Vinyl to CD.

Rigsby

Does anyone know a reasonably priced place in Dublin where I could get a few LP's converted to CD ? The CD itself is all I want, not all the fancy sleeve work that often goes with this service.

I have tried the "do it yourself" method without much success. I bought and installed the "Audacity" software and could not get it to work. Perhaps this is my fault as I am not good at this kind of thing, and would rather pay a reasonable price and avoid the hassle.

peter05

Give Aidan a shout his lathe tonearm is prob the best in the country for transfer.

http://www.masterlabs.net/

Rigsby

peter05 wrote: »

Give Aidan a shout his lathe tonearm is prob the best in the country for transfer.

http://www.masterlabs.net/

Will do. Thanks.

Rigsby

peter05 wrote: »

Give Aidan a shout his lathe tonearm is prob the best in the country for transfer.

http://www.masterlabs.net/

Emailed them. I appreciate you giving me the link, but at 25 euros a pop :eek: (albiet the best tonearm in the country).....I think I'll pass.

peter05

Obviously If you want it to a professional level your going to part with cash. Keep trying the DIY route it MIGHT yield results, plenty of info online.

Rigsby

peter05 wrote: »

Obviously If you want it to a professional level your going to part with cash.

But I DONT want a professional level recording. All I want is to be able to play some of my old LP's in the car.

Radiosurfer

You should just buy a USB turntable or get a soundcard for your computer that you can run the audio outs of your turntable into (cheap one for about €20). Download Audacity for free and do them yourself. Google it for tutorials on how to do it. It's very simple but time consuming.

peter05

Ah ok I get you.

What deck are you using and what problems are you coming up against (sh*t sound/No low end)?

Has your deck got built in R.I.A.A Curve or are you employing this on the digital side of transfer.

Rigsby

Radiosurfer wrote: »

You should just buy a USB turntable or get a soundcard for your computer that you can run the audio outs of your turntable into (cheap one for about €20). Download Audacity for free and do them yourself. Google it for tutorials on how to do it. It's very simple but time consuming.

I hate when people say it's very simple As I said in my initial post, I bought and installed Audacity but could not activite it.

peter05 wrote: »

Ah ok I get you.

What deck are you using and what problems are you coming up against (sh*t sound/No low end)?

Has your deck got built in R.I.A.A Curve or are you employing this on the digital side of transfer.

My problem is with the Audicity software. I did not even get to the stage of setting up my turn table. Your second sentance might as well be in Arabic, for all I can understand of it.

peter05

Ok, what problems are you having with audacity?

I see from your above post you can't ativate. Have you emailed/called them about this. prob your best bet.


You could find your answer here. http://forum.audacityteam.org/

Rigsby

peter05 wrote: »

Ok, what problems are you having with audacity?

I see from your above post you can't ativate. Have you emailed/called them about this. prob your best bet.


You could find your answer here. http://forum.audacityteam.org/

Thanks for your help.

I'll get in touch with them and then persevere some more.

peter05

No probs. Post back let us know how you are getting along with it.

Rigsby

Will do. Though my reason for starting this thread was in the hope that there was some reasonably priced service out there, and I could avoid all these problems. I thought once I installed Audicity that it would be plain sailing....not so, it seems.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes.


Thanks again.

andy1249

You "Bought and installed Audacity"

Where did you "Buy" it from ?

Audacity is and always has been free !

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Did you get it in some kind of package or from somewhere other than the audacity site ?

Tutorials on how to record Vinyl are everywhere , and are very basic indeed , quite easy to do.

http://www.tested.com/news/how-to/1442-how-to-properly-convert-your-vinyl-record-collection-to-digital/

Rigsby

andy1249 wrote: »

You "Bought and installed Audacity"

Where did you "Buy" it from ?

Audacity is and always has been free !

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

I got it on EBay. I'm an "old school" guy. I dont know much about this kind of thing. I saw it on EBay as a CD and thought it would be great for what I wanted. Perhaps this package is faulty, I dont know. At least I only paid 7 euros for it. I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth all this hassle to convert half a dozen LP's. :rolleyes:

Rigsby

andy1249 wrote: »

You "Bought and installed Audacity"

Tutorials on how to record Vinyl are everywhere , and are very basic indeed , quite easy to do.

Thanks. Yes, I have browsed through about ten or so of clips on You Tube in the hope it would solve my problem. No luck.

BostonB

You could probably buy the CD version quite cheap even 2nd hand.

Rigsby

I might try downloading the free version and see if that works.

BostonB

This is also free and a bit simpler

http://www.milosoftware.com/en/index.php?body=download.php

Usually the problem is how your sound card is configured in particular the line in.

andy1249

I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth all this hassle to convert half a dozen LP's.

Assuming your copy of Audacity is the real thing thing ,then chances are its the soundcard setup that is the problem.

So , post details of your record deck model number , the connections you are using to your soundcard , and the soundcard model number or the motherboard model number if you dont have a separate soundcard.

Then you can be advised on connections and setup.

The trouble here is that no one is going to do this for you for much less than you were already quoted.

Its a time consuming process and it has to be done carefully.

So if you don't want to do it yourself , and don't want to pay someone else , then buying the CD's is your last and probably cheapest option.

