The manual for my new Audio Technics LP-120 turntable says to set at 16 bit and 44100 Hz. I want to maximize the quality. Are those the correct settings or should I go to 32 bit float and a higher Hz setting? Note that I am completely ignorant on this.
Also, if my ultimate destination is to import into Itunes for my Ipod, should I save as MP3 or one of the other options?
One other: I started with a Crosley turntable that was supposed to be stereo, but I always got two identical channel into Audacity and the resulting sound was obliviously 2-channel monaural.I complained to Crosley, but they were of no help. I believe that turntable, which has one builtin speaker, is simply a monaural device. Does that make sense?
Please check your Audacity version (look in “Help > About Audacity”.
The current version is 2.1.2 which is available here: http://www.audacityteam.org/download/
The recommended installer for Audacity on Windows includes the full user manual. There is an up to date section about recording from vinyl (look on the front page of the manual in the “Tutorials” section for “Copying tapes, LPs and other media to CD or computer”.
Interesting. Crosley included an out of date version of Audacity (1.0 something). AT included 2.0.3. Sounds like I should go and download yet another more current version. The user manual for the version Crosley sent was not much help on vinyl transfer so I hope the new one is better.
The harware manufacturers’ manuals/instructions for using Audacity on their hardware is often pretty poor (that’s what drove me here several years ago and ended up with me being one of the Manual’s editors).
The manual for my new Audio Technics LP-120 turntable says to set at 16 bit and 44100 Hz. I want to maximize the quality. Are those the correct settings or should I go to 32 bit float and a higher Hz setting? Note that I am completely ignorant on this.
The [u]Technics Website[/u] says 16-bits at 44.1kHz or 48kHz. Either 44.1kHz or 48kHz is fine. Your drivers will probably allow you to select higher resolution, but up-sampling by the driver doesn’t give you more true resolution. Audacity (like most audio editors) works at internally at 32-bit floating point, and there are technical advantages to that, but you don’t need to record or save/export at high bit depths.
If you’ll be making an audio CD, audio CDs are 44.1kHz, 16-bit, stereo, so it’s best to record at 44.1kHz and avoid unnecessary conversions.
I want to maximize the quality.
The weak link is the record itself (and sometimes the phono cartridge). CDs at 16-bit/44.1kHz, are better than analog and better than human hearing. By that I mean technically better… Some people prefer the sound and vinyl and don’t mind the surface noise and other technical weaknesses… Vinyl can legitimately sound better to those listeners.