Album Conversion

[never say never]

I am converting an album using LP and Tape Assistant, using a USB Turntable. The album is..."It's a Small World" by the Disneyland Boys Choir. I mention this so you can imagine the high, loud sections of the lp - especially Silent Night and It's a Small World. I tried auto detect, but there were still many red clipped areas, so I lowered the volume more, but "sleep in heavenly peeeeeeeeeeace" and a few others are still distorted, sort of fuzzy, even after using the cleaning tools. Any ideas on what else I can do?

[never say never]

Read the last paragraph in post 5.

 

This is another way of (maybe) getting around the high level problem.

 

What make and model of turntable do you have?

 

 

WOW! For those with suggestions, thanks much...never thought one album could be such a problem.

The turntable is audio technica lp 2d usb. I also tried using the cakewalk and audacity software that came bundled with it, no luck. I don't have another turntable to try the album on. I guess the choir hit notes never before recorded by me! My son is into music and I might be able to convince him to clean up the remaining iffy sounds with his mbox, but it is Disney music and it is for his sister, so I'm not sure the cooperation level will be there.

Again, thanks for the help and suggestions

[d_deweywright]

WOW! For those with suggestions, thanks much...never thought one album could be such a problem.

The turntable is audio technica lp 2d usb. I also tried using the cakewalk and audacity software that came bundled with it, no luck. I don't have another turntable to try the album on. I guess the choir hit notes never before recorded by me! My son is into music and I might be able to convince him to clean up the remaining iffy sounds with his mbox, but it is Disney music and it is for his sister, so I'm not sure the cooperation level will be there.

Again, thanks for the help and suggestions

Okay, looking at the specs for that turntable, it does have a pair of RCA jacks on the back, unfortunately, it doesn't say whether they're pre or post preamp levels (directly from the cartridge, requiring preamplification and RIAA equalization, or line level, ready for your sound card). You can certainly try it out to find out. If you get a very low level signal from your sound card input, then you'd want to get a turntable preamp to go between the turntable and your sound card. If you get a signal that's easy to record at a "normal" level, then it's probably a "post preamp" signal and you're good to go. Update: Found the information... the RCA output is switchable between pre-amp and line-level. Set it for "line level". You'll need a "Y" cable that goes from two RCA plugs to a single, stereo 1/8" plug. You can find those at Best Buy, or Radio Shack, and I'm sure other places.

 

The technical side is this, the signal coming from that particular LP is driving the input into the A/D converters to their highest level, and beyond. But, the digital signal (that can be represented as a number) can only go so high or low, anything above or below that, is simply recorded as that maximum or minimum level. It is literally, "clipped off", (picture a sine wave that has the top and bottom cut off, so that it is flat) causing the distortion you're hearing, and no software can recreate that missing signal completely accurately, or probably even reasonably well.

 

By bringing the analog signal into your sound card, you can use the sound cards mixer controls to set the incoming level so that it doesn't clip, and use the A/D converters in your sound card to record that LP without the distortion.

 

Hope that helps!

[never say never]

Yep, sounds like you've found the problem then, the LP was mastered "louder" than your turntable's electronics are set up to handle. Unfortunately, there's no good solution with that sort of setup since it doesn't have a way to control the level going into the A/D converter.

 

Going to stop at Radio Shack today and pick up a "Y" cable and see if I can head off the problem before editing.

 

Strangely, I did find one pretty good fix clicking on clean up, etc, looking for a magic bullet. In "equalizer", I changed it to "attenuate" and it seems to have fixed the minor problems and reduced the major ones.

 

Again thanks for the help and suggestions.

[ogdens]

I am converting an album using LP and Tape Assistant, using a USB Turntable. The album is..."It's a Small World" by the Disneyland Boys Choir. I mention this so you can imagine the high, loud sections of the lp - especially Silent Night and It's a Small World. I tried auto detect, but there were still many red clipped areas, so I lowered the volume more, but "sleep in heavenly peeeeeeeeeeace" and a few others are still distorted, sort of fuzzy, even after using the cleaning tools. Any ideas on what else I can do?

