Brawny, If all you want to do is record your LPs to hard disk, then it's fairly straightforward: 1. Connect output of phono preamp to line input of soundcard. 2. Use whatever hard disk recording software you like and record in an UNCOMPRESSED format (eg. WAV on Windows, presumably AIFF on a Mac, etc). The only tricky aspect here is getting the recording level set correctly. You must absolutely avoid any clipping. If you're unsure about recording levels, it's far better to under-record than risk clipping. Most modern soundcards have sufficiently low noise floors that this isn't a problem. I strongly recommend that you record each LP side to a single long file. Don't try to split into separate tracks at the recording stage - leave it for later. I also strongly recommend that you use headphones for monitoring while recording, to avoid any smearing of fine detail due to acoustic feedback when using speakers. Even the finest turntables suffer from this to a certain extent (eg. my own Linn LP12 produces slightly better recordings when there is no monitoring going on). 3. Use an audio editor to trim away "dead space" and normalise. 4. Split the tracks using a suitable program such as CD Wave. 5. Compress to the codec of your choice (eg. FLAC).
If you're also interested in "cleaning up" your recordings (declicking, decrackling, etc), then the fun & games begin. There are lots of programs around that profess to "convert your scratchy LP recordings to pristine CD clarity". Suitable scepticism is in order. I've been transferring LPs to digital since 1994, and I still haven't found a program that does automatic cleanup and works well all the time. NEVER pay for an audio restoration program unless you've been able to try it out first. There are certain types of glitches that defeat ALL automatic restoration programs. The only way to do a really first class job is to do it manually, and that takes a huge amount of effort. I've written up a page of notes that you might (or might not!) find helpful: http://www.delback.co.uk/lp-cdr.htm. Good luck. PS. It's not clear to me whether you're planning on doing this on a Windows or Ubuntu machine. You said that your Audigy soundcard is in an Ubuntu machine, but then talk about various Windows programs. I only have experience with Windows, and from what I can gather, the range of programs available for the hobbyist LP recorder is much greater on Windows than other operating systems. -- cliveb Transporter -> ATC SCM100A ------------------------------------------------------------------------ cliveb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=348 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=40894 _______________________________________________ ripping mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/ripping
