Recording LPs via Audacity and then transferring music to my Brennan B2B

[Peter Kilpin]

Apologies if this topic has been covered before. Having recorded my CDs I am now embarking on recording my LP collection. I have a USB turntable and loaded Audacity software to my PC. My questions are:

What format should I use in Audacity to copy the LPs?

What procedure should I follow, using a USB memory stick, to transfer the music to my HDD?

Thanks for your help.

Peter

[JFBUK]

Hi,

I am not 100% certain what format Audacity uses to record initially/temporarily to but I would guess its WAV.

Once you have made the recording  and your Audacity session is still open you can choose to save it as a lossless Audacity project  file which has an AUP extension or you can choose to export the recording in whole or in part to MP3, WAV, FLAC etc. at your choice.

Audacity can/read write pretty much any audio format but it makes sense to store in a lossless one like FLAC.

There are three choices to move your tracks to your Brennan

1. Web UI upload function

2. via NAS

3. via a USB stick

Through personal preference I tend to use  method 1 as I typically load one album at a time and the Brennan updates its database and I don't have to worry about a scan disk

John

[Peter Kilpin]

Hi All

I would welcome further advice on recording LPs via Audacity.

I followed the advice above and can transfer my recordings, via the Web UI, but the volume is so low that the music cannot be heard at a reasonable level. I can hear it, but only at maximum volume! The original recording  are made via a USB turntable  to my PC.

Thanks

Peter

[Jeff. M.]

At the top of the interface, there is a recording level meter, have you played with this? I think i had mine set around 70, but could have gone higher! Trial and error!

[Mike W]

I just checked and had to have mine set to 80 when recording from a tape deck. I remember trying several settings before I got there, can't remember what the setting was for record deck but 70 as Jeff suggests seems about right.

Mike

[Jeff. M.]

Just recieved this in my email, told him about reply all!

DOMINIC 

16:41 (15 minutes ago)

to me

All

I have recorded and uploaded to B2 thousands of track/albums. Audacity is a hassle. I found and bought Alpinesoft’s Vinyl Studio. It is a super powerful and easy program to use which delivers pro results. I save and upload via thumb drive in WAV.

https://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/

Dominic 

Sent from my iPhone

[stevenh...@googlemail.com]

Hi Peter
Output the files to FLAC.
FLAC is a lossless format, so you can always convert it to whatever you want after anyway, but you'll also get the best possible recording of your precious Vinyl on your Brennan.

[Jai]

If the recording sound volume is low, increase loudness at “Gain” control below 'Audio Track' button by sliding 'Gain' to the right.

While recording, if spectogram (the visual representation of the spectrum of frequencies of your recorded track) falls below your desired levels, wait for end of recording, then increase loudness by sliding Gain to the right. Play track to satisfactory level before saving to folder. If you are still unsatisfied with the sound after saving, just drag the track to the spectogram area & increase the Gain by a notch or two as above. It is important to note that the recording levels of all your tracks are close to uniform as otherwise you may be adjusting the volume as you play each track ! 

Hope this helps !

[Mick Johnston]

I have been going through my record collection and loading them onto my B2.  I use Audacity to load the LP onto a laptop then I save it as a wav file before I edit it, remove any clicks and amplify it to max vol (No clipping) then I save all the files as flac files before uploading them to the B2.  I do not have a usb record deck so had to make a special lead to take a line level signal from my pre-amp to the laptop.  

I have done over 200 so far with no problems at all.

[Jeff. M.]

This is more or less how i did mine! But i did use a USB turntable. Mind you, some of my albums had more warps than the Starship Enterprise!