A burning session (LP 2 CD)

[Quiel]

Beware... this is another long post. just to solicit inputs/comments for improvements... as I eagerly await my next burning session in the coming days.

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Pakay (Objective): Copy LP to CD (for keeps) w/ no or minimum intervention

Gamit (Components/Materials):
Turntable: Dual 1211 (Onkyo stylus/Dual cart & tonearm)/Garrard 301 (vintage GE and Stanton carts and styli; vintage Garrard tonearm)

Analog Recorder: Dazzle DVC on NotebookPC using Dazzle RCA-Parallel connector (would have been unnecessary if PC has RCA inputs)

Phono Preamp: push-pull integrated (12ax7-based)

Digital Recorder: Nero, External Cd burner

LPs: Tchaik 1812 (Ormandy, Philadelphia Orc, Columbia Masterworks), Tchaik 1812 (Fiedler, Boston Pop, RCA Victor-Red Seal), Beeth Sonata No 1/9 (Casadesus/Francescatti, Columbia) Beeth Concerto in D (Heifetz, Boston Symp, Red).

Ito ang talagang NOTA! (Notes):
a) Ayos (Settings): (1) tried with several settings on Dazzle (gain, volume, audio format:.mpa or .wav, sampling rate: 44.1k or 48k); settled with Gain and volume: 80 (default, changing them did not yield good results, esp increase which distorts ); used .wav (initially i cannot distinguish the diff between the two and would have settled for .mpa with it smaller footprint); set 48k for sampling (having realized benefits for .wav); one setting i did not change is Data rate (KB/s): 172 (default, no other values to select in the LOV but allows input which i don't know how to play with); (2) Nero writing: speed (fr 52x to 4x), settled with 12x (takes more time to burn, but I noticed a difference between source and duplicate last time I tried cd replication using 52x - of course there could be other factors)

b) Mas maayos na kaayosan/Mga Laro sa Hinaharap (Future Improvement/experimentation (cheapo only): interconnects - will solder shorter lenghts, say .5 meter (this gave me very good results ); look for options for RCA-parallel connector; external phono preamp (with tone/bass controls perhaps, am i getting off target? ) or tubed or SS (last time i tried with my integrated SS disappoint me ); editing of digitized copy (now, that's getting more off target!!!); finetuning of turntables to their max potential (paano ba yun? ).

c) Pangkalahatang Dating (General impressions after listening): firstly, this is very taxing but the desire to make a good & decent copy is so inspiring (w/o professional gear and know-how); can't compare with a similar material on CD, but definitely, with my head still up high, i rate the effort as PROMISING . definitely, straight analog is much better; cd copy lost the 3D effect of analog but most surprisingly, the fullness of analog sound remains!!! 2nd surprise, it's not as noisy as i expected -- thanks to a generous fellow who gave me DIY cleaning solution; 3rd surprise, gain in CD is higher than LP playback... something to do with my phono preamp circuitry/RIAA ?

Garrard-setup sound is unmistakably vintage yet may not beat Dual-setup in noiseless playback (techno advances!!!); Garrard excels, in my ears, in Orchestras/Operas (esp strings, solo & vocal performances); Dual & modern music seem to make a good synergy (Billy Joel, Huey Lewis, T Jones, Martin Nievera); Fiedler's Canons are more staggering but Ormandy's pealing of bells projected sounds coming from some distant and towering belfry; those soulful violin passages in Beethoven's will help soap opera artists cry more naturally .

Now I have reached another point of confusion on how to categorize my cds: AAD (for Ayaw at ayaw ng Digital) or ADD (for Analog Din ang Dating)... just for fun ... no pun intended to fellow cd lovers. (Anyway, to share my personal experience: after comparing exactly same songs (label, artist) in Cd and LP format, i ended up day-dreaming when I can hear an LP version of any cd track I like... or I await a day when a medium will be massmarketed where analog sound and digital ruggedness/portability are achieved. Meron na ba?)

this is another way, for me, to have good fun ... esp when one is home for days with fever... you will feign it lingering to have excuse in staying home. After all, this is indeed a burning session -- with fever and cd writer!!!

On a personal note, analog is fun and vintage stuff makes it affordable ... well, i consider myself blessed to have relatives/friends who took care of their "antiques" and who willingly trustfully handed them to me for "safe-keeping". Eternally, i hope.

[johnmarc0]

Quiel,

I have transferred several LPs to CDs and crashed and burn several times before I got pretty well doing it. Here's what I did

TT ---> Phono Stage -----> Line Stage Device (optional) -----------> 1X recorder

Honestly any TT will work as you lose the directdrive/belt drive feel in the sampling time (quantization noise) anyways.

Phono Stage- critical is the output S/N thebest way to check this is to rig a high impedance headphone (I used an old Collins headset from my old SSB transceiver) to check signal to noise ratios (tenga tenga lang pwede na as long as you can discriminate signal over noise at very low voltage).

Or use a high impedance voltmeter, run the cartridge in the no music parts of the LP disc and measure the voltage, measure the voltage with music, deduct the voltage w/ music with the voltage w/o music multiply by log 20 then you get your signal to noise ratio in dBs, your setup is okay with 25dB or higher.

Using a Line Stage device is done on a judgement call basis, the linestage usually results to lower signal to noise ratio so judge from the headphone if u can accomodate or not.

1X recorder, I bought two studio grade tascam recorders and both have different internal sampling rates, both have input linestage with indicators and can be internally disconnected. 1X is preferred as higher recording speeds requires an outboard A/D device with lag memory buffering (your PC did this for you) plus the clock harmonics is very noisy ( we confirmed this with a spectrum analyzer, this is actually the reason why my biz bought one 6 months ahead of capex sked its good to be the boss)

Results, an album I made was very a good repro, as a matter of fact some wiredstate members made copies. There were bad LPs we tried to ressurect using image processing techiniques (i.e. fft, statistical interpolation etc) but the damn thing is just to tedious so we resorted to obtaining better material instead.

An option is using a DAT recorder, but I just tested it for A/D purposes on 2X or better cutting (the setup is much better for live recording than LP repros), but honestly the previous setup is just the rational approach, the rest is esoteric for the purpose.

BR

JM

[Quiel]

Thanks, JM. Now, that is what I call professional gear and know-how You never cease to impress me.

The last setting I changed: Declicking. This is supposed to remove the clicks and pops which are synonymous to vinyls. I experimented with the rate (fr 5% to 40%). 40% may have eliminated all these vinyl-trademark noises, but music is severely deformed. I settled for 5%.