Converting Vinyl to Digital
I have some vinyl only releases and wanted to put some on digital for me only. I know I can just route my mixer out into my computer.. or from my turntable into my audio 8 but was wondering whats the best low-budget way?
A while ago I saw Robert Dietz tweet about how he uses a Pro-Ject Tube Box II - Vacuum Tube Phone Preamplifier to make his tracks sound chunky when digital
any suggestions?
photojojo gave me a great link…
maybe he will pass it on…i can’t find it…
hopefully the thread catches his eye cause I would love that link right now 
as for the tube preamp: it’s not a good idea bang-for-your-buck wise. tubes are so unreliable. they age pretty quickly. you either service them all the effing time or live with huge variations in performance.
as for digitizing vinyl, you’ll want to bypass your mixer, as it degrades the signal. so, if you don’t want to invest in new equipment, use an input of your A8DJ set to phono.
if you do want to acquire some gear to improve your results, here’s some food for thought.
1.) vinyl will never be able to hold a candle to digital. so don’t spend large amounts of money chasing a sound quality that will never be on par with a cd.
2.) you wanna optimize the quality of the analog signal you’re getting from your turntable because that’s where the gains in fidelity lie. the quality of AD converter or the software you use to process the digitized audio is secondary to that.
3.) the preamp doesn’t really matter much as long as loading isn’t too far off (it won’t be when using an MM cart and a standard, off-the-shelf preamp). the cart matters, though. generally, ortofon dj carts are not good. in light of my point (1.) above, i don’t suggest you spend hundreds of $ on the cart but it certainly makes sense to purchase a hifi cart in the $25 - $100 range.
4.) calibration of the TT is very important (tracking force, cart alignment, etc.)
5.) the vinyl itself makes a huge difference. make sure it is in good condition and cleaned. also, results will vary with the type of vinyl (45rpm is better than 33, vinyl with shorter playtime is better than vinyl with long playtime/many tracks per side, etc.)
thank you rgtb for the extended response I appreciate it. Now would you be able to recommend me carts for the conversion process? Right now I have some crappy ones I was thinking of buying ortofones for DJing and keeping the conversion carts exclusive for just importing my tracks to mp3.
and what AD converter would you recommend or would the audio 8 be just fine?
The ADC in the A8DJ will be just fine.
As for Hifi carts, the cheapest one I would consider is the Audio-Technica AT95E. Overall, it’s already better than, say, an Ortofon Nightclub. But, for my taste, it’s a little bright, the highs are kinda dominant. I currently use a Shure M97XE and love it. I recently switched to the Shure from an Ortofon Vinyl Master for the Shure’s focus on bass response. The Vinyl Master series (which goes under a different name in the US, namely 510/520/530/540 MKII) might be slightly more clear and neutral, though. The Vinyl Master/5x0 MKII series has been discontinued. The successor, 2M, is also good but it seems Ortofon has increased prices. E.g., the 2M Blue is $225 which is too much imo.
Btw, I would recommend against purchasing a used cart. (If you do, factor in the cost for replacing the stylus which is mandatory iyam.)
EDIT: note that phono carts are transducers. (loudspeakers and mikes, too.) as a rule of thumb, transducers are the audio devices where the differences in sound quality are largest. You will easily be able to tell apart a good cart from a bad cart and a good speaker from a bad speaker. That’s different from, say, mixers or cd players. there might be no perceptible difference in sound quality between a $2000 mixer and a $300 mixer.
yet again thank you I think Im gunna scoop up the Shure M97XE cause I prefer a better bass response then highs 
btw I still need to replace my DJ carts you recommend any? I spin strictly house, tech-house, etc so no scratching just mixing any ideas? I saw a pair of Ortofon Concorde Pro S for around 200
Further evidence that the sound quality argument is subjective bullshit for the most part.
Vinyl sounds great; don’t believe the hype about it “not holding a candle” to digital. The real problem is artifacts – dust or scratches or problems in the pressing process that will be audible on vinyl. Vinyl is also noisier than digital but not so noisy that it makes a huge difference under normal circumstances (unless something went wrong in the recording or playback process). Sure, if you crank the volume up to ungodly levels and listen to silent parts of a recording really carefully you’ll hear more noise with vinyl than digital, but for DJing and normal listening you’re not going to be doing that.
The M97xe is a fantastic cartridge - it’s what I use for digitizing vinyl as well - but if you’re seeking more bass response it’s probably not the needle for you; you’re probably better off with the Shure M35 or M447, which are DJ carts with heavier bass emphasis. The 97xe is much more of a “neutral” cart, which means it won’t sound as bassy as the DJ carts. It is also unforgiving with vinyl artifacts so I’d say clean your records really carefully before recording from it. Whereas my M447s cut through dirt and dust pretty nicely. That’s not to say that you won’t hear scratches, but minor artifacts pose less of a problem in my experience.
