Vinyl to PC

I recorded a few vinyl records to mp3 a while back, but stopped in the end because of the amount of hissing I was getting on the tracks.

If you have a mic in socket (3.5 mm jack) on your laptop then all you probably need is to hook that up to your (pre) amp. I bought a DIN to 3.5mm jack which I could plug into the tape out of my naim pre amp, plugged this into the computer and then used audacity to record the output. Audacity is an open source sound recording/editing tool. It did take me a while after recording it to split the one long track up into individual tracks.

I mentioned above that I had a high level of hissing and found some tips online saying that this could be due to the computer (I had a desktop machine) being plugged into a different wall socket than the record player and amp and the small difference in earth accounts for the hissing. I never got around to trying this solution out.

Recording on MS Windows (use e.g. maybe CDEX or whatever to convert to compressed format if you choose afterwards...).

This is the best sound-quality method that I have used so far ... once you understand these boring 'instructions', it's a doddle.

N.B Stereo VCRs with up to 12 hours recording at 'third of speed) are very convenient for 'time-shifting' digital (from cable-box etc) or analogue (maybe with timer on FM tuner/amp..) programmes ...

Audio cassette (etc ......)

Playing DVD in PC (etc....)

Connect cassette (etc ....) m/c to PC e.g. via audio amplification/directly into PC Line in ( you might use preferably e.g. RCA phonos, but probably use RCA phono x 2 from cassette/tape/VCR/amplification etc machine into 3.5 mm stereo jack - N.B. correct left -right output from source ...).

1) Ensure you have Volume control icon on main Tool bar (usually at bottom of screen...) - To do this, go into start menu, (usually bottom left green button ...) Control panel, Sounds and audio devices .... Tick-check little box 'Place icon on ....'.
Select this route into playback/recording ...on Left menu, select Options .. Recording ...
Make sure you have Line in & Stereo mix AT LEAST checked-ticked - you might want to add TV tuner or whatever you've got ... this will get you recording from LINE INPUT & e.g web-site song playing/DVD in PC ....

2) Place shortcut to Sound Recorder on desktop/in start menu - wherever you choose ...
Go into start menu (as before..) - select All Programs - Accessories - Entertainment - Sound Recorder

Make shortcut for this on desktop/in start menu - wherever .....
3) Now you can easily get at the main 2 routes into the Windows best/easiest way of recording at highest quality, without confusion from expensive add-on 'Recording' programs .....


select sound recorder

record (press red button) for the 60 seconds

select save as in left menu ... remember/choose where you're saving file!!!!!!! at this stage, it's best to select format in which you're actually saving your stuff - go for best quality option, which you select by pressing Change button at bottom of sound recorder save thingie ...
now you see top left-ish button - press - select CD quality ... as you see, this will save as 44.100.... 16 bit STERE0 - this will mean your BLANKS you save will always be set up as decent .wav files.
You can always convert to e.g. .mp3 later via e.g. CDEX or MusicMatch (free downloads) etc.

save this file as e.g. 1 (in a place you can find it later!!!!!!)

move sound recorder slider to far right ALWAYS during these processes ...

select 2nd top left menu in sound recorder ... INSERT ...

insert your 1 minute file ... now you have a 2 minute BLANK ... save this as e.g 2 somewhere you can locate later.

As before, insert e.g. file 2 at end - call it e.g. 4 (for minutes) and Save as ...)

Keep doing save as - insert till you've got e.g. BLANKS of different lengths - e.g. 8 minutes/ 16 minutes/32 minutes .... IT TAKES A LITTLE WHILE TO SAVE FILE ON YOUR COMPUTER .... it uses RAM, and if you've got 512k of decent speed stuff you can make up to e.g. about a 32 minute BLANK - enough to record in a side of most LP vinyl/half hour radio programme .... if you have 256k , you'll be limited to about 12 or 16 minute blank ...

.... you can always record a track at a time from e.g. tape/vinyl etc, but I tend to do an LP side and EDIT it later - some basic editing can be carried out via Sound Recorder, or Nero etc wav editor ..

