converting vinyl to mp3

chughes · 13-09-2009 10:27pm #1

Does anyone know if it's possible to get this done at a reasonable cost in the Dublin area. I recently rediscovered my vinyl collection and although I replaced many of the records with cd's over the years, there are a few that never came out on cd. Sadly, my old turntable has gone to hi-fi heaven and don't really want to invest in a turntable at this stage.

afatbollix · 14-09-2009 10:46am

it would be a lot cheaper to just buy a usb turn table Maplins do one for about 100 euro i think

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=263993

iamhunted · 22-09-2009 3:38pm

probably be more cost effective doing as afatbollix said rather than paying someone to rip your vinyl

Obi-Jim · 25-09-2009 5:49pm

Yea, there's cheap enough usb turntables out there.

I do a bit of this for people on occasion, in the studio. Drop me a pm if you're not interested in getting a turntable, i'll try and sort you out for cheap enough.

xprepairs · 09-10-2009 6:54pm

http://www.pcworld.com/article/117810/rip_your_records.html gives you some ideas that are quite inexpensive.
Hope that helps
xprepairs

Irish Gunner · 06-12-2009 2:00pm

Looking at buying Father Gunner a usb turntable for xmas to put all his old vinyl onto pc. He aint the most computer literate so looking for something simple. Not sure if he wants to edit the music when on PC and easy audio fixing software. Would it require a big memory on pc to do this?

Other than Maplin or ebay any other bricks and mortar or online to buy this?

chughes · 06-12-2009 6:37pm

Irish Gunner wrote: »

Looking at buying Father Gunner a usb turntable for xmas to put all his old vinyl onto pc. He aint the most computer literate so looking for something simple. Not sure if he wants to edit the music when on PC and easy audio fixing software. Would it require a big memory on pc to do this?

Other than Maplin or ebay any other bricks and mortar or online to buy this?

I think Argos do them but sometimes you see them in either Aldi or Lidl. Peats would also probably do them.

Obi, I'm still enjoying the work you did for me some months back. Cheers.

Irish Gunner · 07-12-2009 9:56am

Was around Dublin town and saw a few in Peats and Maplins and This in Argos. Does not get great reviews

Obi any suggestions on what & where to get

ZOLTAN28 · 07-12-2009 11:13am

Irish Gunner wrote: »

Looking at buying Father Gunner a usb turntable for xmas to put all his old vinyl onto pc. He aint the most computer literate so looking for something simple. Not sure if he wants to edit the music when on PC and easy audio fixing software. Would it require a big memory on pc to do this?

Got mine in Tesco (not sure if they still do them) - has a USB and an SD card slot - simple matter of playing record, inserting SD and pressing record.

Saves recording as an MP3 so you will get one side per MP3 - I use an MP3 splitter to turn them into tracks - this would probably be complicated for someone not used to computers.

No major memory used - one sid eof vinyl is about 20 MB.

Irish Gunner · 07-12-2009 1:33pm

How about This one on Komplett looks decent enough. Never heard of model ION

Anyone think this is good ?

Dr Kamikazi · 15-12-2009 3:47pm

Those USB turntables are nasty. Wouldn't put my good vinyl on it.
I'm using a Kenwood KD-990 myself, connected to a Yamaha AX500, both over 20 years old and love nor money will buy you gorgeous pieces of kit lie those these days.
Audio card is an ancient Sound Blaster, 2 channel stereo, nice quality, let's face it you don't need a surround sound, 5.1 card for vinyl, that's just overkill.
Built in or onboard cards can be nasty.
To capture I actually use Cool Edit 2000, a slimmed down version of Cool Edit Pro, these days known as Adobe Audition, but the current incarnation is so vastly bloated it had trouble capturing audio without cutting a few seconds here and there because it was too busy running and updating itself rather than to capture the audio, I threw it out again and went back to Cool Edit.
Capture in 41 kHz, 16 bit stereo (perfectly acceptable for vinyl) then it converts to mp3, I use 256 kb/s and get really nice results.
If you in any way care for your vinyl and the way it sounds, don't get one of those nasty USB pieces of trash.

techguy · 26-12-2009 12:03am

Hi Guys,

Sorry to be bumping the thread. I have just gotten a USB turntable for crimbo. When I record the vinyl using USB in Audactiy it sounds really bad.

