Basics for Converting your Vinyl LP Records

Written by admin on April 17th, 2009

You are about to undertake a project, so allocate the time and be sure not to sacrifice QUALITY by taking any shortcuts.  Remember, the objective to to create a permanent archive of your record collection so reproducing the original sound without compromise is of the utmost importance.

The Turntable

You have to have a turntable to play your records, that’s a given.  There are many components of your turntable as it relates to sound reproduction, and the needle or stylus is just one of them.  If you have a turntable and you are happy with the sound quality it is producing, then you are good-to-go for the next step.  If not, then you’ll need to make a decision at this point.  Do you need to replace or upgrade components on your existing turntable or does it make more sense to purchase a new one?  This decision is not just a matter of cost, because there are now USB turntables available that will help simplify the overall project.  Keep this in mind when making your decision.  Ask yourself,

  1. Does it make sense to spend X amount of dollars replacing a component on an old turntable that has limited use or;
  2. Does it make more sense to spend X+Y dollars on a new turntable with features that will simplify the overall project, or;
  3. Is quality of the utmost importance, above time and cost.

 The decision is yours.

The Amplifier

Turntables require an amplifier to reproduce the sound.  Some may even require a pre-amp (particularly those with ceramic cartridges).  The test is that if you connect the turntable to an amplifier and you can listen to the music through the speakers or headphone at a reasonable volume level, then things are working properly.  If you have to turn the volume up to the maximum just to get a little garbled sound out of the speakers, then you most likely require a pre-amp.

The Computer

If you’re reading this you obviously have a computer.  Now we need to see what kind of sound card you have in you computer.  What you will need is a sound card that allows for independent left & right channel audio inputs so that the stereo signals can be separated.  If your sound card does not allow for these types of external inputs, then you will either need a new sound card or may be forced to go the USB turntable route.

The Connectors

Now that you have all of the basic components, you will need to connect them together.  The most efficient way I’ve found is to use the 1/4″ headphone output from the amplifier as your source output and connect that using a “Y” adapter (that you can pick up from most any electronics supplier) to use as inputs to the computer sound card.

The Software

Here is where the magic happens.  The proper software will allow you to capture the incoming audio signal in its purest form, then allow you to massage it as you see fit before saving it and burning it to digital media.

These are your basics.  Next time we’ll talk to to specifics of each of these key components and our recommendations.

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