TO RECORD, SELECT YOUR VOLUME CONTROL/(MAKE SURE YOUR E.G. INPUT IS SETUP, IN REALITY AND ON DISPLAY) - go into menu options recording - select usually Line in (or Stereo mix if you're recording from web or DVD in your computer) - do test-recording into a convenient-length BLANK you've made/saved for LEVEL (don't go anywhere near top or bottom of Sound Recorder level display - adjust vertical slider ... you can always Normalize if you want later in e.g. Nero....

If recording LP, usually quickest to open 32 minute blank, record at right level, then SAVE whole 32 minute recording AS e.g. side 1 . When your'e ready to play e.g. side 2 of LP, MAKE SURE sound recorder slider is moved back to LEFT 0 position ... press red button record.... when side etc finished, you can stop - save as e.g side 2. You can chop off beginning/end of file later by reloading it into EMPTY Sound recorder file ...., and saving as ....

Look at menu-options in sound recorder ... insert file-delete before current position - delete after current position are probably most useful ....

Plenty of other commercial programmes available, plus SilentBob as free download ... often the latter records at too high a level, but is great to avoid your having to go through this palaver I worked out for myself in 1996 ... IMHO once you've got your blanks setup/saved, it gives best results...

You might want to check too that e.g. your twin-phono RCA left-right stereo lead into 3.5 mm jack on your computer line in card-thingie actually gets you LEFT on left and vice-versa ---most PC components reverse channels at least once during whole input-recording playback-burning to DVDR-RW-CDRW-CDR stage!!!!!!

It is possible theoretically to improve everything by having quality (sometimes more expensive) equipment-cables-soundcard etc ...


It is quite easy to output line level signals from e.g. amplifier (supplied by any number of inputs ...) into PC.

As has been suggested, 2 RCA phonos out from e.g. amplifier into 3.5mm stereo jack will usually provide adequate e.g. analogue signals into PC for 'recording' to digital formats. (Many people use expensive internal/reasonably priced USB external soundcards with e.g. RCA phono L-R socketry).

Having recorded e.g. vinyl in a similar manner for many years, here are a few 'things' I have discovered.

01 Ensure you have LEFT/RIGHT channels inputted correctly through your PC so your digital-copy/recording does not reverse channels - this IMO extremely obvious point is ignored by most users.

02 Although some people maintain that 'the hostile PC environment' will compromise your recordings, I have found that there is little - if any - significant difference between using very short cabling/long cabling - expensive/not expensive cabling - expensive/not expensive audio components - expensive/not expensive soundcards etc etc.

03 Probably you have worked out how to record into e.g. Windows ... - this will give you your best .WAV 'master', which you can archive on e.g. hard-drives-DVDR-RWs etc-CDRs-CDRW/burn to CD audio discs/convert to different compressed formats later if you wish.

Basic editing (chopping off unwanted noise at beginning/end of 'recordings - maybe 'normalizing' etc) can be carried out on PC via supplied/readily downloadable-purchasable packages, but if you feel need to 'over edit' ORIGINAL SOUND you have recorded to e.g. .WAV, you will probably reduce sound quality permanently.

AUDACITY http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ works well for many.

But this will still only give you about 30 mins recording time, depending on your computers RAM.

If you plan to record many LPs, the easiest way is to use a domestic CD recorder to record a CD,then dowload the files from your recorded CDRW to the computer

Best and cheapest way to record vinyl LP to CDR or CDRW or DVD equivalents is as above - I have only 1 LP which is longer than 32 minutes a side, and 512 RAM comfortably allows LP side recording ... other people can choose their own 'easy' way, but mine gives better sound/costs less. Big problem with many digital recordings is how much cack processing people have applied - IMO keep it simple ...

Needs more work and thought I think. I have 1GB RAM though.

I am totally sure having since 1998 converted from LP12 vinyl to digital. There might be other quicker ways for others, but my simple way is cheaper-better sound, which is why I/a few people who have tried/listened do it. There is absolutely no reason why someone else can't do it their-someone else's way if that suits them. As I have said in boring copy-paste thing I put together, some people might prefer to use 'top quality' PC-Laptop bits such as the right soundcards etc etc ....

i use roxio media suite 8.
Piece of cake.