[ale] OT:Digitizing my old vinyl

[Neal Rhodes]

I was hesitating to reply here, but sometimes I cannot help myself. 

This discussion seems to be measuring with a micrometer when in fact you
will cut with a hatchet. 

I have in fact done a modest pile of vinyl to CD or mp3 processing,
especially when I had convenient slave labor (teen age son with time on
his hands.)

My conclusion was that a regular old turntable, even with a mag
cartridge going through a 30 year old receiver and the tape out going
into the stereo line in on the PC is usually capable of sound recording
AT LEAST AS GOOD AS the original vinyl.      At least desktops tend to
have fairly good stereo line in ports.   Some notebooks to have crappy
noisy ports, some do not, and yes, the iMIC does a very nice job at
getting low noise input. 

But the main thing to consider is the original LP.   I've got some
Jackson Brown albums that were recorded with an 8 track reel to reel,
and one of the tracks was literally recorded ON THE DANG BUS.  You can
hear the diesel winding up and shifting gears.    How much quality are
you hoping to "preserve"?

The other thing I will note is that the process is time consuming and
error prone.    Get the initial volume level to hot, and that one spot
on track 12 will crunch and distort.     No big deal, you say.   Yes, it
is a big deal, because every time you hear that track you will cring,
and eventually you will heave it.    And typing in the track names and
separating out the tracks is loads of fun.     

And I'll admit that fair amounts of my vinyl has been worn and it
doesn't sound pristine.   Yes, there are filters that will do a lot to
de-crapify.    And that takes time too. 

My net conclusion is that so long as I have work, if the recording is
available as a CD it's worth the money to just buy the new copy.    IF
it's an out of print recording, then maybe it's worth it.   Or when I
retire. 

Neal Rhodes
 
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