Posted by Ablang on 07/29/07 00:18

Weekend Project:
How to Convert LPs and Cassettes to CDs and MP3s

Transfer your old analog audio to discs or digital files-practically
for free.

By John A. Burek

That stack of disco singles (1977). Those college-band concerts you
recorded on the sly (1987). That tape of your 4-year-old channeling
Celine Dion ("My Heart Will Go On"-shudder-1997). You'll never part
with them, but those tapes and LPs are a titanic hassle to play and
store. But with three helpers-an LP turntable or a cassette player, a
CD-burning application, and the free, open-source program Audacity-you
can bring these 20th-century treasures into 2007. Here's how to
archive them all to audio CDs and MP3 files-and even spruce up the
sound.




Step 1: Wire up for sound

First, connect your analog audio source to your PC. If it's a Walkman-
style cassette player, get a cable with stereo-not mono-miniplugs.
(Look for two rings on the plugs. For reference, see RadioShack part
42-2387.) Connect the headphone jack to your sound card's or (if your
PC uses integrated audio) motherboard's line-in jack. It's marked with
concentric waves and an inward arrow, and usually color-coded blue.

For a stereo-component cassette deck or a boom box, use its headphone
jack (with the above cable, plus a quarter-inch headphone adapter:
RadioShack 274-367), its rear stereo line-out ports, or the headphone
jack or line-out ("record") jacks of a connected receiver/amplifier.
To use line-outs, the cable you need has left/right RCA connectors at
one end and a stereo miniplug at the other (RadioShack 42-2550).

Connecting a stand-alone LP turntable requires a receiver/amplifier
with "Phono" jacks (newer home theater receivers often lack these), or
a dedicated phono pre-amp. This component then connects to the PC.
Connecting a turntable straight to your PC's line-in is a recipe for
inferior sound. Crutchfield and others sell under-$50 powered pre-
amps.



Step 2: Set up Audacity, configure audio inputs

Install Audacity (we used version 1.2.6), then launch the program and
preemptively set two functions. Go to Edit > Snap-To and choose "Snap
On," then go to View > Set Selection Format and choose "cdda
min:sec:frames 75 fps." These options ease splitting your recording
into CD-friendly tracks later.

To digitize your tunes, you'll record the audio into files on your
hard drive. WAV, kin to the audio format CDs use, is the best file
format for this; your CD-burning software can translate WAV to CD
audio without quality loss when making an audio CD. You could also
record straight to a compressed format such as MP3, but to create top-
quality CDs and files for a portable music player, recording to WAV
first and converting later is the way to go. Clear at least a few gigs
of drive space-WAV files eat up about 10MB per minute, plus more
during editing.

In Audacity, go to Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O, and choose your
sound card or chipset under Playback Device and Recording Device.
Also, select "2 (Stereo)" under Recording Channels. Then, on the File
Formats tab, check that Uncompressed Export Format reads "WAV
(Microsoft 16-bit PCM)." Hit OK.

Next, open Windows XP's Volume Control- double-click the speaker in
the taskbar. (The following process varies a bit in Windows Vista, or
if you use a proprietary mixer control from your sound-card maker.) Go
to Options > Properties, click the Recording button and OK, and, in
the Recording Control window, select the Line In checkbox (or make
sure Line In isn't muted-the options might vary). If you don't see
Line In, return to Options > Properties > Recording, and make sure the
Line In input is checked, and that the "Mixer device" dropdown
reflects your sound card or chipset. If you still can't find Line In
(possible with certain sound cards), try "What U Hear" or "Analog
Mix."

Now, play your tape or LP-it should be audible through the PC's
speakers. In Recording Control, set the recording-level slider for the
Line In (or other) input near the middle, to prevent distortion. If
using a headphone-jack connection, moderate the level from the
playback device's volume control, too. (Incidentally, you can turn
down or mute all Mic inputs to minimize interference.)

While the music plays, return to Audacity and select the same input
you chose in Recording Control (most likely, Line In) from the
dropdown next to the toolbar input-level slider. Then, in the upper-
right of the screen, from the tiny microphone-icon dropdown, choose
"Monitor input" to activate Audacity's input-level meter. (If the
signal level doesn't begin to throb now, return to Volume Control to
select or unmute the correct recording input, and match it in
Audacity's toolbar.)

When recording, the level meter mustn't max out (hit "0"), or harsh
digital distortion (called "clipping") will result. So, forward to
your recording's loudest segment, and adjust Audacity's input-level
slider to leave some headroom.



Step 3: Record your tape or LP

You're ready to record. Rewind your tape to the start point, or clean
your needle, and hit Audacity's Record (red dot) button. Then start
your tape or LP. You should see a two-channel waveform scroll across
the screen as the audio records.

For simplicity's sake, record the entire LP or cassette side at once.
Once your recording is done, click Stop (yellow square) and choose
File > Save Project As. Give the recording an evocative filename, and
save to a new folder. Note that this "project" file isn't usable
outside Audacity-it must be exported before burning.

Continue to steps 4-6 >

http://computershopper.com/howto/how-to-convert-lps-and-cassettes-to-cds-and-mp3s-200706

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