First of all, thanks everyone for all the replies. We’ve really enjoyed listening to all my Dad’s old records. One thing I forgot to mention was we are on his laptop. Dad got out some headphones last night and it sounded MUCH better. So, I think the laptop speakers are not very good and make it sound a little more distorted than it is. But…here’s answers and more questions below…
You said:
have you tried reducing the input volume when you record? (there is a slider bar near the top left of the screen with a mic icon i think) When you record in audacity make sure that the soundwaves remain between +1 and -1 otherwise this will cause distortion, this may be the problem
My reply:
We’re a bit confused by that. As it’s recording, we can see a “wave meter” that has a volume symbol. It’s always green and says -21. The next one is the microphone symbol and usually is red (which meant to me that it’s probably too high) and also says -21. As far as adjusting these, we can’t. There’s a arrow below you can click but it says options “vertical stereo, linear, monitor input”. Now over further to the right there’s another volume and mic adjustment and this has a slider bar we can move. We have moved it lower but honestly couldn’t tell much difference. So, if there’s another way to change settings, please walk us through it as we’re green on this.
You said:
i think there are equaliser options in the effects menu. there are some preset options or you can find what sounds the best for you manualy, you’ll have to muck around a bit, trial and error…meaksy
My reply:
Thanks for that hint…we had not tried the equaliser. While looking at that I saw something else that we hadn’t tried…AMPLIFY! I didn’t mention, but one record is of my uncle from the war…they were able to make a small 30 sec recording sent back home during the war. This uncle is still living…in his upper 80’s so we were hoping to play and make a copy for him and his family. Well, the background scratch noises are louder than the voice of the audio, so it’s not coming through well at all. Did noise reduction and still getting lots of distortion. And, still couldn’t hear him well. I just tried amplify and it helped a lot! We can now understand him saying, “Hi, Mom and Dad, it’s me…” So…I think I’ll try re-recording again and try equalization and amplify.
meaksy wrote:
have you tried reducing the input volume when you record?
There may also be a recording level control for the turntable in the Windows Control Panel - not sure about this, so it would be helpful to hear if that’s correct.
My Reply:
I have looked and looked in the Windows Control Panel for recording levels but we cannot find it. Everything seems to do with “video” which is really just those crazy wave videos that play while a record is going. If you can walk me through, perhaps we can find it and check that out. Thanks!
You said:
there’s a trade-off between the noise reduction, and generated “artifacts” (weird bubbly sounds). If the “noise profile” is at a relatively high level, then the artifacts will be greater. The only things that you can do about it are: a) try to reduce the amount of noise from the original recording (look after your records, carefully clean them before playing, ensure that your stylus is in good condition and record at a reasonable high level). b) For high levels of noise, REDUCE the amount of noise reduction - you will have more noise remainig. but less of the bubbly artifacts.
My reply:
I’m so glad you gave a name to those “weird sounds” 
We didn’t know how to even describe that. AND, we had hoped then we might be able to isolate that “weird” sound and take them out further, but haven’t been able to. I guess that’s where “professionals” might come in. Are there companies where you can send a sound file and have them clean it up? We’d really like to get this war record to where we can hear it better. But, thanks again as this has helped us with the other records that don’t have near the problems. We just set noise reduction lower and it worked great.
You said:
To quickly explain what is happening with “Noise Removal” - First you create a “profile” of the background noise from a “silent” (ie, just noise) part of the track. Stage 2 is that Audacity looks for audio that matches this “profile” and reduces the level of it in the entire track. So, for example, with a recording from a cassette tape, there will be a fairly constant, fairly quiet, background hiss - you use the Noise Removal effect to "sample this hiss (from part of the tape recording that has no music playing) - this is the “noise profile” - you then select the whole track, and use the Noise Removal effect (which now has a noise profile) to remove that noise (the hiss) from the whole track.stevethefiddle
My reply:
OK…then we’re doing it correctly…just seems like a lot of going back and forth and I guess I wish the settings and changes could all be done in one box if that makes sense.
You said:
ION TTs normally have a gain (volume) control underneath at the back, a little knurled knob nearby where the RCA & USB leads exit the deck. This is not an ergonomically convenient location when you ahve record on the deck - but it does work!
My reply:
Well, unfortunately we don’t have a knob. Ours is the ION TTUSBOS ordered from QVC. And…we’ve had problems with itunes…I’ll post separately…
You said:
Also I note your commebt that you are converting to Audacity and then eventually to CDs. I would strongly recommend that you make your CD’s as you go. Record the project, do the editing, break into tracks, export as multiple WAVs and then burn the CD - and then delete the Audacity project. Apart from the fact that Audacity projects are rather large - they are also sensitive to being moved around.
BTW in addition to making the CD I would also recommend backing up the WAVs to an external disc drive. You will have done an awful lot of work on the recording/editing process - and you don’t really want to lose that. Large external USB discs can be purchased quite cheaply now.
My reply:
Yes, we’re exporting to wavs…then grouping those into collections and recording to cd. So far, it’s been working. Great idea on exporting to external disc/flash.
Many thanks everyone! If you have further replies, please feel free to post as I’m sure there were others who bought this from QVC at Christmas! haha!
TK Welch 
