Topic: Vinyl to CD

[Szykneij]

I finally got some time to myself this weekend, so I spent yesterday working on two violins I'm restoring and, at the same time, transferring some of my old vinyl recordings to CD.

I got a Sony Compact Disc Recorder a while ago, but haven't really sat down with it in earnest until now. In going through my stacks of old LPs, I'm pulling out records that I don't currently own on CD and that don't appear to be commonly found in that format. For example, I have several "Music Appreciation Records" from the 1950s with some interesting material on them that I haven't been able to locate elsewhere. I've discovered two gorgeous pieces by Khachaturian, "Chanson Poeme" and "Dance in B Flat Major", performed by David Oistrakh as well as Mendelssohn's PC No. 1 by Emil Gilels and the State Orchestra of the U.S.S.R. under Kondrashin and his Octet for Strings (op. 20) by the Kroll String Quartet. The quality is certainly not what one would expect from modern recordings, but I'm really enjoying transferring this stuff in real time and listening as it happens -- snaps, crackles, pops, and all!

[AnthonyAthletic]

Tony,

What piece of software do you use for transferring?

I have appx 300 vinyls and have thought about transferring them over to cd at some stage, I did however stop when I realised I didn't have the warewithal to put the blanks in after each separate movement.  It did seem a chore, a labour of love.

But I do expect I was going about the transfer process the wrong way.  I ain't no teccy when it comes to this ie line out, line in, play etc and take off a huge chunk of music...that's as far as I got years ago and gave up....went back to flippin the vinyl instead.

I expect you're in for a fun time  transferring and listening!!

[Szykneij]

Tony,

What piece of software do you use for transferring?

I have appx 300 vinyls and have thought about transferring them over to cd at some stage, I did however stop when I realised I didn't have the warewithal to put the blanks in after each separate movement.  It did seem a chore, a labour of love.

But I do expect I was going about the transfer process the wrong way.  I ain't no teccy when it comes to this ie line out, line in, play etc and take off a huge chunk of music...that's as far as I got years ago and gave up....went back to flippin the vinyl instead.

I expect you're in for a fun time  transferring and listening!!

Hi Tony --

The unit I have is great for its simplicity. It's called "Compact Disc Recorder" (RCD-W500C/W100) made by Sony. It's got lots of other bells and whistles, but for analog to digital CD recording, it was the most appealing to me because it's all self-contained. You don't need your computer at all. It's just like recording a cassette tape. You insert a Music CD-R (regular CDRs won't work) into the record deck, and once the unit reads it, you're ready to go. Put the needle down and press "record". At the end of each movement hit, "record" again to start a new track on the CD. (The unit is supposed to sense the breaks and do it automatically, but I haven't figured out how to make it do that yet.) When you're done recording, you hit "finalize" and within 1-2 minutes the CD is done. The whole process only takes as long as it takes to play the recording. Once you have your disc, you can download that into your computer if you want. Lots of fun, for sure!

[(: premont :)]

Well, I have transferred my complete LP- and Tape-collection to CD in that way. It took me three years, but the result is very satisfying. But still, if some of these recordings later have been released commercially on CD, I haven´t  been able to resist acquiring them again!!

[AnthonyAthletic]

Checked out the unit, very nice and much easier than hooking up the hifi system to the computer. 

[Szykneij]

Checked out the unit, very nice and much easier than hooking up the hifi system to the computer. 

That's for sure! I started with an ION / USB Turntable (ITTUSB) that hooks up to my computer and came with its own AUDACITY software. A positive thing about that system is you can go in and remove pops and turntable noise, background crackle, and other unwanted sounds by editing before burning the CD. Unfortunately, the procedure is way too time-consuming and awkward for me to be worth the effort.

[Larry Rinkel]

The quality is certainly not what one would expect from modern recordings, but I'm really enjoying transferring this stuff in real time and listening as it happens -- snaps, crackles, pops, and all!

You might want to invest in a program like Adobe Audition, which can remove all the snaps, crackles, and pops, as well as reducing low-level turntable noise. To do this really well takes some effort, but you can get improved results even by running the automatic declicker. I make a preliminary CD using the LP to CD recorder; then I rip the files to my hard drive as WAVs, edit them using Audition, and burn a final CD.

[Szykneij]

You might want to invest in a program like Adobe Audition, which can remove all the snaps, crackles, and pops, as well as reducing low-level turntable noise. To do this really well takes some effort, but you can get improved results even by running the automatic declicker. I make a preliminary CD using the LP to CD recorder; then I rip the files to my hard drive as WAVs, edit them using Audition, and burn a final CD.

Yes -- The other program I have does a good job of that, which is great when I really want to clean up a recording. It's that extra effort you mention that becomes daunting to me when there's a big stack of records sitting on my desk. It is nice, though, to have a variety of options available.