Would you like to record your favorite old vinyl LPs and analog tapes to your
computer for use in the AudioStation Music Library? You can also make audio
CDs for playback in your car stereo, as well as data CDs to back up and
archive your original analog recordings. Then, if you are "daring enough" you
can add an AudioTron to your arsenal to control playback of all this music.
To record your LPs or tapes to the computer's hard drive, you will need a Wave
Editor program, such as AudioView and your soundcard's line input.
Audioview is bundled in the boxed version of AS-5. It is also available as
a stand-alone Download at $19.95 from our Web site.
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To record an LP to your hard drive, follow these steps:
1. Obtain a cable: 1/8" stereo miniplug that splits off into stereo RCA male
plugs:
(available in the Accessories section on our Web site)
2. Connect the Tape Monitor outputs of your stereo receiver, integrated
amplifier or phonograph preamplifier to the stereo Line In
on your soundcard.
3. Place your LP on the turntable and set your stereo's input selector
to PHONO.
4. Open AudioView. In the menu bar click on File, then New.
5. This will open the Sound Selection dialog. Do not accept the default
audio file format; choose CD Quality from the Name: drop down list.
This is actually stereo 16-bit 44.1kHz sampling rate audio format,
which is the required format for CD Audio discs.
6. Now get ready to record. Cue up the LP record and click the big, red
Record button in AudioView. The Record and Pause buttons will flash
on and off, indicating that you are in Record/Pause mode. Record/Pause
mode allows you to monitor the level at the Line Input.
7. Play a selection from the LP and watch the LED-style level meters in
AudioView. It is a good idea to start with a piece that has a loud
portion. This will allow you to set the levels so that no part of
the recording will overload.
The fourth red level indicator to the far right in the AudioView level
meters is the "0.0" mark. Digital recordings cannot go over "0.0" or
you will get overload distortion ("0.0" indicates "full scale").
If the audio level indicators stay lit at the end of the scale for too
long, your recording will probably come out distorted. On the other hand,
you want to see the yellow LEDs light up often, so that your recording
doesn't come out too faint.
Using your sound card's mixer, adjust the Line Input level until you find
a good compromise setting that keeps the yellow indicators lit most of
the time, but doesn't let the loudest peaks go all the way to the red end
of the scale.
8. When you've found a good level, stop the record and cue it up to
the beginning. Now press the Record button again in AudioView.
You should see the Record button glow bright red, and the counter tick off
the recorded time. Start the record playing and the meters should move
in time with the music.
It is recommended that you record each song or section of a longer piece
on the record as a separate Wave file. It's much easier to edit a
6 minute piece of music than it is to edit an entire 25 minute album side.
9. Stop the recording by clicking the Stop button in AudioView, or by
pressing the space bar on your computer keyboard. You should now see
the recording displayed as a waveform in AudioView.
Save the recording to your hard drive by clicking File | Save in
the menu bar, or by pressing Ctrl + S on your computer keyboard.
Make sure you save the file with the Formats: set to PCM and the
Attributes: set to 44,100 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo as shown in the
illustration above.
10. You can edit the Wave file to your liking in AudioView. Once you have
a Wave file for each selection on your LP you can open them up in your CD
mastering software and 'burn' your audio CD.
11. You can then import it into AudioStation where you can use the Tag Editor
to fill in Artist / Album information.
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TIP:
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If you record the whole side of a LP or tape, you can break it into individual
tracks more efficiently by starting at the end of the file and working back
until you see the first point of silence. Select / highlight the audio from
the end until the first point of silence and use the cut command to remove it
from the original. Now open a new 44.1 kHz – 16 bit file and paste the audio
you cut into the new file. Name this file and save it. Now when you go back
to the original, the file will end on the next to the last song. Continue the
process until all the individual tracks have been cut and saved.
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NOTE:
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Since the Tape Monitor outputs of a typical receiver are often inadequately
buffered and amplified, the soundcard's Line In may not "see" a hot enough
signal to make a good recording. In such cases, you will get too much hiss
and/or hum, with the music coming through only faintly. A solution for this
is to connect your turntable to a standalone phonograph preamplifier available
at Radio Shack or Audio stores.
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WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!!
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Extreme caution should be exercised not to Overload the Sound Card's Input by
a loud External signal. Even a millisecond brief "spike" can render the board
useless. A lot of people these days are using External sources to input the
signal onto their Sound Card, unfortunately, without having any basic Audio
knowledge. Damaging a board in this fashion is a USER ERROR that is not
covered by any Warranty.
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