Quick an efficient way to record LP's

[rmcellig]

I have a big job coming up where I need to record some LP records. They need to be saved in MP3 192 format with all tags intact. What is the best way to do this using Audacity? Step by step instructions would be great. I'm using puppy Linux 5.2.8.

Thanks!!

[waxcylinder]

this workflow tutorial from the manual should help you: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Samp ... gitization

It's part of this set of tutorials: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Tuto ... iscs_to_CD

Personally I don't manage metdata in Audacity (apart from the track names). I export WAVs for conversion in my iTunes library and I find iTunes easier to use to manage the metadata.

Why MP3 192? Storage space is relativley cheap these days and uless you have a small disk-size MP3 player you will get better results with 256 MP3s - and I would use VBR rather than CBR if your payer supports it. I started out with 192 as a good compromise between quality and disk-occupancy size when I started out with a 20 gig iPod. Now that I have a 160 gig iPod I now use 256 (I use AAC rather than MP3). My ageing ears can still hear the difference (on good headphones or speakers) between 192 and 256 for music, though I struggle to hear the 256-320 difference. I still use 192 for spoken word recordings (which live on my old smaller iPod).

WC

[rmcellig]

Thanks! I use iTunes as well when it comes to metadata. The only problem is I am using Linux so I need a Linux solution instead.

[waxcylinder]

Sorry I can't help with that - I'm a Windows elf (and good old XP at that) - hopefully a Linux elf will happen on this thread soon.

WC.

[bgravato]

You manage metadata from audacity too.

You also have a lot of apps on linux to manage id3 tags on mp3s.

Can you describe in more detail what is that you are trying to do with the metadata that can't be done with audacity?

If you're looking for an app like itunes for linux have a look at Rhythmbox. It's popular so it might be in the puppylinux repositories.

[rmcellig]

I'm looking at Banshee as well as Rhythmbox and you're right. There are a few ID3 tag apps I can use as well. Right now I think Audacity is doing OK with the tags. I figured out that you can put markers to separate the songs and then do an export based on the labels. Pretty cool. I am used to using Sound Studio on the Mac side but have been forcing myself to just use Audacity and it is paying off.

[bgravato]

Great

The tutorial wc mentioned should have quite a few nice tips for the task you're doing, have a look at it if you haven't yet.

[rmcellig]

Very good tutorial, unfortunately, some of my recordings were done exporting to WAV signed 16bit PCM instead of the recommended WAV 32 bit float format. Does this mean I have to redo all the LP's I exported to the 16bit format?

[waxcylinder]

Normally you want 44.1 kHz 16-bit PCM stereo WAVs - this is (part of) the Red Book standard for CDs and it's a good format for loading into iTunes say for compression.

The 32-bit WAV files will not play in a lot of players - you'd want potentially to keep 32-bit WAVs (probably from the original capture prior to any processing) for archive and potential future re-processing if digital processing improves. Personally I don;t bother with that I just back up two separate copies on USB disks of all my production edited 16-bit WAVs. But I do work in 32-bit throughout the editing process and only downsample to 16-bit on final production export.

What in particular in the tutorial made you think that 32-bit was necessary? I may need to tweak the tutorial so others don't get misguided.

But glad you like the tutorial.

WC

[bgravato]

Like wc said, 44.100 Hz 16-bit stereo is the audio CD standard. IMHO that's more than enough for my non-audiophile ears.