Recording from turntable to computer???

[Panty Snatcher]

I am a "virgin" at this , so please be gentle.

Can any of you guys tell me what I need (and how to do it) to be able to hook up from my stereo turntable to the computer and convert all of my old albums to mp3's. I have a mint of good old music, but need to know exactly what I need and how to do it. Need to be able to edit stuff too. Like in a "live" album, when the song is finished, need to be able to take in down from there.

From reading the forum, you guys seem to fuss alot, but it also seems that you have a lot of good ideas. So, I would appreciate your thoughts on this!

Thanks
Ed

[The Hunter]

:wings check your messages.

[p00n1s]

You will first need a way to get the audio into your pc. What you need is some sort of line input.

Here are a few types if inputs you could use:

1/4 inch (size of headphone plug)
RCA (red and white)
digital (wound find on high-end sound cards; digital receiver needed)
i.LINK/FireWire/IEEE1394 (for use with a digital video camera)

There are ways to get audio in through any of these media. If you can't find any on your pc, you will need to buy a sound card, preferably with RCA input.

Next, you will need to find a direct-to-disk application to import and/or edit your files. A quick search turns up Audiotools (http://www.unrelatedinventions.com/Audiotools/index.htm). Once you have your audio on your computer, edit it and save

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[housecrowd]

DON'T FORGET THE RIAA EQUALIZATION !!

If you're planning on taking the signal directly from your turntable, and your turntable does not include a pre-amplifier then you must put the signal through a RIAA equalizer first.

This is because:

1. The output of a turntable is much lower than the 1Volt peak-to-peak or so of the 'line-level' signals that come out of tape decks, CD plays, etc and in fact has levels and impedances more similar to that of a microphone.

2. Before a recording is produced on vinyl the levels are tweaked un-equally across the frequency rage. This is because vinyl records cannot store all music frequencies equally well. In particular the bass frequencies are reduced to prevent them 'bleeding' across adjacent tracks.

To reverse this intentional 'distortion' a turntable output must go through a RIAA equalizer pre-amplifier first. You should be able to get one from Radio-Shack etc. Try searching the web for "RIAA equalizer".

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