Copying LPs onto CDs
 

"Dave G" wrote...
"Andy Jacob" wrote in message
...
I saw the posts recently about copying LPs to CD and figured that
would be a good christmas present for someone I know so thought I'd
have a go. But it's not working out to be the simple job I imagined.

I got my hifi connected to my PC ok. Downloaded a program called
AIPL
Singulator to split the audio into separate tracks. Clean my LP,
start
the program, play the record - thought that would be it but I should
be so lucky.

The first problem is that the Singulator program doesn't appear to
split the tracks so that a new WAV file is begun at the starts of a
new track. That's if it detects the gap between tracks at all. I've
tried adjusting the settings but it seems a very hit-or-miss affair.
I
end up having to cut and paste bits of WAV files myself.

The second problem is that, even though my LPs are not in bad
condition, I do get the occasional skip. Consequently I can't really
leave the PC to record one side of an album by itself. I have to sit
around monitoring it and then jumping in if I spot a problem. As
I've
said - taking a lot of time - probably at least an hour per album.

Oh - and finally, for the CD player in the car to read the new CDs I
have to burn them at the very slowest speed so that again means more
time.

So all in all - I'm getting a bit fed up with this idea. Has anyone
got any tips where I'm going wrong?

AJ

I tried doing this a while back but ended up giving up. It just takes
too long. End the end I used Your Music On CD
(www.indicativeit.co.uk/yourmusiconcd) which seemed to do everything
for me.

Dave G

I've found the Your Music On CD site to be very good as well. They've
just transferred a load of my father's old vinyl records onto CD for
me to give to him as a christmas present. The CDs come with all the
usual labels and covers so the end product is very professional
looking and is ideal as a christmas present because they are so easy
to wrap up!

Cheers, Simon

Copying LPs onto CDs
 

"AJ" wrote in message
...
"RJH" wrote in message
...
Hi Andy - it is a labour of love ... I can produce cds pretty quick
now:

Record the LP (hopefully it won't stick etc!) as 2 wavs;

Have a track/time listing handy. I use Music Wizard to do this
before the
rip (also creates a cd case insert), psychicmp3* to do it after if
necessary;

Open the wav in an editor and copy and paste each track as new
files,
labelling each with the track name as you go. You know the length of
the
files from the track listing you printed out earlier. Useful
particularly
for live albums, or any where tracks overlap with no silence.

It takes me less than 5 minutes per lp after recording this way. Any
huge
clicks and pops I edit out by 'bending' the signal**, this takes
longer.

Rob

*superb free prog that recognises names etc of mp3s
** magnify the portion where the click is and join the 'spike' at
it's
lowest point. Use sonic foundry etc to do this - very effective!

I think you're doing it the same way as I was trying. Unfortunately,
not many of my albums had track times displayed. Also, it takes me
more than 5 minutes per LP to prepare all the CD tracks.

Music Wizard (free to try) has almost all the music I have in its database -
in fact it's well over 100,000 titles, it's basically the cddb thing and
updates itself. It generates a data listing which I then print off -
complete with track times. Psychicmp3 will name tracks as well once tey're
ripped to mp3.

How much cleaning up of each track do you do. I mean - do you check
the whole WAV file for jumps and clicks?

Ah no! Just bad clicks. I reconcile this by thinking 'nothing lost' - but
then the odd click and crackle doesn't bother me.

This alone takes me about 5
minutes just to scan the whole file. Then if I find defects that need
cleaning up, that's more time.

My 'sewing' wavs takes an age. If I did it properly it'd take about an hour
per lp.

I may get faster with time but I may not last that long.

AJ

as I said, labour of love ... :-)

Rob

Copying LPs onto CDs
 

"AJ" wrote in message
...
"RJH" wrote in message
...
Hi Andy - it is a labour of love ... I can produce cds pretty quick
now:

Record the LP (hopefully it won't stick etc!) as 2 wavs;

Have a track/time listing handy. I use Music Wizard to do this
before the
rip (also creates a cd case insert), psychicmp3* to do it after if
necessary;

Open the wav in an editor and copy and paste each track as new
files,
labelling each with the track name as you go. You know the length of
the
files from the track listing you printed out earlier. Useful
particularly
for live albums, or any where tracks overlap with no silence.

It takes me less than 5 minutes per lp after recording this way. Any
huge
clicks and pops I edit out by 'bending' the signal**, this takes
longer.

Rob

*superb free prog that recognises names etc of mp3s
** magnify the portion where the click is and join the 'spike' at
it's
lowest point. Use sonic foundry etc to do this - very effective!

I think you're doing it the same way as I was trying. Unfortunately,
not many of my albums had track times displayed. Also, it takes me
more than 5 minutes per LP to prepare all the CD tracks.

Music Wizard (free to try) has almost all the music I have in its database -
in fact it's well over 100,000 titles, it's basically the cddb thing and
updates itself. It generates a data listing which I then print off -
complete with track times. Psychicmp3 will name tracks as well once tey're
ripped to mp3.

