Recommendations for a company to convert vinyl to mp3

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nickd

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Topic # 67155 29-Aug-2010 13:20

As part of an upcoming birthday present I thought I would get someone's vinyl converted to mp3 so that they can listen to it through iTunes. Does anyone have any experience with this and could recommend anyone (in Akl)? We have a turntable that can connect to a PC but there are are about 40 records & I don't have the time to do it myself.

From a quick search around I found a crowd called shiftmymusic, but it would end up being cheaper for me to buy all of the tracks from iTunes than to get them converted from vinyl.

paulspain

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Reply # 374184 29-Aug-2010 13:45

Realistically it's going to be cheaper (unless you have lots of time to do it yourself) to just repurchase the music in MP3 format. And better likely better quality too.

SepticSceptic

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Reply # 374435 30-Aug-2010 10:36

paulspain: Realistically it's going to be cheaper (unless you have lots of time to do it yourself) to just repurchase the music in MP3 format. And better likely better quality too.

+1

It's a time consuming process, especially if you are going to take the time to "clean" the saved albums. There are quite a few software packages, including Nero, that do a pretty good job at eliminating all the hiss, etc, and will automatically split the albums into tracks giving you an almost instant MP3/WAV album in pretty good quality, but for especially bad recordings, there are more advanced products, like DartPro(?), will give it a real good clean job, and allow editing for those bits that can't be cleaned - like copying from one channel to the other, blending, etc.

You end up taking a good 30 or so minutes per track, by the time you listen, clean, patch, relisten, adjust settings, etc ... Not to mention the initial learning phase of a new software package.

Been there on some stuff that is scarce on the interwebs - early NZ music - AK79, Dave McCartney; my Mum's 78's and 45's in various states of quality, etc.

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nickd

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Reply # 374866 31-Aug-2010 13:17

I guess that was a pretty resounding 'go out and buy them all again' response. I guess I'm off to acquire them through some other means. Thanks for the replies!

LookingUp

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Reply # 374880 31-Aug-2010 13:50

Do you by any chance have a DVR? I've copied a pile of my old vinyl using my Pioneer DVR, and the quality is VERY good, as they generally have good A/D conversion. What you do is:

1. Hook up the analogue output of the turntable amp (line-out) to the an analogue input of the DVR and leave the video input off.

2. Record, as you would from a video camera or other source - you get a sound recording with blank picture. I normally record to the HDD, but you could record to DVD.

3. Transfer from HDD to DVD (I use re-writeable disks)

4. Convert the .VOB format on the DVD to MP3 on a PC. There are freeware apps that can do this.

5. Edit the MP3 into individual tracks - again there is freeware for this

6. Run the resulting individual tracks through yet more freeware that will look up internet databases for tracknames and cover-art.

This might sound like a bit of a process, but once you get into it it's actually quite fun, and the end result (assuming you use the highest quality MP3 settings) will be hard or impossible to tell from the source material.

I can't remember the names of all the apps I found and use, but will list them later when I can look them up is anyone is interested...

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/u141-rodm.html

nickd

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Reply # 374890 31-Aug-2010 14:27

I have a turntable that will connect directly to my computer which I could then record from using something like Nero, direct to mp3 and bypass the need for the DVR (which I don't have).

I don't mind doing it myself, but I don't have the time at the moment and the birthday is in November so I doubt I would get it all done in time if I was working on it in all of my spare time as my guesstimate of 40 records was on the low side.

Asmodeus

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Reply # 374938 31-Aug-2010 15:29

Surely you wouldn't want to "rip" vinyl to a lossy format? Or am I missing something here?

nickd

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Reply # 374945 31-Aug-2010 15:40

The owner of the vinyl is not an audiophile & just wants easy access to their music. His reasoning is that listening to it on mp3 is better than having the vinyl only and it not being used at all.

SepticSceptic

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Reply # 375016 31-Aug-2010 17:16

If the owner is not that much of an audiophile, then just record them thru Nero, using the track detection, and perhaps rumble and hiss filter.

Tracks are automatically split, cleaned up somewhat, and away you go. It's not even if you have to sit down and baby the process along. Set and forget - you just need to change the record, and restart the process for the next record.

