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vinyl transfers to wav sounding like crap

autezautez 404 Posts
edited June 2005 in Strut Central
i'm going from this to the input on the back of this and then going from the output on that to the input on this (soundcard) i play the music after recording/normalizing/hiss reduction with cool edit on these and it sounds like crap compared to listening to the vinyl. can you recommend a different setup or something for me? should i get a different thing than the aiwa thing i have? or does that not matter

  Comments

  • darendaren 28 Posts
    I think it'd be better if you used a stereo receiver with a "Tape Out" feature on it, but I pretty much hate non-component streos.

    Could you specify what outputs of your stereo and inputs of your computer's soundcard you are talking about?
  • autezautez 404 Posts

    Could you specify what outputs of your stereo and inputs of your computer's soundcard you are talking about?
    from the turntable to the awia im using the 'md' input which i believe is the same thing as using the 'video/aux' input.

    going from the aiwa to the computer im using the 'line out' on the aiwa and the 'line in' on the soundcard
  • dj_pidj_pi 335 Posts
    There's a lot of factors that can come into play when you're having sound problems.

    First off, its kinda obvious but very important is make sure that the turntable is grounded. It may not seem like much but not having it grounded can cause a lot of feedback problems. If it is grounded and you suspect the turntable to be causing the problem, play a record and put your ear up to or even on the turntable and see if you can hear noise thats not from the record.

    I see that the stereo is being sent into MD which I'm assuming stands for MiniDisc? Whatever the case, this doesn't seem to be right. You have to understand that the signal that comes from the stylus of your turntable is extremely small and needs to be amped up to be able to get good sound. If you plug your turntable into the "Phono" jack of the stereo, this jack automatically amps the sound up because it realizes the need for a stronger signal. When I first started out, I had pretty much the same set-up as you and plugged my turntable into the CD jack not thinking it made any difference. For me it made a HUGE difference after my friend called me out and finally hooked it up to the phono.

    Now going into the computer can lead to other problems. What kind of noises are you getting? If you are getting some type of humming noise, that can be from power supplies with the AC running at 60Hz creating that hum. Try to keep external power supplies (those black boxes on power cables like my external zip drive) away from your audio cables coming in and out of the computer. If you are getting a hiss, that tends to lead to bad audio card which is a problem I had with my laptop, and just a couple days ago, made a new computer with a nice audio card to correct this problem. Tell us how you are connecting your audio to your computer. If you're going through the mic input and line out, you're gonna wanna get a better audio card to have more quality.

    Your speakers shouldn't really do anything to the sound. They're just outputing whatever is already there. So typically if you got a bad signal its not cause of your speakers but cause of what you actually have on your computer.

    Also...another thing to keep note....the more connections and adapters and what not, the more loss in quality you have. Try to avoid adapters like RCA to quarters or 2-to-1 adapters. But you can get this thing solved. I too had major problems with hiss and used Cool Edit to take it out but it made my samples sound horrible. The best solution might be to look into getting a better audio card.

    Lemme know whats up...feel free to hit up the PM...hope this helps.
  • rpmrpm 144 Posts
    if you go to Radio Shack you can get a mini phono preamp which is
    about 1" x 3"s or so. From that you can go straight to your computer.
    the less in the signal chain, the more it should sound like the source (this is a simplified outlook, of course)

    the preamp should boost the signal and give you some outs that you can run straight into your soundcard.

    that should improve the quality.
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    Not cheapest way, but get a laptop, plug it directly in from stereo out.
    Peace
    T.N.
  • dj_pidj_pi 335 Posts
    Not cheapest way, but get a laptop, plug it directly in from stereo out.
    Peace
    T.N.

    I've only had horrible problems with laptops that use internal audio except for Macs. What kind of laptop do you use?
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    My soundclips are ok, not banging quality-wise, but you have to get the volume levels right on laptops. I have a Dell. My Compaq clips were much rougher than the Dell ones. What makes doing it on a laptop optimal is the fact you can be on the internet while recording something if you have a wireless network card and can clip stuff on demand. Your computer doesn't have to be located right next to your stereo unless you want it to be there. Pretty cool what technology has done for the common man.
    1
    T.N.
  • ariel_calmerariel_calmer 3,762 Posts
    Not cheapest way, but get a laptop, plug it directly in from stereo out.
    Peace
    T.N.

    I've only had horrible problems with laptops that use internal audio except for Macs. What kind of laptop do you use?

    Yeah, my powerbook's line in is fine. But all the PC laptops I've played with (dell, gateway, whatever) have been terrible. Hard drive spins up and all of a sudden you get a burst of noise on whatever you're recording, things like that.
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    Dude, I have a Dell! And it's fine. I don't have tons of programs on it because I like minimalism though, so maybe that's a factor.
    Peace
    T.N.
  • LazerLazer 796 Posts
    my dell line in works fine too
  • gloomgloom 2,765 Posts
    if you go to Radio Shack you can get a mini phono preamp which is
    about 1" x 3"s or so. From that you can go straight to your computer.
    the less in the signal chain, the more it should sound like the source (this is a simplified outlook, of course)

    the preamp should boost the signal and give you some outs that you can run straight into your soundcard.

    that should improve the quality.



    agreed, your best bet...worth the 25 bones.
  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    I have a PC laptop..an emachines..and I use an M-Audio Transit USB audio interface(really cheap laptop and the M-Audio thing is real cheap) and I just run from the record out of my turntable mixer into the M-Audio interface and record using SoundForge and it sounds great. The only problems I have had is that windows update fucks up my audio-codecs and I had to do some detective work to solve those problems, but now when I get a "windows update" is ready to be installed, I uninstall the software for the m-audio, install the update, and then re-install the software for the m-audio, and all is fine...
  • KrautbreaksKrautbreaks 276 Posts
    if you go to Radio Shack you can get a mini phono preamp which is
    about 1" x 3"s or so. From that you can go straight to your computer.
    the less in the signal chain, the more it should sound like the source (this is a simplified outlook, of course)

    the preamp should boost the signal and give you some outs that you can run straight into your soundcard.

    that should improve the quality.



    agreed, your best bet...worth the 25 bones.

