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Record Player recording

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J

JerkasaurusRex

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Joined
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Location
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So i am starting a vinyl collection of music since some of my favorite bands are releasing some of their stuff only on Vinyl and i figured, hey vinyls are cool, i should buy more so i have started a small collection. Now i know that with CDs i can just pop them in my computer, rip them and listen to them whenever i am on my computer or transfer them to my portable mp3 player. With a record player i don't know how to rip the music to the computer so i can use it on my mp3 player and on my computer.

What sort of system can i sue to record it? Do i just connect the record player to the Line-In of my sound card and just use the built in recorder of windows to record it as a wav file? Wouldn't it than just record the entire side of the record as one track and i would have to cut it up manually as well as convert it to a 192+kbps mp3? Is there any easier way to do it?
 
Sadly, there is no easy way to do it because a record is analog no digital. You cannot hook the player directly to the computer as the sound from a record player needs to be preamplified. You will need to hook it up the a receiver/amplifier and then output through a record out line to your computer. Then you have to record each track as separate wave files. Lastly you will probably need to clean them up a bit as records, even new ones have background noise that you may not enjoy listening to. If you have a soundblaster soundcard they have a simple wav file editor you can use. Good luck with it.
 
what rseven said plus: Records are produced with what is known as RIAA equalization because the grooves on the record suck at holding low frequency information. To make it sound right, you either need a reciever (as rseven said), a phono stage, or you can simply use software to apply the eq, although this option sounds like crap since most sound cards are pretty noisy. Also, make sure you have a half-way decent TT and cartridge (and make sure they're set up properly). Not only does it sound better, it also keeps you from destroying the records. There is no "undo" on a record ;)
 
If you have an X-fi Platinum it comes with the software to do this. Its listed as the Creative smart recorder and is designed to do exactly this. I do not know if the software comes with the regular x-fi. If you have a Creative sound card check their website and see if you can D/L the software and make it work with your card. if you don't have a creative sound card it probaly will not work.

I did mine this way:
I used our Bose waveradio as the amplifier (but any receiver will do)
I used the Bose because its lighter :) lol. Plugged the turntable RCA out jacks into the in jacks on the Bose and the Bose RCA outputs in my front inputs. If you have a regular soundcard you can get a RCA jack to miniplug adapter. They have them at Radioshack.

Any way most soundcards can take in audio in one of their inputs.Then if you do a "recording records to mp3's" google it will bring up software similar to creatives that can clean up the sound and let you name the tracks. It seperates the tracks by the quiet between them.
This one has a 30 day demo.
http://www.cyberwalker.net/columns/feb02/150202.html
http://www.wavecor.co.uk/tutorial.htm
 
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What exactly is a good turn table and cartridge? Won't any one that works be good? I am going out this weekend to get the turntable and everything so what would you suggest? The only place i have around here is this local indie shop called Infinity Records (http://www.infinityrecords.net/). Their website says they only have used stereo equipment though but i guess i can find something working there.

Also what is the extra hardware i will need to connect it to my computer?
 
for playback your gonna want a belt drive turntable with the heaviest platter possible and a moving coil type cartridge. good old tables that can be found cheap are technics, yamaha, pioneer, denon. b&o makes good ones, but they use proprietary carts. a good cartridge will cost around $100-150, the deck you should be able to find for around $20-$100. ebay is loaded with deals.
 
no, generally the moving coils sound better, but are ore difficult to manafacture/more expensive. dont get me wrong, there are good movong magnet carts too, theyre just cheaper to make. heres a history of it http://www.enjoythemusic.com/cartridgehistory.htm kinda dated but youll get the idea. its not something to get hung up on, i just mentioned it if possible.
 
I was considering one of those a while back but didn't know how good they were, so I just got an old receiver. Glad you like it.
 
So i went around to the stores today and i noticed all the turntables had pre-amps built in. What exactly does that mean? Does that mean i can connect the turntable directly to the speakers or the computer from the output jacks on it or do i still need a reciever? Also about the recievers, the only ones in my price range (~$100) didnt have phono inputs so what do i do about that?
 
Years ago no record player had a built in preamp, but since receivers no longer have phono inputs than a preamp is now needed. Yes, I believe you could now hook it up directly to the computer. I had no idea this was possible, but that is what it sounds like to me.
 
If i want to connect it to a pair of independent speakers or headphones i need a reciever though don't I? Could i just buy one of those pre-made stereo systems that come but the speakers and just hook up the turn table to that? Something like this ?

For my computer though i could put the outputs from the built in pre-amp on the turntable directly to the line-in of my sound card.
 
If you buy a TT with a built-in preamp, you could plug it into the mini stereo you linked to or your computer. However, I highly suggest buying an older quality table (and they usually don't have built in preamps/phono stages). An older direct drive technics would be okay. I shy away from older belt drive TTs as they generally need new belts and direct drive will sound better in your price range (I'm guessing $50-$150?). Audio-Technica and Grado make some nice cartridges; ebay is loaded with deals for both the TT & the cartridge. I suggest either buying an older reciever (Marantz 2220b is nice...) or a decent phono stage. Personally, I'd get the former. Also, as I said earlier, you can't just use a preamp; It MUST have RIAA equalization built in.
 
So i can't use the built-in pre-amp for my purposes? How would i connect it to another pre-amp if it is already pre-amped? It would be weird i think because it would look like this:

Turntable->built in pre-amp->other pre-amp->computer/stereo/receiver->speakers
 
Constantinos said:
So i can't use the built-in pre-amp for my purposes? How would i connect it to another pre-amp if it is already pre-amped? It would be weird i think because it would look like this:

Turntable->built in pre-amp->other pre-amp->computer/stereo/receiver->speakers
Click to expand...
well, the built in preamp is really a phono-stage. It's a preamp with RIAA equalization. You could use it the way you want to, I just don't recommend it since the TTs with built phono-stages tend to be pretty cheaply made and don't sound all that great.
 
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