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nickd

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Reply # 375017 31-Aug-2010 17:19

I have had issues in the past of trying to get Nero to autosplit the tracks, but some of that classic rock stuff catches it out by having long pauses. That and the pop & hiss sometimes makes it think there is no gap in the tracks. I think I'll give it another go though. Is there a method in Nero for using gracenote or equivalent?

SepticSceptic

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Reply # 375024 31-Aug-2010 17:29

Yes, there is a gracenote function in Nero, but haven't used that particular function. Or the times I have, it didn't tag the tracks correctly as the Vinyl releases can differ from the CD releases.

You are quite right about the track split with quiet passages, though the later versions are a little better. I was using Nero 7 at the time, and have had a brief sortie on Nero 9 - more options, maybe better control - YMMV. It wont always be seamless, there will be on average a track or two in each album that requires a bit of massage. Nature of the beast.

But in all honesty, unless they are hard to find albums, it's a fair amount of messing around, and I would wonder if the recipient would appreciate the effort. Looking at it another way, the music license fee has already been paid ....nudge nudge :-)

My thoughts are no longer my own and is probably representative of our media-controlled government

nickd

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Reply # 375027 31-Aug-2010 17:39

nickd: I guess I'm off to acquire them through some other means.

Nudge not needed.

Some of them are worth a bit of money though, the whole, rare, signed by the whole band kind of thing. That and he is a bit stuck in his ways and likes the pop and hiss

bazzer

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Reply # 375034 31-Aug-2010 18:09

Asmodeus: Surely you wouldn't want to "rip" vinyl to a lossy format? Or am I missing something here?

You could always rip it at higher than CD quality, if you're that way inclined. Still, not perfect, but "better".

LookingUp

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Reply # 375108 31-Aug-2010 21:40

Hmm yes - as per my previous post, it is possible to get "quite good" results - very much like listening to the original vinyl, if it's done properly. Given good analogue kit, and the likes of a DVR that samples at 196kb/s, and use of the highest possible MP3 bitrate, result can be quite acceptable. I can be a bit fussy about these things, and still struggle with the sound of some CDs, but find it next to impossible to tell the difference the original vinyl and a good MP3 rip.

Software suggestions:

* MediaCoder for .VOB to .MP3 conversion (use "insane" setting)

* Audacity to split tracks

* Mp3Tag to do internet filename and coverart addition to MP3 tracks

Pick a couple of wet weekends and have some fun. I've certainly got a lot more mileage out of old vinyl by being able to simply dial it up off the HDD, and without having to get up to turn it over at half time!

If you were in Chch I'd offer to give you a hand, and if it were only a few I'd say "send 'em round", but 40 odd might be a bit of a stretch ;-)

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/u141-rodm.html

bazzer

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Reply # 375311 1-Sep-2010 14:25

LookingUp: Hmm yes - as per my previous post, it is possible to get "quite good" results - very much like listening to the original vinyl, if it's done properly. Given good analogue kit, and the likes of a DVR that samples at 196kb/s, and use of the highest possible MP3 bitrate, result can be quite acceptable. I can be a bit fussy about these things, and still struggle with the sound of some CDs, but find it next to impossible to tell the difference the original vinyl and a good MP3 rip.

Software suggestions:

* MediaCoder for .VOB to .MP3 conversion (use "insane" setting)

* Audacity to split tracks

* Mp3Tag to do internet filename and coverart addition to MP3 tracks

Pick a couple of wet weekends and have some fun. I've certainly got a lot more mileage out of old vinyl by being able to simply dial it up off the HDD, and without having to get up to turn it over at half time!

If you were in Chch I'd offer to give you a hand, and if it were only a few I'd say "send 'em round", but 40 odd might be a bit of a stretch ;-)

I can't imagine the quality of this process meets what I was talking about. I'm sure the results are "quite good" but as soon as you add lossy compression to the mix, IMO you defeat the purpose. And that's assuming the audio on the DVR is LPCM and not already compressed, it surely wouldn't be higher than 16bit/48kHz?