    Hallo!

    I??ve bought that tool "clean" from Steinberg some years back,
    there was a pretty good pre-amp included which has direct output for the soundcard (maybe you will have to translate some cables size-wise into another without it) and it all was really cheap even back then!

    Greetings
    Seb
  • jjfad027jjfad027 1,594 Posts
    if you go to Radio Shack you can get a mini phono preamp which is
    about 1" x 3"s or so. From that you can go straight to your computer.
    the less in the signal chain, the more it should sound like the source (this is a simplified outlook, of course)

    the preamp should boost the signal and give you some outs that you can run straight into your soundcard.

    that should improve the quality.
    those things kinda suck
  • johmbolayajohmbolaya 4,472 Posts
    A pre-amp, or running it through a mixer, will help.

    If your component system has bass/treble capabilities (I know that sounds stupid, but I don't want to assume anything else), play around with that.

    What you plug into your PC is what you will get out of it, and you want the best sounding input so that you don't have to tinker around too much.

    As others have said, make sure it's grounded too.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    Just make sure at some point you run the turntable through a RIAA/"phono" preamp/EQ. If you didn't know, vinyl is cut with boosted treble and the bass cut, according to the RIAA curve. On playback, the bass is added back in and treble cut. Running direct from a turntable to an input can sound bad because it's not EQing it back to normal. Some turntables, like the cheap one that came with my wife's stereo, output line-level signal that is EQed.



    http://www.beigebag.com/case_riaa_1.htm

  • autezautez 404 Posts
    grounded:
    i'm pretty sure it's grounded (even though i dont really know what that means) because it sounds fine when i'm listening to it through my aiwa, just sounds bad when i attempt to put the music on my computer.

    hooking up to the md jack
    it also sounds fine when im playing on my stereo while hooked up to the md jack. it sounds the same as if i hook it up to the video/aux port on the aiwa. there's no phono slot on the aiwa.

    noises
    its like a hissing noise. also, the quality of the music doesnt sound anywhere near as crisp as when im playing straight through the aiwa. so i'm guessing its probably the audio card huh?



    one other thing, i was reading on some site that when you record the vinyl, the volume should be between -18 and -3 dB on the volume level thing on cool edit. i get a lot less. like -60 to -50. i put the volume all the way up on the sound card mixer panel in my system tray. this is as loud as i can get it. i have to amplify with cool edit. is there another option to turn up volume with cool edit or something i'm missing here?

    hmm i was thinking maybe the low volume levels could be because i dont have one of those preamps. i'll probably try one of those first and then a new soundcard if that doesnt work. either that or i think i might need one of those recievers with a phono input. thanks for all the good advice.

  • pointmanpointman 1,042 Posts
    While on topic of vinyl to pc recording woes I have had some trouble lately maybe someone here can figure this out?

    When I try to record records to my pc (SETUP: 1200 TO MIXER LINE OUT TO COMPUTER RECORDING WITH SOUNDFORGE.)

    I can record fine but I get low volume signal recordings even with the mixer volume and or gain all the way up as well as with the pc line in recording level raised all the way up. I don't get it because the signal is coming from my mixer which amps the signal but I can't redline a recording if I wanted to. Its not a dead low signal like if I didn't use a preamp, just not a very strong signal.

    I don't get it, any of you audiofiles/ engineers got a clue what the fuck I am doing wrong?????
  • dj_pidj_pi 335 Posts
    autez...
    I'm thinking if you got a new audio card it would help a lot more. To be honest, you don't even have to go with a PCI card where you have to open up your computer and install it inside. You can get an external box that can connect through firewire or usb (though I do recommend firewire cause it was made for fast audio and video transfers).

    autez & pointman...
    When it comes to audio levels its just something you have to play around with. Check the volume levels of your computer, where many times, the volume icon can be located in your systems tray by your clock on the bottom right hand corner. If its not there, go My Computer->Control Panel->Sound and Audio Devices. Fool around with the settings in there and see what you can come up with. If you have an audio card installed, make sure you use the drivers and possibly software provided with it. I have an EMU 1212m audio card and use the Patchmix DSP program that came with it to adjust my audio levels. Just remember not to max out your levels cause then your samples can lead to clipping. Worst comes to worst, and I do this too, record at a somewhat low range and then normalize. That way you can avoid clipping and the computer will automatically boost up the volume based on the highest peaks of the sample.

    Sorry I didn't get to responding earlier...I tried to install one of those card readers on my MPC and it didn't turn out so well. I got the scare of the lifetime after taking out the (falsly advertised) card reader from ebay and putting my floppy drive back in. Went to turn on the machine and all it did was keep flashing the screen on and off. I made a dumb mistake and put the floppy cable in the expansion card area. Everything works fine now.
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