Recording record albums

[ehart]

Hi,

Are people using their SBs to help in "recording" (digitizing) their existing LP collections?

I'm looking at the Olive products. They don't do certain things (like support IR remotes) but they do work for "recording" as well as "playing".

What are SB users doing in this regard?

Cordially,

Eric Hart

[tom permutt]

I've thought about this, too, and even started a related thread ( http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=20822 ). The short version is, while you may well want to do this and play the results through a SqueezeBox, the SqueezeBox doesn't play a role in the recording. Personally, I use a CD recorder component in the audio system and then (sometimes) edit the results on a computer.

A good source of general information on digitizing LPs is at http://www.delback.co.uk/lp-cdr.htm ; it happens to be by sometime forum contributer cliveb.

[funkstar]

It's not something i need to do, but i've read a few threads on the subject here in the past.

A couple of people have decided only to record LPs that they just can't find on CD, those that they can they are replacing. For them the amount of work required to record to their satisfaction just wasn't worth their time. Especially true if it is an older album and you can find it second hand at a record fair or similar.

As for the actual method of recording LPs, i'll let someone else answer that :)

[Khuli]

A couple of people have decided only to record LPs that they just can't find on CD, those that they can they are replacing. For them the amount of work required to record to their satisfaction just wasn't worth their time. Especially true if it is an older album and you can find it second hand at a record fair or similar.

As for the actual method of recording LPs, i'll let someone else answer that :)

I've recorded a few and it does take a long time to do it properly!

You have to play the album once to get the recording level right (to avoid clipping), then again to record it, and then a third time to play it back an de-click it. So you can safely assume at least 3 hours per album.

I take an output from my amp to the PC sound card to record it, and use Wave Repair to edit the waveform after http://www.delback.co.uk/wavrep/

The main problem is that the cartridge on my Rega Planar 3 is so nice, it adds a warmth and depth that you just don't get on a CD, so consequently the final CD doesn't sound the same as one you buy (usually much better - depending on your ears of course)

The upshot of all that is that I've only done copies of the albums which are now deleted and never made it to CD.

[cliveb]

Someone else has already pointed you at my web page of notes on the subject, so I'll not repeat that here. I will just comment on one thing:

A couple of people have decided only to record LPs that they just can't find on CD, those that they can they are replacing. For them the amount of work required to record to their satisfaction just wasn't worth their time.
This is a very valid point. It's very easy to do a cursory transfer of LP to digital, but to make a good job of it involves a lot of effort.

If the album is available on CD, it's not worth bothering to transfer the LP unless the commercial CD version is flawed in some way (eg. "remastered" with hypercompression, tracks omitted/edited, transferred from damaged copy tapes, etc). Note that some commercial CDs of older albums are themselves transferred from vinyl LPs, and not all of them are done particularly well. (One that springs to mind is the Gott Records CD of Adrian Belew's first two albums).

One other possible reason for doing an LP transfer is if you just happen to enjoy doing it as a pastime. I happen to fall into that category, but suspect I'm pretty weird in that respect.

[boerner]

You could try this...

http://www.ion-audio.com/products/turntables/iTTUSB.html

Just featured in Popular Science I think...

[breakfastchef]

Are people using their SBs to help in "recording" (digitizing) their existing LP collections?

Don't know how you could use SB in the recording process, bit I enjoy using Spin-It-Again by Acoustica. It is easy to use and has some basic tools to clean up noise from LP and cassette recordings. It detects track breaks automatically with a relatively high degree of accuracy.

I agree with other forum members that it is cheaper and easier to cherry-pick your favorite songs or download an entire album from an online retailer.

[ehart]

[QUOTE=Khuli]The main problem is that the cartridge on my Rega Planar 3 is so nice, it adds a warmth and depth that you just don't get on a CD, so consequently the final CD doesn't sound the same as one you buy (usually much better - depending on your ears of course)QUOTE]

Yes, this is the experience I've had. I've bought a few CDs of things I already own on vinyl and they sound just terrible.

I was thinking of going with the Olive Musica instead of the SlimBox mainly for this reason -- to give me an easy way to record from analog source. I wasn't planning to de-click, but maybe I'd do that later.

There's a lot to like about the Slimbox, too, so still thinking.

Thanks to everyone for their advice...

- Eric