quote:

Originally posted by fr3sh yeah i know i wasn't going to... but i suppose a mixer is not the "ideal" preamp... is it?

Its a preamp. they all are RIAA preamps, including the ones in dj mixers...so all do the same job and conform to the same standards.

You can buy a small box preamp in funky brushed alloy for like $15 or something equally cheap from radioshack (no idea if you still can but i did earlier in the year from radioshack)

quote:

Originally posted by Freak Its a preamp. they all are RIAA preamps, including the ones in dj mixers...so all do the same job and conform to the same standards. You can buy a small box preamp in funky brushed alloy for like $15 or something equally cheap from radioshack (no idea if you still can but i did earlier in the year from radioshack)

yeah i know the mixer is a preamp but i am going for the best quality rip i can possibly get

so as of right now it seems the most important thing to do is master it in a program like sound forge....

mastering.... something that i have no clue how to do... my m-audio device came with ableton lite and i have been messing around with that

here are my questions now

1) what is the IDEAL preamp for hooking up to my tech 1200 deck (or does it matter what preamp i use)

2) are there any articles on mastering something like a vinyl rip..or can someone just explain how? and can i do it with my lite version of ableton?

3) ableton has a "stretch" function...(for those of you who know the program... which i really dont) Is there anyway to use this to even out the tempo variation that inevitably occurs with vinyl )

or is there another way to digitally even out the tempo variation?
or is there a way at all? lol



keep in mind... i will be a using a technics 1200, a shure white label, an m-audio transit and ableton to record

and my denon mixer as a preamp

unless there is a better way

your setup sounds fine. if the mixer you are using is good enough for a large club system then it will be fine as a preamp.

mastering is a funny one. i would probably just use the loudness maximiser and minimal compression here but no eq or exciters. you dont want to play with the original sound too much... just get the cd so its as loud as a commercial cd.

as regards to the tempo variation: dont worry. a technics deck is so accurate that it would stay sync'd with another one playing the same record for hours. the tempo flutter is nt measurable and wont effect even a half and hour long beatmatch.

the main issue for you is making sure the cd's sound loud.

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quote:

Originally posted by fr3sh yeah i know the mixer is a preamp but i am going for the best quality rip i can possibly get 1) what is the IDEAL preamp for hooking up to my tech 1200 deck (or does it matter what preamp i use)

well, there are a LOT of pre-amps out there, and I definitely wouldn't buy one from radioshack for 15$. most likely the one in your mixer will sound better already.

I would think that you get good enough sound for playing the cds in a club, I never noticed any difference.

there are high-end pre-amps like the Clearaudio Balanced Reference for 4000$ but that would be over the top with "only" a Mk2 and normal DJ-cartridges. they have an interesting smaller one called "smart phono" for around 350$. but I guess a Thorens MM 001 would do as well, around 100$. Watch that you combine that one with a MM system and not MC.

Going directly from the TT (through a preamp) to a decent soundcard will produce better results most of the time because you can bypass the mixer with it's sound-changing abilities and dangers (in case you want the "original" sound from the vinyls).

for mastering I would also recommend loudness adjustment, maybe not to 100% but close. Compression is an option but I wouldn't use it or very little.
About noise and click-reduction: I never got decent results, tried Magix music cleaning lab, wavelab, the good ol' cooledit but after the clicks were gone, the music sounded not as clear to me, as if the programs removed some high tones in the process, so I left the music untouched...

btw, lots of info and maybe good software (haven't tried) at
http://www.enhancedaudio.com/vinyl_restoration.htm

good luck!

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RetroActive 4

so are these preamps that are meant to be hooked up to vinyl tt's specifically?

errr, what other type of turtables than "vinyl tt's" do you know?

yes, the ones I mentioned are "phono pre-amps". There are "general" pre-amps as well for example you can put those between a CD-player and your amp. but actually most "amps" have built-in pre-amps, some of which have phono-pre-amps as well.

if you want to see some seperate "regular" pre-amps and "real" amps (not sure if there is an english word that expresses "endstufe" = german for final-amp (?)) check out http://www.marklevinson.com/

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RetroActive 4

Another option i'm told is to record it off your amplifer with Xitel Inport..i'm not sure how good it is, but i've been told it works pretty ok....anybody?

that looks really easy to use...no idea how good it sound, though.

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RetroActive 4

quote:

Originally posted by fr3sh so are these preamps that are meant to be hooked up to vinyl tt's specifically?

These pre-amps are for magnetic phono cartridges which output at a very low level and require RIAA equalization. Pretty much all the phono cartridges out there now are magnetic. You don't use them at all for ceramic phono catridges which output at normal line levels, I believe.

mm = moving magnet
mc = moving coil

afaik

there are phono pre-amps for both, some can handle only one or the other, some can handle both types.

quote:

ceramic phono catridges

never heard of those, what are they?

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RetroActive 4

Sorry for the misspelling. It's caRtridges.

Here is a link I found with some info.