Converting Vinyl to Digital CD's

Greetings,
I am looking for the best and least expensive way to convert old vinyl records to CD's. I'd appreciate any thoughts about hardware, freeware, or tricks about this process. I have a lap top and a desktop. Would one be more conducive than the other? Both operate on XP. Do I require a sound card that allows RCA inputs? I would appreciate any input or personal experience any of you geeks could share. Thank you.

 

Hi and welcome SES

Your first and most important choice is about quality. Do you mean conventional audio CD's or compressed digital audio such as MP3?

Cds themselves are progressing in two different directions.

Cds containing MP3 files are now becoming available and many newer cd/dvd players will play these. For my part I am not going to offer anything further about this direction.

Any audiophile will confirm that the quality available from a good vinyl system is superior to standard CD. A new standard, of twice the quality is coming and already being used professionally This is called the 96K sampling standard.
You would need high end sound cards to achieve this but they are available from Terratec and others.

To go for preserving your old record collection on standard CD you will need a fairly modest sound card. AC97 ones will do. It is best not to got for the fancier stuff because records are stereo and the modern cards are multichannel, Dolby and goodness knows what else. The stereo 3.5mm (1/8th inch) input jack is standard and adequate for this purpose. You will need a lead to connect from this to your amp line (tape) output probably phono (RCA). these leads are widely and cheaply available. Beware of hum loops.

For software you will need something to record, process the data and create the CD. Programs such as Nero do this all quite well but the cleanup is not reliable. You can use Windows CD recorder to create a very basic initial record but do not rely on Windows for burning the CD. Windows has no facility for cleanup.
I use Steinberg wavelab for data capture and cleaning and my cd writer control (currently B's Clip ) to create the CD. I particularly like Wavelab because it gives you fine control over the levels for digitising and because I prefer to manually cleanup the waveform. This process is very time consuming but yields perfect results. Wavelab has a 'pencil' which allows one to manually redraw a dodgy waveform- smooth. because of the time taken it is not economic unless the record is not available on CD it can take a week to redraw the entire waveform.
All this sort of program have many filters you can try. It is important to use two however, one balances the channels, the other is called normalisation. This brings the loudest sound to max CD standard and sets everything else in proportion. That way all levels are at optimum for noise reduction and quality.

Finally there is an excellent book by Bob Starrett and Josh Mcdaniel entitled
'The little Audio CD Book' ISBN 0201708973 read it.

Studio T

 

you'll need this cable 1/8" in the MIC of the sound card and the RCAs in the component your recording.. if you plug into the spaeker out watch the levels!!!!