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Converting Vinyl to MP3s
- Thread starter ThaQuest
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That depends on what you have already. You can buy a USB turntable that plugs into your mac or if you have the the stereo setup; Amp, record player, etc. then all you'd need was is a Griffin iMic and Final Vinyl and iTunes. If you don't have the stereo setup you'd just need to buy the $100-$125 turntable and they sell at costco, brookstone, etc.
Is the USB turntable something I could use to mix records straight from my computer? I've heard about this but I don't know much about it.
Why not go to your local radio shack and pickup a stereo female RCA to male 1/8 inch adapter? Then pickup a sound recording software such as audacity(its free!). This is all assuming that your mac has a line in, if you have a Intel mac you should have one. Once you have the supplies all you need to do is connect a RCA cable to the record player and then the RCA cable to the adapter you just picked up and that to the computer.
[record player]--->[RCA Cable]--->[RCA to 1/8"adapter]--->[MAC]
This will all work fine, the only thing that will suck is having to listen to all your great records in real time to record them
. Then you will need to cut up the audio into different tracks. Right now I can't remember the name of the software that you can download to get rid of most of the pops and whistles that are heard on records, but if your like me, you'll leave them there for the old school feeling.
[record player]--->[RCA Cable]--->[RCA to 1/8"adapter]--->[MAC]
This will all work fine, the only thing that will suck is having to listen to all your great records in real time to record them
. Then you will need to cut up the audio into different tracks. Right now I can't remember the name of the software that you can download to get rid of most of the pops and whistles that are heard on records, but if your like me, you'll leave them there for the old school feeling.
Oh, Jesus. Might I ask what these records are? It'd only rarely be worth the trouble. You get better sound from CDs than from mp3 rips of consumer-grade records.
No this will not work fine.
Standard turntables have too low an output to drive a line input, Also, all vinyl is recorded with the RIAA compensation curve, and will sound horrible and tinny unless the curve is removed in a phono preamp.
Your method will work if you first put the turntable into a stereo preamp or receiver, and take the RCAs from an AUX out or a TAPE out, or if the record player has an onboard preamp and line outs (most do not).
Even with unlimited funds to buy new CDs, many out of print LPs are simply not available on CD. Even Jesus won't help you there.
What do you mean, mix straight from the computer?
That's why I asked which records he's planning on ripping. And considering the cost of some methods already suggested, it might be worth it to go on Amazon and spring $5 per CD.
In general, though, I've found that almost everything is available on CD, with very few exceptions -- I have, for instance, The C.A. Quintet's Trip Thru Hell on CD, along with a butt-ton of other forgotten albums from the late 60's. Esquerita/Eskew Reeder can be found on CD. Comus, Socrates Drank the Conium, etc -- I just don't hear of that many albums that haven't been re-released.
By all means, if they're unreleased and the OP can only make a copy this way, he should do it. But what I hear more often is people wanting to rip vinyl to mp3 to improve the sound quality!
Because they bought into the whole "vinyl inherently sounds better than CDs" crap, mostly.I totally forgot about that 30lb piece of equipment that resides under my record player, thanks CanadaRAM for the quick update before this man tried to record silence.
And to kalisphoenix, If this man has a HUGE collection as he says, $5 a CD plus S+H adds up quickly. In addition, allot of people prefer to listen to music from analog sources than digital. Am I right to assume you would rather listen to Elvis on a CD than over an AM radio station? People know CDs sound clearer than vinyl and people don't expect the new MP3 to sound clearer than the vinyl, but rather they WANT the static in the background as it ADDS to the entire sound. The only music that I like to listen to in a digital format is electronic and hip hop, everything else from bluegrass to rock I like to listen via an analog source, to ME it sounds better but you are still able to hold your opinion.
And to kalisphoenix, If this man has a HUGE collection as he says, $5 a CD plus S+H adds up quickly. In addition, allot of people prefer to listen to music from analog sources than digital. Am I right to assume you would rather listen to Elvis on a CD than over an AM radio station? People know CDs sound clearer than vinyl and people don't expect the new MP3 to sound clearer than the vinyl, but rather they WANT the static in the background as it ADDS to the entire sound. The only music that I like to listen to in a digital format is electronic and hip hop, everything else from bluegrass to rock I like to listen via an analog source, to ME it sounds better but you are still able to hold your opinion.
I decided to convert my vinyl collection last year and purchased an ART USB Phono Plus and a new turntable. I highly recommend the Phono Plus. It's very well made, bus powered, and has a the RIAA preamp as well as a standard line level in (so you can convert all those cassettes too! or use it with an outboard mixer as a recording interface). I used Audacity for awhile, but then switched to Bias' Peak. As a side note, I found the process very time consuming and only got about 1/4 of the way through my collection, but I captured the tunes I was most interested in.
There are many LPs which aren't available anywhere else. I've about 50 in my collection (mostly classical recordings) which can't be found on CD.
... and a lot of 12" singles were never re-released on CD either, and even if you could find me the ludicrously over-extended remix of Altered Images I Could Be Happy on CD [edit] and you can of course [/edit], it still wouldn't have the click in it from when my best friend pogoed into the turntable at my first 21st - sometimes it's not just the sound of records, but the sound of that record, your record, that matters.
I use the iMic - it comes with Final Vinyl which does a pretty nice job of recording. Spin Doctor (which comes "free" with Toast, or used to) has a few more convenient features, like track naming and direct export to the iTunes encoder, but seemed a bit crash happy when i was using it on a G3
[/edit], it still wouldn't have the click in it from when my best friend pogoed into the turntable at my first 21st - sometimes it's not just the sound of records, but the sound of that record, your record, that matters.I use the iMic - it comes with Final Vinyl which does a pretty nice job of recording. Spin Doctor (which comes "free" with Toast, or used to) has a few more convenient features, like track naming and direct export to the iTunes encoder, but seemed a bit crash happy when i was using it on a G3