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Recording Vinyl to CD

I want to backup my vinyl records to CDS (WAV) and maybe mp3s on my computer, but i have some questions first...
I have to sound cards a sound blaster live (value, not the one with diigtal in) and the one of my motherboard (msi kt3 ultra2), is it the same to record in either one or will the sound blaster work better?
Should i use EQs on the mixer, pc, etc when recording or should i set all at flat (50/50). Coz even on the computer i have the mixer option wich controls bass and treble of the line input.
I will clean the vinyls be4 recording them to avoid crackles and stuff and i�ll set my mixer master gain to 0 db (green), other than that what else should i consider?
Im asking all since i dont want to do it twice since i have a bunch of vinyls and it takes some time.
thanks for any help
peace

use a good needle, an elliptical stylus is best i think, and make sure it's clean.

leave all the EQs at 12 oclock. leave the pitch at 0

i have 3 needlz, 2 shure m44-7 and one stanton 680el, then i must use the stanton right? i�ll start recordin�now to check the audio quality...

I record my vinyl to my computer all of the time. Definitly use your soundblaster live to record, and not your motherboard soundcard. It doesn't really matter that you can't use your digital in, because the original source is analog anyway, so it has to be converted to digital at least once anyway. As stated above, I wouldn't tweak the eqs at all, but I often times do adjust the pitch to around 140BPMs. The less I have to think about beatmatching, the more I can concentrate on where to mix in/out and effects etc.

Other than that I could give you a bunch more advice if you are willing to spend some money, but I am willing to bet that you aren't The cables etc can make a slight difference, and though there are a bunch of things that aren't noticable in themselves, they add up. You should be fine with recording to MP3. Waves are too big, and a 320VBR (variable bit rate) or standard bitrate encoding will do you just fine. That is what I store my MP3 as.

ive already recorded 3 vinyls, i used 192kps to encode them as mp3, is that good? i dont like vbr so i chose a cbr of hi quality (kind of)
the sound is actually pretty good, i recorded them in sound forge, edited them in groove mechanic to remove click, hiss and rumble and encoded them with razor lame and lame 3.92
just to let u know if someone wants to do the same

Hey.. its a Stanton Trackmaster II SK a good needle for recording??

If you have any friends that use better sound cards use theirs.

Soundblaster (any one) just doesn't cut it. When your trying to capture the depth of an analog source (record) you need an AD (analog to digital) converter of the highest quality to maintain a high quality sound. Specs are important, but just because the sound card is 24 bit and you record everything at 48k (Or higher) doesn't mean that you'll have the greatest sound.

Take into consideration all of the following:

The cable that you use from your Player to mixer.
How noisy is your mixer when there is nothing plugged into it?
The cable from mixer to computer.
Try to get an older but Pro soundcard like the Audiowerk from emagic. Only 18bits but it sounds better than sounblaster!

A very cold clean card is any M-audio Pro card (break out box)

Any ways, hope I helped!

hi, i cant spend more money on a new sound card so ill try my best with the sb live! i used two sites that helped me
http://www.wavecor.co.uk/links.htm
http://www.ganymede.hemscott.net/tutorial.htm
and now ive changed groove mechanic for a sound forge plugin since groove mechanic cleans "too much", so i left the ones ive recorded so far and started using sound forge
to carlos: yeah, i think the trackmaster is a good styli, but u have to hear yourself, if its good for you, then record with that one
peace

quote:

Originally posted by dj_pontiac i used 192kps to encode them as mp3, is that good? i dont like vbr so i chose a cbr of hi quality

What exactly do you think is wrong with VBR?

And 192kbps is generally accepted as the encoding rate above which it becomes extremely difficult (or impossible) to hear any improvement. I know some people here will disagree, but I only said "generally accepted"

i have nothing against vbr, its just a personal preference, i chose 192kps since its the best quality keeping in mind hard disk space, i like much more mp3s encoded at 256 or 320, but it will take way too much space if i use that for all my records. Above 192kbps i would rather prefer the original wav in a cdr, but that may be just me

If you can hear the difference between 192kbps and 256 or 320 you've got better ears than me

Using VBR is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. Some sections of the audio signal do not actually require 192kbps to encode optimally, others require more. So why not let the encoder use different bit rates when necessary? Don't be suspicious of it, just use it

I don't use VBR for two reasons. One, I have 240Gb of space, and so the size of the MP3s doesn't really matter, and two, I don't like how it screws up the predicted time of the track in WinAmp. I always save my MP3s in 320kbps anyway, so I know that I've got the highest quality MP3 as possible.

So far I've taken the time to record 44 tracks to my computer, and they take up just under 800MB, so that isn't too much space. Especially considering that if they were in Wave format about 10-11 tracks would take up the same amount of space.

flesch: i wish i had 240gb, i have only 40gb, and i havent got too much free left
if u have soo much space you�d better use ogg vorbis (another lossy codec) or mpc or flac that are loseless
today im doing some tests with these codecs to compare, so far i have 8 vinyls recorded (betewen 12 and 18 tracks), all with mp3 192kps high quality settings in lame

edit: i added batch converter for sound forge to remove clicks and crackle from multiple files automatically and set lame to encode at 192kbps to 320 kbps using vbr. i got it!

It sounds as if everyone records to wav first then converts to mp3...is this true?

Is there a windows way to record directly to mp3 to save space? I'm asking because I see people post their sets (converted to mp3). And if they record a 2 hour set to wav...the file is just too big to save and convert...at least I would think? I know it can be done on a Mac with Audio Highjack, but any windows suggestions, solutions, software that I'm not seeing?

quote:

Originally posted by PhloTron It sounds as if everyone records to wav first then converts to mp3...is this true? Is there a windows way to record directly to mp3 to save space? I'm asking because I see people post their sets (converted to mp3). And if they record a 2 hour set to wav...the file is just too big to save and convert. I know it can be done on a Mac with Audio Highjack, but any windows suggestions, solutions, software that I'm not seeing?

This is done because making an MP3 requires a LOT of processor in order to encode and compress the original wave. I'm sure you can find programs or MP3 cards that will do this, but in general, there isn't really a market for this type of product because most people who record music want the highest quality, and most people who use MP3s just want to save on space or be able to transfer files quicker.

If you are going to spend the money on software or an MP3 card though, why not just get a bigger HD? You can get a 100GB western digital HD for $90 including shipping from www.pricewatch.com If you are strapped for cash, then a 60GB WD HD is $64. Anything smaller isn't a good deal.

Good points..and I've been reading up a little in the meantime...


Thanks for the enlightement.

I've just upgraded PC's to Fast and big...so maybe i just have to get out of the small slow lack of memory thinking too.

I'd just like to make cd mixes for friends from vynil...and of course the burner is on the computer I'm trying to find the best way to do this.

cheers

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