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Date:	Tue, 1 Apr 2003 23:20:41 PST8
From:	Peter Skye <pskye@peterskye.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Vinyl-2-CD (was: Tape-2-CD)

Content Type: text/plain

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J. R. Fox wrote:
>
> The big issue for me with this has always
> been the considerable distance from computer
> station to hi-fi system.

There are lots of things that might possibly go wrong when using long
cables but about the only thing you'll actually notice is either you
have to turn up the treble a little bit or you might hear a buzz.

Far more worrisome is the 12" vinyl platter which acts like a
microphone, picking up the sound vibrations in the room and transferring
them back to the needle ("stylus") causing phasing problems. This was a
*major* concern when we actually cut the master acetate discs (for the
pressing plant) from the studio tapes. If the speakers were too loud we
would get ringing feedback on the discs.

Don't forget to set your turntable on sandbags to minimize floor
vibration transfer. And for heaven's sake don't put the turntable in a
corner where you'll get low frequency buildup. Some of the mastering
rooms use a concrete saw to isolate the spot where the disc lathe sits
from the rest of the floor.

> The obvious solution would be a
> laptop for doing the capture to H/D.

No. The sound chips in laptops are often worse than those on the better
sound cards.

> Tony's solution was some looooong and fancy custom
> audio cables . . . and I think some kind of a
> junction box that minimizes signal loss.

I ran lab tests between a product called "Monster Cable" and the
inexpensive Belden 8451 cable which we typically used in the studios.
The result was that we continued to use the inexpensive Belden 8451.

If you *really* want a quality transfer, get a 16-2/3 turntable (half
the 33-1/3 speed) and transfer your LP's with it. You'll get much less
stylus chatter in the groove and your high frequency response will
improve. You'll need to adjust the "tone controls" a bit, either in
hardware or in software, because the RIAA preamp knee points will be an
octave off. A minor bit twiddle in the header and the sound file will
play fine. Stan Ricker at JVC did most of the half speed cutting in
town (the disc lathes ran at half speed and so did the playback tape
machines) and everything was a lot cleaner (but more expensive) that
way.

As with all things audio, YMMV.

- Peter

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