 

 

Tell us how you have the the USB turntable hooked up to your computer, sounds like you are hooked up to the Mic jack instead of the Line In on your sound card?.

 

Also what Operating System do you have?.

 

 

[never say never]

I'm hooked up through one of the front USB ports. I tried a USB port on the back of the computer and it didn't change the sound issues.

Running Vista on a Dell 530 desktop. If push came to shove, I could move the software to my laptop that is running Windows 7.

 

[ogdens]

I'm hooked up through one of the front USB ports. I tried a USB port on the back of the computer and it didn't change the sound issues.

Running Vista on a Dell 530 desktop. If push came to shove, I could move the software to my laptop that is running Windows 7.

 

 

I don't have a USB Turntable, so I don't have any hands on experience. From what I have read on these they come with a pre-amp built in them (this brings the low level output from the phono needle up to a acceptable level for the input to your USB device). Is there any adjustments (for level) on the actual turntable..

[d_deweywright]

I am converting an album using LP and Tape Assistant, using a USB Turntable. The album is..."It's a Small World" by the Disneyland Boys Choir. I mention this so you can imagine the high, loud sections of the lp - especially Silent Night and It's a Small World. I tried auto detect, but there were still many red clipped areas, so I lowered the volume more, but "sleep in heavenly peeeeeeeeeeace" and a few others are still distorted, sort of fuzzy, even after using the cleaning tools. Any ideas on what else I can do?

Well, the question is whether the noise/distortion is on the LP, or if it's coming from the A/D (analog-to-digital) converters being over driven.

 

Do you have a non-USB turntable connected to a stereo system somewhere that you can use to listen to your LP? If so, do that, and see what you hear. If it's distorted there, then it sounds like you're getting what's on the LP, but, since you also say the recording is "in the red" then it's a good possibility the distortion is coming from the turntable itself. Or more precisely, from the electronics in the turntable. If that's the case, then what needs to happen is that the output from the turntable needs to be reduced prior to the A/D converter internally. If there's a volume control on the turntable, turn it down to keep things from being clipped. If there's no volume control then you're pretty much out of luck unless you want to dig into the electronics and fiddle. What is the make and model of USB turntable you have?

 

If your turntable also has an analog output signal, if it's after the preamp section, then you can try feeding that into your sound card's Line-In input where you can control the incoming signal level to keep it from clipping.

 

Hope that helps!

[never say never]

I am converting an album using LP and Tape Assistant, using a USB Turntable. The album is..."It's a Small World" by the Disneyland Boys Choir. I mention this so you can imagine the high, loud sections of the lp - especially Silent Night and It's a Small World. I tried auto detect, but there were still many red clipped areas, so I lowered the volume more, but "sleep in heavenly peeeeeeeeeeace" and a few others are still distorted, sort of fuzzy, even after using the cleaning tools. Any ideas on what else I can do?

 

There is no volume/level control on the turntable. I have done 50+ albums and this is the first one I have had this problem with - they really hit some high notes and they hit 'em LOUD!

[d_deweywright]

There is no volume/level control on the turntable. I have done 50+ albums and this is the first one I have had this problem with - they really hit some high notes and they hit 'em LOUD!

Yep, sounds like you've found the problem then, the LP was mastered "louder" than your turntable's electronics are set up to handle. Unfortunately, there's no good solution with that sort of setup since it doesn't have a way to control the level going into the A/D converter.

[ogdens]

There is no volume/level control on the turntable. I have done 50+ albums and this is the first one I have had this problem with - they really hit some high notes and they hit 'em LOUD!

 

Read the last paragraph in post 5.

 

This is another way of (maybe) getting around the high level problem.

 

What make and model of turntable do you have?