Recording From LPs to PCs

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floydharris

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Can I use a preamp connected to my turntable and send this signal to my on-board sound card thru the mic input or line in connector and automatically get stereo seperation, as with the original LP, when I replay or record to CDs from my PC? I am using a Dell Precision 650. (does the sound card automatically produce a 2 channel signal as with the original LP?) Thanks....For the education....
 
I have a couple LP's. You do mean Les Paul right? :D

I sat down one weekend (turned into several weekends) and copied all my LPs onto CD. I ran the audio out from the record player to my computer and let it rip.

I cleaned the records first but that's the extent of my advice. I was inclinded to to this after opening a couple records that I hadn't played in years only to find that they were no longer playable. Some were pretty badly warped.
 
I have a couple LP's. You do mean Les Paul right? :D

I sat down one weekend (turned into several weekends) and copied all my LPs onto CD. I ran the audio out from the record player to my computer and let it rip.

I cleaned the records first but that's the extent of my advice. I was inclinded to to this after opening a couple records that I hadn't played in years only to find that they were no longer playable. Some were pretty badly warped.
 
Floyd Harris,
You need an RIAA preamp that's set up to readjust the EQ to match the levels etc reduced before going onto vinyl. So the preamp would need to be one made for turntables & your cartridge (MM or MC appropriately) NOT anything for home recording mics & guitars etc.
From TTable to pre (I actually use an old but pretty good stereo amp and take the signal from the lineout) to soundcard stereo LINE IN via a Y cable. Oh, the better the card & specificallt the AD converters, the better the result.

For recording I HIGHLY recommend Waverepair. It's about $30, downloadable, has a manual & is tweaked & you're notified of free updates by the author. It will deal with pops, crackles, & noise in automatic or manual functions. It will also split the file into tracks etc for burning. I've been using it for about 7 years & it's far better for this specific purpose, (which is the sole purpose it was written for) than anything else on the market.

I've found that some of my conversions, because of the preamping EQing etc, sound WAY better than the non remastered CDs I've bought of the same album and close to the remastered ones.

To recap:
Clean vinyl (dust & dirt - use a liquid after using a brush), well set up t/table, cart & stylus, appropriate preamp (good one if you can & that could mean an old stereo but you can even buuy usb turntables with a pre built in but they're really daggy) stereo RCA to stereo miniplug Y cable into good soundcard STEREO LINE IN into a good recording prog.
With well over 1200 LPs It's taking me long than several weekends though.
 
Recording from LPs to PCs

I appreciate the guidance on this search for the best way to record from my LPs. Does anyone have any preferences or inputs on what program is the most user friendly and also gives the user good quality CDs? In particular how does Groove Mechanic compare to Wave Repair and is there a better program to accomplish this task? Also how about compression techniques? Does anyone have any suggestions about whether or not this will degrade the listening ability of the CDs created from the recordings from the LPs?
Thanks again.......Floyd Harris
 
Groove mechanic sweeps with a very broad brush & can do an OK job. I used it three times & gave up. I've done well over 100 LPs with W repair & am very happy. I recently did an old james Brown record I bought from the US "Thinking About Little Willie Johns & A Few Nice Things" The claim was that it was mint. I played it & it had quite a few clicks, pops, smears & some occasional noise. I recorded it into waverepair & processed it manually & the CD is now a close to mint as my ears could hear. WR will point to individual clicks etc, you can zoom in & slice it off, replace it with a matching section or EQ it away. If the record is rare, greatly loved, not released on CD etc - in other words it's worth the effort - WR is the go. If the CD can be had for US$7 or so - the work involved in doing a great job isn't worth it.
Waverepair can be brilliant - the degree will be up to you. None better at present than WR. I've spent years on this I did a LOT of research.
The quality of the CD will relate to source material - I lot can be fixed. Really bad LPs can be made OK, EQs, filters, compression. amplification, channel manipulation, clicks, pops, smears, background & mechanical noise can all be dealt with in WR BUT the worse the prob, the longer it takes to get good results. Hiss, crackle & noise removal can degrade the quality if poorly managed.You need to record the lead in & run out tracks as well as the space between tracks to get the "fingerprints" needed to treat these things.
 
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