Okay, folks - here we go on how to record your favorite LP's, cassettes, 45's, DAT's, 78's and so on to CD. These notes end with getting a clean WAV file. From there, you use advice elsewhere in this primer or wherever to make your CD-DA, MP2 or MP3, or???
Most analogue audio sources deliver about one volt output. One important exception is a turntable; most cartridges for vinyl or shellac put out less than a hundredth of that level. If your cartridge is crystal or ceramic (few are), you may be able to connect your turntable as though it were a tape deck. However, in general you need to preamplify the output of your cartridge in order to record it on your computer. (NOTE: the preamp also corrects the frequency response of a cartridge.) You can buy a separate preamplifier at Radio Shack or any other general-purpose electronics store or build one with a circuit from my Files page. If you can't find one for a turntable, one made for a microphone may do. Even better is to use a receiver or a high-fidelity preamplifier. They may show up at a pawn shop or a swap meet. If you have a choice on a stereo unit (receiver or preamp), get one with two sets of tape input/output connectors. The output to use is one pair of connectors marked to go to TAPE REC. Output from your sound card goes to the corresponding TAPE MONITOR inputs to the preamp. In my setup, I have two high-level sources (open-reel decks) connected to TUNER and AUXILIARY, a cassette deck on TAPE 2 (REC and MONITOR), the sound card LINE IN connected to TAPE1 RECORD, the sound OUTPUT connected to TAPE 1 MONITOR, and the amplified speakers connected to the preamp OUTPUT. I can record from either open-reel deck or the cassette or phono to the sound card or from phono, an open-reel deck or the computer to the cassette deck. Just one warning: watch out for feedback loops when you're using the cassette deck.
For some purposes, it's sufficient and more convenient to record the turntable output to tape, then to feed the tape signal into your sound card. There are some other sources to discuss: Digital Audio Tape (DAT), MiniDisc (MD) and turntable. DAT and MD provide analogue outputs and can be connected just as tape decks are. Some also provide digital output; those can be connected digitally if your sound card has SPDIF interface and if the signals are (or can be made) compatible. But that's 'way, 'way beyond the level of a primer (which translates into: Mike doesn't know about that stuff).
Now that we have some sound going into the sound card, we need to look at getting it recorded. The first step is telling the card what input to read and to set its level. Unfortunately, most people are stuck with the absurd Voyetra mixer that comes free with Windows. If you have a better one, use it. (If you're a programmer who wants to do a service for humanity, how about making a freeware replacement?) Start the mixer - usually with a right-click on the speaker icon in the tray; otherwise, it's Volume Control in Accessories. Now, go to the Options menu and select Preferences. Click on Record and make sure that all the inputs are checked before you click OK. Now you have sliders for each input available to you. Pick the input you want. (CD is for the analogue connection of your reader or writer; unless you want that, you should probably select Auxiliary - which is their substitute for LINE IN.) Now, set the slider near the top of its range. You have just told the sound card to record from the selected channel at about the right level. DO NOT close the mixer - you're going to need it again.
Now the sound card is ready to go - but something has to tell it what to do with the selected signal. The Windows applet called Sound Recorder will do for starters, but it records to RAM. When it runs out of RAM (which usually doesn't take long), it's done. So you will probably want another program - such as Adaptec's Spin Doctor, one of the WAV editors or CDWAV (see the URLs page). Each package works differently from the others, but all are similar. Select the Record function, set mono/stereo, bit depth (usually 8 or 16) and the sampling rate (options are usually spelled out). If you are going to make a CD-DA, it's best to capture directly to redbook format: stereo, 16 bits and 44.1 KHz. If you record with other settings, you must convert with some program, which is slow and inconvenient - and very slow if conversion is done well. Most programs default to redbook; Spin Doctor only works that way.
