Saturday, December 31, 2011

Getting started

I'm going to show you how I converted some old records to MP3.  It really wasn't very hard and didn't take much time at all.  The longest part of the conversion is actually waiting around for the whole album to play.  There really is no way around this.  I will be using a ION powerplay USB turntable with Windows 7.  I will also be using the software the came with the turntable EZ Vinyl/ Tape converter.  EZ Vinyl/ Tape converter uses iTunes for the processing of the songs so I will be using that program for the final processing of the albums.

Step 1



First load up iTunes and have it running in the background before you start this.  Just bar it down in the background.  Plug the turntable in and follow the instructions.




Step 1b












In this step it is simply just asking if you want to use a turntable or a cassette.  In my software I just hit next and everything was fine.  Just select turntable if you have any problems.

Step 2















I like to press record right before I put the needle on the record.  Make sure you have the split recording into tracks checked, this will automatically divide tracks on the record while your recording.  The gain level should be at +0.0 on default.  There is a level meter on the far right, when your recording you don't want the levels to hit the marks at the top.  If the levels hit the marks then your recordings will sound distorted.

Step 3 & 4


After your recording is finished you will go to the tag your tracks screen.  You are limited to 10 tracks per recording session.  If you have 20 tracks then you just have to record your last 10 tracks after your first 10.  As you can see in the screenshot I typed in Artist Name, Album Name, and the track titles that I called Song numbers.

Step 5



After you press next on step 4 you'll get to this screen.  Congratulations, you're songs are now being exported to iTunes.

Step 6


 This screen is just asking you if you want to record more from your turntable.

iTunes Export



Here are the songs that we exported with the turntable software.

iTunes MP3

 
This screen shows you the detailed information about your MP3 file that iTunes made for you.  Congratulations.  Now you can drag these files on your favorite MP3 device. Iphone, Ipod, etc.

Similar resources I recommend

How to convert audio cassettes & LPs to MP3s in 5 easy steps by Mehendra Palsule

This site is great if already have your cassette player and turntable.  Mehendra shows you a low cost way of converting classic audio media by using Audacity audio editor.