Background Noise when recording from USB Turntable (Pro-Ject

[waxcylinder]

Turntables do normally need grounding to avoid mains hum. They ususally have two thicker RCA leads for the signals abd a thinner black lead terminating in a spade connector for the earthing. My Technics TT certainly has this and I have it grounded to the grounding post on my phono preamp for recording with Audacity (and was grounded on my hi-fi preamp when the TT was plumbed into my hi-fi).

UPDATE: But having said that, I seem to recall that when I was using a USB TT (ION iTTUSB) a while back I don't recall having any grounding for that - I assume that was managed by the USB lead.

WC

[matparks]

Cool, cheers for the feedback.

Will get it earthed and take it from there!

M

[steve]

I notice that there is a 100Hz component in the noise - good earthing may help to reduce that if it's a harmonic of mains hum, but there is also a load of broadband noise that sounds like you are picking up interference from somewhere. Have you tried recording from anything other than the turntable?

[steve]

There's been a post from a user of an ION turntable that has almost identical noise: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 26&t=24509
My current guess is that the turntable is faulty.

[matparks]

Thanks for the update, sounds very similar.
Think I'll go back to Pro-Ject and see what can be done.

Thanks for your time on this.

M

[matparks]

Hi There,

Thanks for all the advice. The turntable did turn out to be faulty. The USB Motherboard had to be replaced.
Pro-Ject were very good about it, amazing customer service. Recommend them highly.

Hope this helps in future!

Thanks again!!!

M

[steve]

Thanks for the feedback matparks.

[matparks]

No problems chap.

As mentioned I think on one of my first posts, am about to embark on a mass vinyl archiving process.

Are there any top tips you can suggest for getting the most out of Audacity and maximising sound quality?
Any tips gratefully received!

M

[waxcylinder]

Clean your records thoroughly before playing to remove dust and minimize clicks.

Make sure your record deck is set up properly and mount on a solid surface as isolated from vibration as is possible.

Ensure your platter i srunning at the right speed - you can buy strobe mats or print them off t'interweb

In terms of processing:
1) the main processing I do is removal of clicks and pops - I used to use Audacity for this - but now use a $40 piece of software called ClickRepair to do the job - it is excellent, see: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1994 . (I capture side-1, export as a 32-bit WAV, process through CR, then re-import the processed WAV back into Audacity and then process - repeat for side-2)
2) I clean up the intertrack gaps, fadeouts and fade-ins where needed, proper silencing of the intertrack gaps, shorteneing the gaps.
3) Amplify with Audacity - I amplify to -0.6dB
4)labelling tracks - I label as: 01 <track_name_1>, 02 <track_name_2>, etc. - this keps my tracks in the right order for later CD burning or import into iTunes etc.
5)export WAVs/MP3s to a folder specifically named for the album
6) multiple backups of the WAVs

Oh, and do upgrade to 1.3.11 - you will find it much better for the work you are doing. It is labelled as Beta but is actually more stable on most modern platforms than 1.2.6. Tou can get 1.3 from here: http://audacityteam.org/download/

And you may find these worth a read: http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... iscs_to_CD
and: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/USB_turntables

WC

[matparks]

Lovelly job, many thanks for the tips and advice!

Regards

Mat