or adds other undesirable characteristics.
6. You can visually 'see' the spaces between the tracks. I copy each track out of the 'master' wav and paste into a new file. I then trim the beginning, leaving a little 'space' on the beginning that I then mute, and then I trim and mute the ending, leaving more space on the end than on the beginning. Sometimes I will fade the tail end of the ending, on a fade-out song, just to make it that much quieter. Save and close each individual track after trimming. You can save as a .wav or as an mp3 of your desired resolution. If you're going to burn a CD, save as a .wav.
7. Repeat for each album side.
 
HTHMAN said:
I think my CDs sound as good or better than some commercial CDs of the same material that I own.
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I have thought the very same thing, just in doing standard transfers.

In some cases, it's deliberate. I always thought that Bob Dylan's "Street Legal" was a fantastic album that was recorded very poorly. Columbia seemed to have that issue frequently for a period of time...I don't know if they just figured that Shure SM57's were good enough for everything or what, but that's what this album sounds like...like the whole thing was recorded with stage mics. A little careful and diligent work with the EQ and a bit of dynamic range expansion brought it to life.
 
It is ridiculously easy. Get a digital recorder for sixty bucks that records hi res. Record a side at a time, take the memory card and put in your computer and then tun through click repair and seperate the tracks out. Downsample and burn. Getting the computer out of the way of capturing makes it stress free; I leave mine inline all the time so if I think about it, i capture a record.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VshJlPeLL2k
 
krisbee said:
It is ridiculously easy. Get a digital recorder for sixty bucks that records hi res. Record a side at a time, take the memory card and put in your computer and then tun through click repair and seperate the tracks out. Downsample and burn. Getting the computer out of the way of capturing makes it stress free; I leave mine inline all the time so if I think about it, i capture a record.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VshJlPeLL2k
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are you recording via mic or does it have a direct line input ?
 
I have to say, though...

35 years from now I'm going to log into AK and there will be a thread on page one of the Turntable forum asking, "What's the best way to transfer a vinyl record to CD?" There must be 42 Gigabytes on AK's server addressing this...
 
krisbee said:
It is ridiculously easy. Get a digital recorder for sixty bucks that records hi res. Record a side at a time, take the memory card and put in your computer and then tun through click repair and seperate the tracks out. Downsample and burn. Getting the computer out of the way of capturing makes it stress free; I leave mine inline all the time so if I think about it, i capture a record.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VshJlPeLL2k
Click to expand...

This. I use a Tascam DR-05 that's plugged into a usb port on my computer and the line out of my integrated to the line in on the unit. The usb supplicates power during recording. I record to the device at 24/48, then power off. Upon power up, I can select the usb to act as a drive, them dump straight into audacity for editing/track splitting. It does requires a 'padding down' of the line output, you can use Harrison attenuators from Parts Express or I use the pre-out from a Grant Fidelity tube DAC and drop the level with the volume control.
 
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