I'm not sure how to describe it but it's like there's loads of interference/noise or something..

I'm using a Sony Vaio laptop with the onbaord sound. Any advice on what I can do to get decent sound to the laptop?

Are there any drivers/settings I should play around with..?

bildo · 26-12-2009 3:36am

I've never found a usb turntable that wasn't complete rubbish.
If you want mp3 backups you can just download them, if you already own the music in one format you're entitled to a digital copy. I assume so anyway.

martybike · 28-03-2010 10:49pm

afatbollix wrote: »

it would be a lot cheaper to just buy a usb turn table Maplins do one for about 100 euro i think

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=263993

I know it's a bit late in the day to be replying to this, but don't bother with any of those USB decks. A few of my mates and I tried to use them. They are all complete rubbish. Most of them are made of the cheapest material and ain't great for your records. Never heard of any that produced a half decent mp3 sound.

BTW, I tried to return mine to Maplin after mine failed to work on even one track and got fobbed off with another one. When I got the same result from that one I went bak again to Maplin and the response I got was unbelievable. More or less accused me of recording all my records and then returning the turntable for a credit note. I used to get a bit of stuff there. I'll never go back now.

Also, to get back to the original question, does anyone know of a professional outfit who will transfer your vinyl to mp3?

blastman · 06-04-2010 5:41pm

I have a reasonable non-USB turntable and have gotten good results with it. If anyone wants small jobs done give me a shout (not keen on ripping a 500 LP collection, mind you!)

chughes · 06-04-2010 6:11pm

blastman wrote: »

I have a reasonable non-USB turntable and have gotten good results with it. If anyone wants small jobs done give me a shout (not keen on ripping a 500 LP collection, mind you!)

Blastman, many thanks for the offer. It does seem that USB turntables are not worth the money, given the resulting output from them.

I had a couple of LP's by a band called the Bogey Boys from 1979 and 1980 and they were never released on CD format. I availed of an offer by Obi-Jim last September and he kindly converted them for me.

Thanks again for ther offer.

yagalo100 · 28-11-2011 10:01am

Hi I was wondering does anyone know of anywhere in Dublin that would convert vinyl to a cd for me? Thanks

Damien King · 12-02-2012 7:35pm

Just came across this thread, I do a fair bit of vinyl/cassette/vhs etc. conversion, not in here to promote my services but will leave a few pointers....

techguy wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Sorry to be bumping the thread. I have just gotten a USB turntable for crimbo. When I record the vinyl using USB in Audactiy it sounds really bad.

I'm not sure how to describe it but it's like there's loads of interference/noise or something..

I'm using a Sony Vaio laptop with the onbaord sound. Any advice on what I can do to get decent sound to the laptop?

Are there any drivers/settings I should play around with..?

Just off the top of my head this noise could be caused by a ground loop... it can be caused by mains power interfering with your audio signal. I wont go into it fully here, just google it if you want to know more. It can happen when a turntable and computer (mainly laptops) are connected.

Plenty of things on the market to help with this problem, known as "ground loop isolators" Im not saying this is definately your problem and buying an isolator will sort it so before you go spending give this a try:

Try Recording from the vinyl again with the laptop disconnected from the mains this time. You can always plug it back in when you have the recording and want to edit it.

People will talk about software to "clean up" a recording. There is a lot to be said for cleaning the actual record beforehand. A good record cleaning brush and cleaning solution will help. Again i wont go into it here, google is your friend

I haven't really come across software that will remove all pops and crackles without having a negative effect on the recording. It just doesnt sound as "bright" afterwards

I try and avoid using software whenever i can, most of my conversions will be done from a technics 1210 with broadcast quality stylus, connected to a soundcraft/urei mixer. The sound is sent through a 32band EQ to my Marantz SR5400 (amp is set to source direct so no signal proccessing, just the actual audio) and recorded using a phillips audio cd recorder.

Its works for me and I have a lot of happy customers.

Its worth noting that the finished recording will depend on the condition of the record. Give it a good clean beforehand.

Whats the make and model of the turntable? you might be able to get a better stylus for it. this can also help

Hope this helps and good luck with the archiving!

vader65 · 13-02-2012 2:00pm

I got a usb turntable in Argos.. granted it was in Newry so probably ait cheaper £70 which works out about €85 or so. It is great havn't had any problems with it had it for about a year now.

converting vinyl to mp3

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