Digitizing Vinyl
Most of my friends are old enough to own records (now sometimes called vinyl or LPs), and most of those records are aging, since mainstream vinyl went out of style some time ago (does Tower Records even sell records any more?). When I tell people that I am interested in digitizing my vinyl (or "loading my records into the computer" when talking to non-techies), I almost always get one of two reactions: Hey, if you figure out how to do that, let me know! or I've already started doing that!
This page is for those of you who haven't yet started, or who are still trying to figure out how to do it right. I'm not an audiophile, and I've taken a simple, relatively low-end approach, which I'll describe below.
Earlier this year (2002), I started digitizing my CD collection, mostly for fun, partly as a backup in case the original CDs get lost or damaged. What I didn't realize at the time was that the computer makes a great jukebox (well, most of the time; more about that later). I now have all my CDs in one place, and using a jukebox program such as MusicMatch Jukebox (MMJB), I can easily select songs and play them while sitting at the computer. Many jukebox programs, including MMJB, can access a database of recordings, so when you pop a CD into your computer, the program will usually be able to determine the artist and the names of the songs.
Digitizing CDs is easy. You pop them into the computer, MMJB recognizes it, you tell it to start recording, and five minutes later, you have the music on your computer (stored in MP3 format). MMJB automatically builds a library, which you can sort by album, artist, genre, etc., and you can easily play any songs or albums.
| What you need to get going | Computer with a CD drive, a jukebox program, a sound card,
and speakers. My computer is a laptop, so the CD and sounds card are
built-in.
I didn't do much research when I selected the software and the speakers, so I can't compare my choices to other offerings in the market. The software I use is MusicMatch Jukebox. I'd rate the software as competent, but it does have its quirks and flaws. My speaker system is from Cambridge SoundWorks. I don't remember the model number, but the system consists of a woofer with a built-in amplifier and two tiny speakers. It also came with a cheap CD player which I no longer use. |
Digitizing Vinyl was somewhat more challenging. First, I needed to dust off and hook up my 1980's-vintage stereo system. Luckily, everything still worked. Now, how do you hook up the turntable to the computer? Browsing the internet, I picked up several tips:
 | The turntable outputs need to be amplified before feeding the signal into the computer. A pre-amp or regular amplifier (which is what I have) can be used. |
| The output from the amplifier should be hooked up into the "line-in" input on the computer's sound card. |
Unfortunately, my laptop computer only has a "microphone-in" input. I tried using that and it worked but it didn't sound great. I managed to borrow a Soundblaster Extigy, which is essentially an external soundcard that hooks up to your computer via USB. The Extigy has lots of jacks on the front and on the back, and I eventually figured out the right combination of jacks to use the Extigy for recording and for playback.
Next comes the software. There are plenty of programs that allow you to record input from the sound card. However, when working with old vinyl, there are a number of features that you will want:
| Displaying levels, so that you can adjust the volume to optimal values. |
| Splitting the album into tracks. A good program make a best-guess as to where the tracks are, and then let you edit the tracks as needed. You should also be able to enter titles for the tracks. |
| Improving the recording: You'll notice that any artifacts such as clicks, hiss, rumble, etc. will all be nicely digitized too. You may want to keep this for nostalgia's sake, but a good program will provide you with tools for improving the quality of the recording should you choose to do so. |
Finding a good recording tool can be a challenge because most programs are either too simplistic or too complicated. I downloaded trial versions of several well-regarded programs, include Syntrillium's Cool Edit 2000 and Diamond Cut's DC Five. I really wanted to like both of these programs, but they required too much expertise (and effort) if you want to clean up recordings.
The package I settled on is Magix Audio Cleaning Lab 3.0 (ACL) which has a very flashy interface (not why I picked it, but it is fun for the kids to watch) and more importantly, has wizards and easy-to-use control panels for adjusting recordings. After evaluating this, I picked up a copy at BestBuy, rather than downloading it, so that I could get a printed copy of the manual (and also saved a few dollars in the process).
| Something less than truth in advertising | When you purchase Magix Audio Cleaning Lab,
you'll find that it comes with an evaluation license for creating MP3
files that works only 20 times. You then have to register and pay to
get the full version, and that version requires an activation key that is
tied to your hardware.
The packaging for Audio Cleaning Lab says MP3 in big letters, right on the front of the box. There is no warning whatsoever that the MP3 encoder is an evaluation version. If you download the trial version of ACL, MP3 encoding isn't even enabled, so most people won't learn about this limitation until after the software has been purchased. Adding insult to injury is the activation mechanism. If you change your hardware, reinstall your operating system, or move to a new computer, you have to contact the manufacturer to get a new activation key. There are other programs that can perform MP3 encoding (although no free ones, due to patents that requires royalties, even for free software). MusicMatch Jukebox can convert .WAV files to MP3, and so I've been using it to do the work, although it does require an extra step. |
Despite my dislike for misleading advertising, I'm still using Audio Cleaning Lab because it does the job, sometimes with style. The software isn't perfect, and I recommend reading the manual (both software and manual were translated from German, so you may want to try the online forum on Magix's Web site, although I haven't yet gone this route).
After I digitized my first album, I transferred it to a CD (using ACL). It didn't take more than a minute or two to realize that I'd just taken a step backwards -- having spent all that time digitizing my CDs so that I would no longer need the physical media! Subsequent albums are now only on my hard drive.
| What you need to get going | Turntable and pre-amplifier or amplifier, sound card with a
line-in input, recording software.
For recording software, take a look around to find something that suits your needs. I chose Audio Cleaning Lab because it was oriented towards my needs and coincidentally is reasonably priced. Manipulating recordings means moving a lot of data around. You will want to have plenty of free disk space and a reasonably fast machine (my machine is 1GHz and I've had no problems with speed). My computer has a 1GHz Pentium chip and the software runs well; if you have an old/slow machine, you might want to make sure that You will also want something to clean off your old records. I still have the Discwasher D4 package (including a brush and liquid cleaner) from many years ago, and it seems that this is still available at various places such as this one. |
Disk space, WAV, and MP3.