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Vinyl Recording/Digitizing Setup

SoundOutLoudSoundOutLoud 171 Posts
in Strut Central
Lets here what you got. I have a simple M-Audio 2 channel interface but am unimpressed. My band has a Sapphire pro but that's probably a bit much for a setup away from our studio.  I'm longing for the days of where MacBooks Pros had an eight-inch audio input, which made this much easier.

Also curious, anyone recording to magnetic tape? I found an Akai reel-to-reel dirt cheap and am working to get that puppy working.

  Comments

  • sticky_dojahsticky_dojah New York City. 2,136 Posts
    Apogee Duet changed my life.
  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,789 Posts
    Roland Quad somethingorother worked well for me, plus those magentic-coil styli. Also a cork slipmat and a turntable weight to limit vibrations and increase bass frequency (aka bass purity), I think strutter Astro mentioned rubber bands on the tone-arm also help with this. Some here suggested straight from the turntable to the soundcard, I found I needed to go the traditional route through the mixer as without the signal was waaaaay too low.
  • ppadilhappadilha 2,244 Posts
    Duderonomy said:
    Some here suggested straight from the turntable to the soundcard, I found I needed to go the traditional route through the mixer as without the signal was waaaaay too low.
    you have to go through some kind of phono pre-amp, most turntables don't have one built in. I'm guessing that's why the signal was so low when you tried bypassing the mixer.

    I have a cheap Roland phono pre-amp (my receiver doesn't have a phono input), I just go from that straight into the sound card since I'm still on the old school macbook pro. My problems are with the TT setup itself, the wiring in my building is shit and I get lots of hum and interference even with the TT grounded.
  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,789 Posts
    ppadilha said:
    Some here suggested straight from the turntable to the soundcard, I found I needed to go the traditional route through the mixer as without the signal was waaaaay too low.
    you have to go through some kind of phono pre-amp, most turntables don't have one built in. I'm guessing that's why the signal was so low when you tried bypassing the mixer.
    Yes, that sounds right! Was a tad confused when I listened back to my recordings and the bass and volume had been... taxed to the extreme.
  • kicks79kicks79 1,338 Posts
    Rubber mats and those bass stabilizers tend to help to minimise hums and interference. 

    I was recording out of my mixer into an M-aduio box into my MacBook for years. My issue was that the recording was always pretty quiet and if I boosted it to a decent level, I kept getting digital clips as the signal redlined. So i ended up with some distortion or a really quiet track. 


  • Scuba SteveScuba Steve @steveislikewoah 40 Posts
    I used to go into pro tools via an apogee A/D coupled with a Mbox.  

    Anyone use Rekordbox to digitize?  I recently got the low end Pioneer mixer with the built in usb bundled with Rekordbox.  No microwave support :/
  • SoundOutLoudSoundOutLoud 171 Posts
    I have never used Rekordbox. I don't DJ out much so Audacity is simple enough for me.  

    Thanks for the tips everyone. Great advice here. I like the idea of cork slip-mats never used them, but can you scratch with them... say if I was recording a live mix? Definitely gonna pick up some turntable weights and use the rubber-band trick. Looking into some of those Rolands or a Duet.

    Likely not gonna invest in much till after I save a little more after my wedding :-/ but will check back in to update y'all on my progress!

    No one with reel-to-reel vinyl recording experience?
    foe
  • RhythmGJRhythmGJ Buffalo, NY 219 Posts
    SoundOutLoud said:
    No one with reel-to-reel vinyl recording experience?

    What do you want to know?

    GJ

  • SoundOutLoudSoundOutLoud 171 Posts
    IDK any success or problems?  I'm just kinda curious who on here is into that.  Still need to get my machine cleaned up before I use it, but fortunately I found a guy on the West Side of Chicago interested in helping me. Likely will focus on digital mostly, but that could be cool in the future.
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