You're not yet ready to record, though. Your recorder s/w has three choices: it can use only memory (as the applet does), it can use a TEMP file (either in the Windows default directory or one you select in the program), or it can write directly to your output file. Check that program for the way it works. Now, you have to set the recording level. If you overrecord, the result is painful even if it only lasts for a short time. The analogue signal is fed to the ADC (Analogue to Digital Converter) on the sound card. The ADC can only provide its maximum signal - all 1's. The result is that any excess signal is clipped, hard and brutally. Don't do it! If you record at lower level, you can leave it there or you can use a WAV editor or Spin Doctor to correct the level. Before you start recording, put your recording s/w and the mixer in non-overlapping windows on your screen. Find a passage in your source which is as loud as it gets. Activate the indicator of your s/w - sometimes it can be done without starting to record; sometimes, you will have to start some form of recording (which you will later throw away). Adjust the level on the mixer so that the level indicator on your s/w is always below maximum. If it's only 80% or 90% of maximum, that will be fine; those correspond to two and one db loss, respectively, which is not significant (and which will still give you much more signal-to-noise ratio than your system needs.)
Now you're ready to record. Hit the record button (specify your capture file if necessary), then start your source. I strongly recommend that if you want more than one selection from a side of a tape or an LP, you record the whole side at once. You can always split and edit the selections later with a WAV editor; for splitting a long file, CDWAV can't be beat. These operations use a lot of space on your hard drive and may take a lot of time. Most editors will require at least twice as much space as the file you're editing. If you've captured a 30-minute side, you will need a spare 700 MB or so to hold redbook-format WAV files for editing. As you will discover quickly, lots of RAM and a fast CPU will help a lot, too.
When the file needs to be cleaned, still more time is needed. Removing clicks and hiss can be handled more or less automatically by programs such as CoolEdit and DART Pro, but that work takes a lot of processing. Even light treatment can take longer than playing the file. Different programs and different settings take varying time and give varying results. I use many different programs for my sources, depending on the initial quality and the importance of the recording. For example, I like the way that DART Pro removes clicks, the way CoolEdit handles hiss and noise, and GoldWave supports manual editing. I have spent hours correcting a single, four-minute cut. (No, I'm not rational about that, either.) Along the way, some programs may complain about the headers produced by others. For safety's sake, I strongly suggest that you have StripWave (see the URLs page) available.
I can't tell you how to process your files - that's up to you and your source material. Anything you do to the signal will degrade it; if what you do is more important than what you lose, you come out ahead. The least damage is done by manual editing, but that is excruciatingly slow and painful. (Literally painful; an hour or two of editing will teach you more than you want to know about tense arm muscles.) The tools available today can be used with care to produce minimum loss and satisfying results. Misused, they can turn a favorite recording into mush.
In many ways, the easiest program for analogue recording is Spin Doctor. Select the source, select the target, set the cleaning options, and let it go. Still, there are some things you need to take into account to get the best results.
First, all the analogue sources are the same, regardless of the different lines from which you select. You still have to specify the source with the mixer. The different options give you different icons on the screen and may let Adaptec (some day) tune the cleaning operations to the kind of source being used. Next, if you select any of the options - cleaning or equalizing volume - the program will record the signal to the HD, then process it, then produce the output WAV file. It is designed to be allowed to do its 'thing' without interruption; let it have its way. I strongly recommend that you do any processing in a separate operation. First, record the tracks to HD without processing. Then do some cleaning, balancing or whatever by running Spin Doctor from one HD file to another. Finally, burn the finished WAVs to CD-R. Spin Doctor permits you to go from analogue source directly to CD-R, but that simple step often fails. The problem is that any tiny speed error, any hitch in the process will create a coaster. That's because the source is (by definition) running at 1x - real time. The recorder needs a steady stream of data and has a limited buffer. So if there is any difference between the speeds, or if you use an erasable blank (which must be written at 2x), you will have a coaster. It may work for you; if you want to try it, feel free. But safety and flexibility (opportunity to split tracks, edit, whatever) suggest that you go through your HD. Remember, you have to cue perfectly, cannot correct a mistake and cannot adjust levels (or anything else) except where it will be heard forever after.
E-mail me at cdrecording@mrichter.com
Return to my CD-R home page