But what do I know I’m just an old school vinyl junkie who also happens to like pushing buttons 
There is no need for an aggressive tone.
In many respects, vinyl is measurably way inferior to red book. Two links with some facts:
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Disadvantages_(Vinyl)
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Myths_(Vinyl)
Obviously, the various weaknesses of vinyl are also super-easy to spot in a double-blind ABX test. E.g., even layman will notice that vinyl is unable to accurately reproduce the low and high ends of the audible frequency spectrum.
One of the issues I had converting my vinyl to digital was the amount of noise the tracks are able to pick up. It’s really amazing how little you hear this while playing the record but upon reviewing the digital recording, every little dust or scratch will come out.
Personally, I would recommend to clear you vinyl as well as possible. Then record using a software that allows some control of removing pops. Not sure how this would be done, I’m still learning myself as well.
[quote]
Obviously, the various weaknesses of vinyl are also super-easy to spot in a double-blind ABX test. E.g., even layman will notice that vinyl is unable to accurately reproduce the low and high ends of the audible frequency spectrum.[/QUOTE]
Outside of ABX tests, who just listens to “the low and high ends of the audible frequency spectrum”? Highs and lows sound just fine on vinyl when actually playing music. I’m not saying you won’t notice the difference playing things side by side, just that the difference doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the music in my experience.
It’s not hype if it’s fact…vinyl is straight up horrible compared to a digital master of a track.
djproben,
imo, it is genre-dependent. for example, when it comes to house music, i would mostly agree with your statement. it doesn’t hurt your enjoyment of house music in a club environment significantly that vinyl doesn’t have much at all below 50 or 60Hz and that HF are reproduced with reduced amplitude. but for example in genres where sub-bass plays a big role (e.g., experimental, or “older” dubstep), with vinyl my enjoyment of the music is much reduced compared to digital.
I’m not saying one is better than the other. That being said, idiotic kids do think digital is leaps and bounds better just as much as idiotic older guys who say vinyl is better. End of the day, neither would be able to get an overwhelming amount right in a blind listening at a club.
So the current options for converting my vinyl:
Audio-Technica AT95E
Shure M97XE
Shure M35
Shure M447
Ortofon Vinyl Master (510/520/530/540 MKII)
what about carts for DJing I spin strictly house, tech-house, etc so no scratching just mixing any ideas?
I saw a pair of Ortofon Concorde Pro S for around $200
^^^This. The genre argument is an interesting one, especially as concerns older dubstep, since that seen was almost completely dominated by vinyl early on (and still many die-hards far prefer vinyl). For those folks it seems the different bass response of vinyl is not an impediment at all to enjoyment. But to each their own. As for high frequencies, anything above 14kHz doesn’t matter if you’re over 30 years old, and there’s not a whole of information in that range in most popular music even for those who can hear it. (I mean really do you ever sit and listen to even a 14kHz tone?)
On the other hand, there are some interesting studies that have shown that inaudible frequencies well above 20k do indeed have an impact on brain activity; perhaps this is in theory an argument for analog over digital (or at least redbook) since CD sound cuts off frequencies just over 22k, but in practice, it’s unlikely ultrasonic frequencies are even present in analogue recordings (since mics and mixing boards are designed for the audible frequency range, and most styli won’t pick up anything over 20kHz even if it was there). See http://jn.physiology.org/content/83/6/3548.full for example.
In short: yes, I think technically digital is “better,” or at least more true to the source signal – analogue has a smaller dynamic range, a higher noise floor, and no question it adds information to the signal. But in practice it likely makes little difference to how much people enjoy the music, especially in a noisy club environment. And for me, I just love listening to vinyl, for whatever reasons, and I don’t find I miss the extra dynamic range or fidelity even in a quiet “critical listening” environment. And going back and forth between vinyl and CD to determine which is more flawed is not enjoyable to me at all - that’s a totally artificial listening experience with little value outside the purely technical.
so vinyl is popular among listeners of that genre? and that implies that the different bass response does not impede those folks’ enjoyment of the music? this deduction doesn’t make sense to me.
that’s a generalization. there are people in their 40s and 50s which can hear up to 16, 17, or 18kHz. but i don’t have a huge problem with this generalization. many people above 30, including many DJs, will not hear above 14kHz at reasonable amplitudes.
disagree. two examples where frequencies of 14kHz and above matter: (i) cymbals; (ii) the breath of air by singers (it goes up to 16kHz or so).
you might wanna read this. in short, even if your speakers could reproduce above 20kHz, you could only hear it if the ultrasound is fed directly into your skull bones. personally, i am nowhere near that close to the speakers when listening to music
Personally, I like the Shure M44-7 a lot as a DJ cart, especially given its attractive price point.