11/02/2024
Some tips and tricks from our friends at CDC Cellular Repair Services, LLC
How to rip vinyl into mp3 or comparable formats
How to transfer vinyl records into mp3s or similar digital formats
It's fairly easy but can get more detailed once you get into cutting and editing. But in a nutshell here's how you do it:
You need a turntable obviously. A decent quality one is really kind of mandatory. They sell some units nowadays by Ion and a few others that have USB output, and I guess they'll get the job done, but I find they're not that great. In my case I used a Technics Linear Tracking unit that I've owned for over 30 years. Excellent for this purpose as it plays the LP as it was cut and just doesn't mistrack.
If you use a USB turntable, they have a preamp built in which is convenient. But remember they're built to a price point and have questionable quality both in the preamp itself and the cartridge/needle. My turntable is a much higher end unit with a good quality Audio Technica cartridge. It does get a demerit for being a T4P/P-Mount style, which was a type of cartridge that works terrific, but in the audiophile world they hate them. They were a simple plug-in format that the audiophiles dislike. I've always found them to be fine except for one problem: Limited choices. Stereo cartridges range in ability and more expensive ones give you greater sound quality. The TP4 never really developed really super high end cartridges, but for most people they're more than enough.
There are 3 types of stereo cartridges: Ceramic, Magnetic, and Moving Coil. Ceramic is the lowest grade, produce the least desirable sound quality, and tend to be hard on records. They're found in portable and inexpensive kids players and typically have low-grade sapphire styli (needle).
Magnetic is the most prevalent and they range from OK to super high end. Most better turntables either come with a pre-matched magnetic cartridge or you buy one separately. Most cartridges work well with specific tonearms and poorly with others. You have to know the specs of your turntable and tonearm and buy a cartridge designed to work with that type of turntable. Just because it's a $2,000 high end cartridge does NOT mean it will sound good with your deck.
Also, in most cases even when you find the right match for your turntable, they're not plug and play. They have to be installed and aligned properly. A good audio dealer knows how to do this and can do it for you if it's not something you want to deal with. The T4P does shine in this area because it's a plug and play, so you don't typically need any alignment tools and so forth. But even with those, you still should choose the best cartridge that your deck will take.
Moving Coil is the ultra-high end and just forget about them unless you're wealthy and have stupid money. Yes they produce the highest grade sound there is, but they ought to. You could easily drop $10,000 on one of those. So don't even think about it, especially for ripping vinyl.
Now I mentioned the preamp in the USB turntables. This is probably the MOST important thing to know. Ceramic cartridges are the worst IMO but they do have one attribute: High output so they require no preamplification. Magnetic and Moving Coil require preamplification because they have low output. In the case of Moving Coil, they're REALLY low output and your preamplifier needs to be capable of handling one.
So in my setup I have the Technics Linear Tracker plugged in to an old Harman/Kardon stereo receiver through the phono input. Why the phono input? It is preamplifed! So it upconverts the low output of that magnetic cartridge to a useable line level signal. From there I have an L-R RCA to 3/8" stereo headphone jack. The latter is plugged into the line in port on the sound card of the computer, and the former (RCA) is plugged into the tape out jacks. The blue colored one is line in. You want to use line in and not speaker level, trust me, that's how it's done.
From there you just play your LP and use Audacity or one of the comparable audio recording apps and make a recording. You're basically done. You can then, if you want, edit the recording to make clips and so forth, the choice is up to you.
Two final notes on line-in. I don't know about Mac but in Windows, the line-in connection is switched off by default. Go to Settings>type in "Control Panel">select sound>select speakers>scroll down to line-in and switch to on. Also, make sure to disconnect any other audio-in devices like video cameras and microphones. They tend to turn on when you start recording and screw up your cut.
And THAT, ladies and gentleman, is how you do that!
Have fun!