Trouble recording vinyls.

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maxiac
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Trouble recording vinyls.

Post by maxiac » Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:00 am

Hello. I have been trying to record vinyls onto my computer via a turntable. It is connected to my computer with red and white audio cables which run through a box of some kind, and then to my computer with a USB cord. The problem is, I can't seem to change the input source from "Default Import Source." I have accomplished this once, but can't figure it out again. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

kozikowski
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Re: Trouble recording vinyls.

Post by kozikowski » Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:48 am

<<<It is connected to my computer with red and white audio cables which run through a box of some kind, and then to my computer with a USB cord.>>>

That would be the left and right phono cartridge and stylus output plugged, hopefully, into a phono preamplifier. It should say that on the little box somewhere. Also in that little box is the USB digitizer. Nothing strange or unusual.

To capture that on a Mac, you need proper setups in three places....

Apple > System Preferences > Hardware > Sound > Input. This will probably not say something like "Phono Preamp." It will probably say the manufacturer of the electronics or some weird part number. In any event, it will be the only thing you don't recognize, or isn't in English.

Then, in Audacity...

Audacity > Preferences > Audio I/O > Recording. Select the same thing.

Then restart Audacity. The main Audacity work window will probably say "Default Input" or something like that.

There is another place where you can get into trouble...

Audacity > Preferences > Audio I/O > Channels 2 (stereo)
Audacity > Preferences > Quality > 44100 and 16-bit

Restart Audacity to make sure everything sticks.

Let us know how it comes out.

Koz

kringleguy
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Re: Trouble recording vinyls.

Post by kringleguy » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:32 pm

I have a device similar to this called INport. It worked well with my Windows computer as did its software for processing the recordings into digital files. When I switched to Mac computers last fall I could not use the software because there is no Mac version. Someone suggested using Audacity for recording from vinyl and cassettes. So, the device is now connected to my MacBook via the USB port and is visible in the Mac system preferences with no problem. It is not visible in the Audacity preferences no matter how many times I open and close (restart) Audacity. So, is there something that I am missing besides the opportunity to work with Audacity? What is the solution?

kozikowski
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Re: Trouble recording vinyls.

Post by kozikowski » Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:20 am

<<<is visible in the Mac system preferences with no problem.>>>

Do you get the System Preferences bouncing light sound meter when you play something? That's important because that meter is pretty inclusive. It's a 40dB instrument, so if the show doesn't appear on that meter, you have no show.

Koz

kringleguy
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Re: Trouble recording vinyls.

Post by kringleguy » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:16 pm

I am happy to report that I solved my problem soon after my previous posting. In your message you said to restart Audacity following the setup in System Preferences. I did that a few times as I reported. After my posting I decided to restart my MacBook which then made my INport visible in Audacity as an Core Audio: INport. All is well for now until I get into recording tracks, dividing and naming tracks, converting to MP3, etc.

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