Converting phono records to CDs

A DVD recorder may not work. If you have about $300 to spare the Sony Compact Disc Recorder (RCD-W500C) will do it. And you will not need the amplifier because I think it has an amplifier built into it.

Alex

Thanks Alex. Believe what you are saying is that I need CD Recorder, not DVD. If I find one with no amplifier, will it work through my receiver? Have heard that we are talking converting analog to digital, and that's a probem. TRUE?? Thanks.

I have been doing this for several years for my own vinyl record albums, and for others, making a little money on the side. What you need is a decent computer, which you may already have. The computer needs to have a sound card. You need your stereo amp, which has the necessary phono input and line level output. You need software that will allow you to record the audio from the stereo amp into the computer as a .WAV file. Finally, you need a CDROM burner in your computer.

Connecting everything together is easy. You need to connect the turntable to the stereo amp's phono input, which you probably have already done. Next, you need to connect the stereo amp's Record outputs to the sound card's Line In connector. For this, you will need an audio cable with RCA male plugs one end (connect these to the amp's Record outputs) and a 1/8" stereo male phone plug on the other end (connect this end into the Line In of your sound card). That's all the hardware you need.

Software. This is where it gets a little sticky. There are a number of software packages available that will handle the recording task for you. Personally, I like WaveCorrector form Ganymeade

It will record the audio into .WAV files, and then will clean up the clicks and pops that you get from the old vinyl and shellac records. I think there may be some freeware that will do this for you also There may be others, but I think Audacity is probably the premiere freeware package. Finally, you will need software to burn the CD. I use Roxio EZ CD Creator software. You may already have CDROM burning software if you have a CD burner in your computer.

Here's the process: First, launch the recording software. With this, record the audio into a WAV file. Then, run the vinyl click and pop removal process in the recording software. If you use Wave Corrector, it will split the recording into individual tracks so that you can select individual tracks when you play the CD's instead of having to listen to a complete album side. Of course, that won't be a problem when you're recording from

78 PRM records. Then, using the CD burner software, arrange the tracks in the order that you want them on the CD, and then burn them to a CD.

That's it! Cheers!!!!!!

--
Dave M
MasonDG44 at comcast dot net  (Just substitute the appropriate characters in 
the address)

Never take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time!!

There is no problem if you have a CD recorder. Your receiver, of course, can be used. The Sony instrument I mentioned also allows one to copy CDs. My application is to copy some of my 33 rpm records onto CDs. I guess you can also go the computer route as mentioned by someone else. My preference was to do all this using only a turntable and a CD recorder.

Alex

Thanks again Alex, and Dave, appreciate your info on use of the computer. I like the idea of using CD Recorder initially, and having computer setup available for those records that need sound cleanup. My computer does have needed features. Thanks folks, this is great. Phil.

Important: My system, as said before, uses a turntable together with the Sony RCD-500C CD recorder. My turntable (Sony ) has a built in preamp which can be switched on or off (apparently) depending on whether the output is to be fed to the phono input of a stereo amplifier or the the AUX input. So your turntable if it has no preamp may have to be plugged into the phono input of your stereo amplifier.

Alex

I've done a ton of this sort of thing. I use a turntable with arm and cartridge, a phono preamplifier, and a computer with a CD burner. I bought my preamp from MCM electronics, the model 50-7770. I found that a separate sound card was highly desirable; I use a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. There are several good software programs to handle the job: Audacity, Goldwave, CDWave, WaveRepair. Pick one that you find easy to use. They're all either free or shareware so that you can try them out.

Norm Strong