Audacity Forum

Sorry if dumb question from new user follows.

I'm finally tackling converting my 125+ 1960-70 LPs to digital. Just DL'd Audacity2 & will be studying how to use it over the next few days.

I understand that some audio software allows you to play the LP (I have an older turntable) at a faster speed than 33, then converting it back to 33. This would help in speeding the process of getting the music into my puter (probably as .wmv) , then later converting to mp3 or other.

Can Audacity do this, or do I need another application....or perhaps I'm way off base on this entire concept?
Would appreciate any suggestions.

You would think you could do that, but the sound on an LP isn't "flat." You can't just convert it up and down. Vinyl sound is intentionally distorted so that the bass notes fit in the groove which they ordinarily wouldn't. So the first thing that Phono Preamps do is take the distortion out. then they amplify the show to be compatible with your sound system. Run the record off-speed and the processing fails.

There is a process you have to go through when you transfer 78s off-speed. It's not fun.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/man ... cords.html

EDIT Perhaps Koz means http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/man ... sfers.html

All that and if you transfer records too fast, the needle skips over some of the music and you miss parts of the performance.

What I do is start one side at normal speed and set a kitchen timer to ding at the right time. Then I go pay bills or something. Koz

So much for that idea...well, at least I don't have enough bills to pay that'll take me through all my LPs. I assume that any software that claims to that, does not give you a perfect duplicate of the LP music, eh?

Let's see.....125 LPs @ 30-50 minutes = a whole lot of coffee & beer.

Many thanks for the answer.

pmcwillie wrote:Let's see.....125 LPs @ 30-50 minutes = a whole lot of coffee & beer.

The flaw in that assumption is that you're only counting the recrding capture time. With proper processing to clean up any noise, tidy inter-track gaps and labelling for multiple export and the exporting of the production WAV files and backing thme up - with that lot you can comfortably at least double the 30-50 minutes.

I'v'e gotten quite slick at this process I've converted a lot of LPs - finished all of mine a couple of years ago (but that was a 3-4 year project). Right now I'm still working on my wife's collection - almost down the the last box, phew... (but then there's all her tapes).

The best thing I found (from a steer from Koz, for which I am eternally grateful) fairly early on was a tool called ClickRepair which does an amazing job - it costs a litlle (US$45 these days IIRC) but is wll worth it IMHO - see this sticky thread: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1994

It's a labour of love, enjoy it - enjoy listening to the music as you record it, have fun.

WC.

P.S. A lot of Lps have been re-issued as CDs, so if you can get a cheap-ish CD copy that's way easier than doing the LP transcription. All you have to watch out for is that some aof the re-issues are "re-mastered" to make them sound "louder" - and this is not always an improvement.

I'll be checking into Click Repair...anything that will make this project easier is worth it.

This isn't going to be an on-going project that I want to fully learn . Once the albums are done, they & the TT will be sold. But I am stubborn enough that I want to do this & not contract the job out.

This is my basic plan of attack...is my understanding correct?...

For the start, I'm just going to get the LPs into my puter as wave files. I'll be using my laptop (close to the TT & amp) which only has a MIC input.....from reading, this doesn't seem to be a limitation since I understand that this stage doesn't rely on the sound-card (I'll have to see if I pick up noise from that input). I'll be transferring those files to my higher-end desktop (Win7 Pro), where I'll do the editing, file converting & burning.

Appreciate you folks taking the time here.
Peter

Addition..

Followed the link to the manual & am looking at the connecting equipment tuts...looks like that might answer my questions I posed.

For the start, I'm just going to get the LPs into my puter as wave files.

That's a darn good start, and that's the form you keep as archives. If you make Music CDs of the work, the CD will have the same quality as the capture. Music CDs are not archive. They use a cousin to color photography dyes and they fade over time and take your music with them.

DO NOT go down to MP3 unless you need it for your Portable Music Player. MP3 causes sound damage and you can't stop it.

I'll be using my laptop (close to the TT & amp) which only has a MIC input.....from reading, this doesn't seem to be a limitation since I understand that this stage doesn't rely on the sound-card (I'll have to see if I pick up noise from that input).

I sense danger signals. If you have an older turntable, how were you planning on getting into the computer? Describe the process clearly. There are a lot of places to cause damage and this is a big one.


As you go, the CD issues of the music look better and better, particularly as USB turntables don't do all that good a job transferring music in the first place. I have a very high-end turntable and I have vinyl that was never re-issued, so in my case, it was worth it. I set it up in the third bedroom on the guest bed and slowly cranked through them.

Koz

This tutorial from the manual should be usefuk to you: http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/man ... ation.html

It's part of this set of tutorials: http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/man ... ation.html

I'm worried that you are planning to plug into a Mic input on the laptop. Mic inputs are designed to take a much lower signal level that the line level you will be feeding from your TT/amp. Some laptops have cunning Mic inputs that can sense the signal level and adjust accordingly and thus act at either mic level or line level - but not all do.