How much cleaning up of each track do you do. I mean - do you check
the whole WAV file for jumps and clicks?

Ah no! Just bad clicks. I reconcile this by thinking 'nothing lost' - but
then the odd click and crackle doesn't bother me.

This alone takes me about 5
minutes just to scan the whole file. Then if I find defects that need
cleaning up, that's more time.

My 'sewing' wavs takes an age. If I did it properly it'd take about an hour
per lp.

I may get faster with time but I may not last that long.

AJ

as I said, labour of love ... :-)

Rob

Copying LPs onto CDs
 

"AJ" wrote...
"Dave G" wrote...
"Andy Jacob" wrote...
I saw the posts recently about copying LPs to CD and figured
that
would be a good christmas present for someone I know so thought
I'd
have a go. But it's not working out to be the simple job I
imagined.

I got my hifi connected to my PC ok. Downloaded a program called
AIPL
Singulator to split the audio into separate tracks. Clean my LP,
start
the program, play the record - thought that would be it but I
should
be so lucky.

The first problem is that the Singulator program doesn't appear
to
split the tracks so that a new WAV file is begun at the starts
of
a
new track. That's if it detects the gap between tracks at all.
I've
tried adjusting the settings but it seems a very hit-or-miss
affair.
I
end up having to cut and paste bits of WAV files myself.

The second problem is that, even though my LPs are not in bad
condition, I do get the occasional skip. Consequently I can't
really
leave the PC to record one side of an album by itself. I have to
sit
around monitoring it and then jumping in if I spot a problem. As
I've
said - taking a lot of time - probably at least an hour per
album.

Oh - and finally, for the CD player in the car to read the new
CDs
I
have to burn them at the very slowest speed so that again means
more
time.

So all in all - I'm getting a bit fed up with this idea. Has
anyone
got any tips where I'm going wrong?

AJ

I tried doing this a while back but ended up giving up. It just
takes
too long. End the end I used Your Music On CD
(www.indicativeit.co.uk/yourmusiconcd) which seemed to do
everything
for me.

Dave G

What is the audio quality like of the CDs? I mean, can you still
hear
any background noise and clicks and stuff?

AJ
What you hear on the CD is pretty much the same as what you get on the
record, however with the advantage of track seperation. You can detect
a little background noise but you only really hear that during quiet
segments.

They do appear to be able to get rid of most of the clicks and jumps
though which makes a big difference. I had a few records with a few
minor scratches on them and they've pretty much managed to remove them
altogether. I also had a couple of records which used to always stick
at a particular point. In one case they were able to edit the defect
out altogether so you'd never know but in the other cases you can
still detect a slight jump but you don't get the endless repeating
that you used to get when playing the record.

Dave G

Copying LPs onto CDs
 

"AJ" wrote...
"Dave G" wrote...
"Andy Jacob" wrote...
I saw the posts recently about copying LPs to CD and figured
that
would be a good christmas present for someone I know so thought
I'd
have a go. But it's not working out to be the simple job I
imagined.

I got my hifi connected to my PC ok. Downloaded a program called
AIPL
Singulator to split the audio into separate tracks. Clean my LP,
start
the program, play the record - thought that would be it but I
should
be so lucky.

The first problem is that the Singulator program doesn't appear
to
split the tracks so that a new WAV file is begun at the starts
of
a
new track. That's if it detects the gap between tracks at all.
I've
tried adjusting the settings but it seems a very hit-or-miss
affair.
I
end up having to cut and paste bits of WAV files myself.

The second problem is that, even though my LPs are not in bad
condition, I do get the occasional skip. Consequently I can't
really
leave the PC to record one side of an album by itself. I have to
sit
around monitoring it and then jumping in if I spot a problem. As
I've
said - taking a lot of time - probably at least an hour per
album.

Oh - and finally, for the CD player in the car to read the new
CDs
I
have to burn them at the very slowest speed so that again means
more
time.

So all in all - I'm getting a bit fed up with this idea. Has
anyone
got any tips where I'm going wrong?

AJ

I tried doing this a while back but ended up giving up. It just
takes
too long. End the end I used Your Music On CD
(www.indicativeit.co.uk/yourmusiconcd) which seemed to do
everything
for me.

Dave G

What is the audio quality like of the CDs? I mean, can you still
hear
any background noise and clicks and stuff?

AJ
What you hear on the CD is pretty much the same as what you get on the
record, however with the advantage of track seperation. You can detect
a little background noise but you only really hear that during quiet
segments.

They do appear to be able to get rid of most of the clicks and jumps
though which makes a big difference. I had a few records with a few
minor scratches on them and they've pretty much managed to remove them
altogether. I also had a couple of records which used to always stick
at a particular point. In one case they were able to edit the defect
out altogether so you'd never know but in the other cases you can
still detect a slight jump but you don't get the endless repeating
that you used to get when playing the record.

Dave G