Rigsby

andy1249 wrote: »

So if you don't want to do it yourself , and don't want to pay someone else , then buying the CD's is your last and probably cheapest option.

I have no problem buying the CD version of my LP's. I have done so with a good few so far. Trouble is, the LP's in question were never realeased on CD.

Looks like I am going to either persevere or forget about it.

Thanks for your input.

BostonB

I would try re-installing your sound card drivers and testing your line in with an input from something else. Like a MP3 player or a radio or something like that. if that works then you can look to see how your connecting it all together. I think Turntables need a preamp before the line in. Failing that find a friendly IT person, who will trouble shoot it for you. its really not that hard. If you're near me, I'd have a look at it for you. See PM.

I did something similar with my cassettes a few years back. Unfortunately the tapes had degraded so in the end I didn't keep most of the recordings.

Rigsby

BostonB wrote: »

I would try re-installing your sound card drivers and testing your line in with an input from something else. Like a MP3 player or a radio or something like that. if that works then you can look to see how your connecting it all together. I think Turntables need a preamp before the line in. Failing that find a friendly IT person, who will trouble shoot it for you. its really not that hard. If you're near me, I'd have a look at it for you. See PM.

I did something similar with my cassettes a few years back. Unfortunately the tapes had degraded so in the end I didn't keep most of the recordings.

Replied to your PM.

nlgbbbblth

Radiosurfer wrote: »

You should just buy a USB turntable or get a soundcard for your computer that you can run the audio outs of your turntable into (cheap one for about €20). Download Audacity for free and do them yourself. Google it for tutorials on how to do it. It's very simple but time consuming.

USB turntables are not good. Flimsy tonearm and dull-sounding.

Use a proper turntable, connect the cable to your PC/laptop, download Audacity and you're sorted.

I have digitised over 500 LPs using this method.

PS - can you let us know what albums you want to convert? Curious - almost every single one of the LPs I digitised did not get a CD release. There might be an overlap....

Rigsby

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

PS - can you let us know what albums you want to convert? Curious - almost every single one of the LPs I digitised did not get a CD release. There might be an overlap....

P.M. sent.

BostonB

Be curious also. You might not find exactly the same LP (track list) but you might find some of the same recordings are available on other CD's especially on a speciality store. Something like http://store.acousticsounds.com/g/1/Blues. Also you could ask on Hi Fi forums, they tend to know where to get things.

Rigsby

BostonB wrote: »

Be curious also.

P.M. sent !

BostonB

I think you'll be going the home recording route.

Rigsby

BostonB wrote: »

I think you'll be going the home recording route.

Yeah, you got that right........if I can figure out how.

peter05

If you can find the Voxengo Riaa Curve(plug-in) anywhere use it. Am sure you could find it somewhere free online. It will save you having to put a phono preamp between deck and interface.

It's a matter of recording into DAW and adding the insert to switch the inverted curve.

The recording characteristic's of the inverted curve will mean that you will never have low end without switching the curve.

Rigsby

Many thanks to all who replied.

TroutMask

Vinyl transfers are time-consuming. I do them when I can face the process. To get good results you need: a record-cleaning machine (fluid); a good TT with a nice arm and cartridge; a good phono pre; an acceptable audio interface; software. Some interfaces have the RIAA filtering built-in, so you can avoid that stage. If the records suffer from groove damage, you might need declicking and/or decrackling software or hardware as well. Sometimes i use these - though surface noise/clicks doesn't really bother me too much - and a run through the cleaning machine removes most of the dust.

Rigsby

ytrehod wrote: »

Hello Rigsby, I have a conversion service in Wicklow. I also work in Dublin, mayby you can get your albums to me at work? See my ad. here: http://www.buyandsell.ie/music-and-entertainment/cds-dvd/wicklow/vinyl-albums-and-cassette-tapes-to-cd
All the best.

Thanks. I have sent you a text.

Rigsby

TroutMask wrote: »

Vinyl transfers are time-consuming. I do them when I can face the process. To get good results you need: a record-cleaning machine (fluid); a good TT with a nice arm and cartridge; a good phono pre; an acceptable audio interface; software. Some interfaces have the RIAA filtering built-in, so you can avoid that stage. If the records suffer from groove damage, you might need declicking and/or decrackling software or hardware as well. Sometimes i use these - though surface noise/clicks doesn't really bother me too much - and a run through the cleaning machine removes most of the dust.

Thanks for your input. I think I have all that is required.... time, LP's in good clean condition, a good turn table, soft ware etc, all I'm missing is the know how.

No matter what I do, I cant get "Audacity" to function for starters.

Rigsby

Problem solved !!

I have given my albums to "ytrehod" for conversion at a very reasonable price.

Rigsby

Rigsby wrote: »

Problem solved !!

I have given my albums to "ytrehod" for conversion at a very reasonable price.

Got my albums and CD's back today from "ytrehod", and I have to say that I am delighted with them. What's more, he is a gent to do business with.

fintank2013

Based on the previous postings, I gave a double album to "ytrehod" last week and, apart from the very reasonable price already mentioned, he turned it 'round for me in 24 hours. He couldn't have been more helpful, and I concur with Rigsby - he IS a thorough gent to business with. I wish there were more people like him.