Hi, I want to get my old cassettes and vynils onto a CD. Is there any good software anyone would recommend?
Nero6.x or Easy CD Creator 6 or 7 will do that job nicely. Just be careful using the pop/click filters and make sure your record levels peak exactly at 0dB and you'll be fine. Be advised that most LP's and Cassettes were 45mins to 1 hour long max. That's gonna leave alot of unused space on any CD you burn so, if I were you, I'd think about compilations of multiple LP's by a single group or artist transposed onto 1 CD. Most bang for your buck that way. Then again, blank Cd's are cheap enough. You make the call on that one.. As a sidebar, I would also purchase a ground loop isolator from Radio Shack to get rid of the hum from your turntable/cassette/receiver combination to your soundcard. They're cheap and do the job. Otherwise, you'll be hearing that very annoying 60hz hum on your newly burned CD's and it will piss you off royally.. Good Luck! _ _X_X_X_X_X_[small]MSI K7N2G-L AMD2500XP OC'd to 2.2Ghz 1024 Kingston PC2700 333Mhz Dual Channel Mode WD 490GB (1x40,1x250,1x200) @ 7200rpm TDK 840G BURNER[/small]
I'l agree with most of what just got said. Personally, you want to watch your peaks a lot closer than going to 0dbFS. When running the original material into your system, do not under any circumstances exceed -3dBFS. This is because when you do any restoration, or any EQ work to clean up the original material, if you tracked at 0dB you have absolutely no headroom or room to work in. Oddly enough, even an EQ cut can actually increase a file's peak due to the phenomenon known as masking. Track to -3dB, and leave it at that until you are happy with the way everything sounds. Then, and only if you have a transparent peak limiter, raise the levels to a bit more. Personally, I'd leave it at -3dB. See http://www.loudnessrace.net/ for a lot more information on how badly overcompression is affecting modern CD's.. If you still think it is a bit quiet on playback, then turn up the Amp.
Thanx for the tip on the recording levels. I haven't noticed any problems with using 0dB but if backing it down to -3dB gives me more headroom, I'll give it a shot. Those old analog recording habits are hard to break..
You don't say what soundcard you use, but if you use an RME card, there is an app called DigiCheck free from RME that has the K-system built in for metering. Much nicer than Digital PPM Meters. There is also the great freeware plug from PSP audioware called "Vintage Meter". You can set it to whatever you like, and it emulates old VU meters, including the ballistics. Send me an email address & I'll mail it to you if you can't find it online. Stick to those analogue habits. They are good ones. Just because we can do something with digits does not necessarily mean we should, IMO. I'm very suspicious of things like Waves L1/L2 in particular, as any limiter that starts off by telling you that slamming an extra 5dB onto the levels is "a good place to start" has to be doing something bad. When you re create the waveform out of the CD player, the more samples you have at or near to 0dBFS greatly increases the chances of going over 0dB between samples, and the wave will go flat top & distorted. Did you go to the Loudness Race site?
