I am a house music DJ, and have alot of vinyl!!!, I am going to start using CD decks with MP3 files (To save cost + vinyl is HEAVY) however I have alot of vinyl I want recording to a MP3 format, What is the best way of doing this for good qulaity???? I have a basic running PC, will I need external sound card? Where can I get good free recording software???? PLEASE can any1 help?!
This is the cheap way. If you have a turntable and amp., Run the "line out" jacks on the amp. to the "line in" jacks on your computer.Then use http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ program to record and edit your songs. Audacity will export the music in mp3 format.Play with this and if you have any questions someone will try to help. Good luck.
Thanx undine! my only question is, I have is a buzzing noise when recording? If I bought a red and white phono lead with the small falk-shaped earth on it, would this help the problem?? another question! What file type do I have to convert MP3's to, in order for them to play on a normal CD player?? (none mp3) This also may sound stupid!! but, what file type does a PC read a audio CD? WMA?
Yeah, let me have your collection when you're done. Grounding usually helps and if your decks around grounded that may cause hum. DO NOT do the initial conversion to MP3. Again, DO NOT convert to MP3! Convert it to basic WAV or a lossless format like FLAC for archival purposes. WAV is better because it is widely-supported. WAV is raw, uncompressed audio. Lossy compression systesm like MP3, even at their best-quality levels, throw out a lot of audio, and lots of people say it's quite noticeable. I recommend ripping to WAV and saving these on DVDs (see my sig about quality media and store it in a cool dry place, making at least two copies of each DVD). Then, later on, you can batch-convert all your WAVs to MP3. For MP3, I'd use a bitrate of 320k, which provides the highest quality. The reason why you want to archive your vinyl in WAVs is because as storage capacities get bigger, MP3 will eventually be phased out in favor of higher-quality formats. Lots of devices already even support raw WAV. MP3 compromises audio quality as it is, but if you have to convert to another format down the road, the result will likely be even lower quality.
I have converted my collection of LP's to Cd ,over 3000. This way. First you need a good sound card. Get Creative Audigy 4 this comes with an external patch bay which has analogue and digital conections. I then whent out and purchased a Sony Mini Disc player. I record a Lp on to 80 min MD with the correct silence gap between tracks, hard to do on the computer but very easy with a MD. When I and satisfied with the MD, I then record the MD to hard disc as wave files using Creative smart recorder software that comes with the sound card. With this software you can clean up the tracks, takeout clicks rumble and backgound noise and make the track sound as it was. When all the tracks are cleaned I then burn then to a CD using Roxio Media Creator which I find is much better than Nero. You can then convert your tracks to MP3 using Roxio which will give you 4 compression rates. At the lowest rate you should be able to get about 190 tracks on to one CD.
Hi longstack, thanx for your post! Will a good sound card, get rid of the buzzing I get?? (I only have ground leads on my decks not my phono to jack lead) How much should I pay? ALSO! what file do I convert MP3 to be able to play on a normal CD player (non-mp3)
It is better to play your Deck through a Hifi amp and the record to Mini disc directly from this. Then edit the Md to put in gaps extra. With the Creative Sound card you wont get any hum record to hard disc using the digi out on your Mini disc through the patch bay. Ok