If yours doesn't you may need to invest in an external soundcard - you would probably benefit from a proper USB souncard anyway as often the inbuilt soundcards in PCs and laptops aren't really up to scratch. See this sticky thread: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9477
The Behringer UCA-202 is generally well-regarded by the elves on this forum, it lacks a gain control but you should be able to manage the signal level from your amp.

WC

You have had some excellent advice already from experienced contributors. I don't lay claim to their level of expertise, but I do by now have quite a bit of experience of transcribing from vinyl and tape (and of recording streaming audio from the BBC). So here's a few thoughts that may be useful and may stimulate further comments from others.

I think you need to step back from the details (including forgetting about the fast-spin idea, which has been pretty thoroughly killed off in earlier postings on this thread) and think about two basic questions: what are your quality targets? and what kind of output are you looking for?

Where vinyl has been professionally transcribed and re-issued on CD (or, better, a CD has been produced from the master tapes), then in most cases you will save yourself a lot of time and trouble, and probably some disappointment, at the cost of modest expenditure by buying the CD, which will probably not be an expensive one. However, sometimes in my experience such CDs are of poor quality, and I have (with a good deal of work on the raw transcription) been able to produce a much better quality result starting from a copy of the LP in good condition. Then, of course, there's the material that is precious to you and not available except on vinyl, and the material that you have on vinyl and are content to use from your own transcription rather than paying money for a CD. These factors, together with the amount of material that you have in each category and how much time and money you are prepared to spend, will tell you what sort of quality target might be appropriate for your transcriptions. Sorry if this sort of dispassionate approach offends the vinyl enthusiasts, but then, the very idea of transcription probably does so, and I doubt if you'll find many of them on this forum. What does hold good is that turntable, arm and cartridge quality are in the critical path for vinyl transcription. Whilst in this area the sky is the limit in terms of what you can spend, there is no doubt that noticeable improvement occurs up to, and arguably continues beyond, the level of my own reasonably good "budget" kit (Rega P3-2000 and Ortofon MC 15 Super II feeding a NAD PP2 phono pre-amp).

The second question can pretty well be re-phrased as "do you want to burn audio CDs?" If so, you are going to need 44.1kHz 16-bit WAV files. The problem here is that many USB devices (most USB turntables, and USB-powered external soundcards like those from Behringer, and the NAD PP3 phono pre-amp – which should know better) have a fixed 48kHz sampling rate. This is also true of some low-end internal soundcards and on-motherboard sound capabilities. If you don't want to burn CDs then this is not a problem if you check that at every step in the transcription process you are working at 48kHz. You can use Audacity to resample from 48kHz to 44.1kHz as an "offline" processing step, and whilst it is beter not to have to do this, it will work. What will almost surely not work properly with the sort of equipment we are talking about is mixing sample rates in real time, one effect of which can apparently be to produce noise at 3.9kHz, the difference between 44.1kHz and 48kHz. If you want to burn CDs, and your equipment will permit it, then it is simpler and more satisfactory to work entirely at 44.1kHz, which is the default in Audacity. One solution is to use your desktop machine and buy an M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496 card for it. Provided your PC case is not too full of stray EM fields, this will work well. Another is to buy a more up-market external USB soundcard with its own power supply and custom drivers. Most of these are oriented towards recording from live sources rather than transcription (and are a bit expensive), but I have found that a good option is to get an M-Audio Audiophile USB s/h (they are no longer made, but up-to-date drivers are available). This has a better noise level specification than the 2496 (which is already pretty good) and incorporates a rather better headphone amp than is provided by built-in sound systems.

Hey, I apologize for not responding earlier....... I didn't know this thread had continued since I mistakenly thought I would get notified on any further posts. Just realized the user preference defaults to not getting the emails ..... first I've seen it default to that on boards. (unless I was in a alcohol induced stupor when first I looked at the user panel).

To the later comments......After faithfully storing my all metal Sony TT for 20+ years, I found that it has all sorts of issues...& needed repairs....got a new $78 Sony (it's Chinese & all plastic, but it's getting the job done). You folks joined the loud chorus of other material I've read that the USB TTs are crap.....never considered them. ..Using the UFO 202, I can get the TT up to my workstation & don't have to mess w/ the laptop. Have processed my purchased CDs to wave, then exported & burned to Mp3s using Audacity's extreme preset. Now tackling the LPs.

Dropped the idea of speeding up the LPs.

A plus is that the TT has a pre-amp...I've posted ( http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 46&t=66619) a comparison between using it or the UFO's. The TT's inputs the LPs several dBs louder which I assumed means it's more efficient...only to be told...like all of life...that it isn't that simple.....can't tell (on the puter) any audio diff between using he 2, (after editing the waves in Audacity so they looked similar). I'll listen to them on better equipment to see if that holds true, if not, I'll go w/ the TT's.

RS_RS.
I'm fraid my eyes started to roll back when I tried to understand the diff between 44.1kHz 16-bit WAV files & a 48kHz sampling rate. Just checked my sound settings on my Realtek ALC888 chip & it does have 2 choices (see attached). It was on CD quality & that's how I did all my CDs....is this something I need to understand & deal with? If yes, please talk down to me & I'll try to understand the concept.

Thanks to all....