audacity question

[coonsanders]

hi gang

i saved some tunes from an lp into my computer with audicity...however there seems to be alot of volume distortion on
each song.....how do i edit this distortion out from the tunes?thanks.

lenny

[SithTracy]

How did you bring them in to your PC? What equipment was used (from the turntable to the sound capture card/device)?

[coonsanders]

hi tracy.....

well audicity to add them to the computer...a technicks turntable into my amp from there the soundcard in line hole....

lenny

[SithTracy]

Through your AMP to the soundcard? A better idea would be getting a phono pre-amp.

[redk9258]

He probably used the line out from the amp (RCA jacks). He probably had the recording level too high and drove the sound into clipping. That would be my guess. Best thing to do is make sure you do not allow the recording level to go above zero DB. In the digital world, there is no headroom above zero DB.

[Dartman]

Yep, I picked up a old Panasonic DAT audio tape recorder here. It's in great shape and everything works like it should. If your doing digital captures with it almost the minute it hits Zero DB it starts clicking and snapping and like that in the audio, if you keep it JUST below zero at max it sounds just like whatever the original source is, totally backwards from analog tape where you try to stuff as much signal on as possible to kill tape noise and get as much audio as possible on the tape.
Interesting little beast it is and the 4mm tapes can hold about 3 hours of cd quality audio when every things working properly. They even give you a peak function in the advanced meter functions so you can see peaks that wouldn't show up on the normal readouts to avoid the zero DB issues.

[coonsanders]

hi
thats how i have it connected though my amp.....why would a preamp be better?do i use that plus the amp?red how do i do that?red where would i do this with audacity?cant i do this with editing?

lenny

[Dartman]

Your over doing the levels into the audacity program probably and thats why your sound is bad. Also if your just going with the red and white audio jacks directly from your turntable the phono sound isn't being EQ'd properly at all so you'll get distorted sound because of that. The newest cheap turntables they are selling have USB outputs that are properly EQ'd and things so as long as the levels aren't too high you'll get a pretty good recording.
If your using a old school turntable you do need a Phono preamp to EQ the audio properly from the red and white RCA jacks from the table.
In the old days all receivers had the phono jacks built in with all the EQ and everything included so 80 percent of the time you just plug it into the phono jacks and your good to go after that. Most newer A/V receivers no longer have phono jacks because until recently record playback was very rare most were using Cd's and DVD's.

[coonsanders]

hi
my reciever DOES have phono jacks built into it.so your saying i have ti go from my turntable into a preamp then into my reciever?

lenny

[Dartman]

If your just trying to get it to play unless it has a special cartridge like a Moving coil or something not common just plug it into the phono jacks and it should sound fine as long as the cartridge and needle are good. If your trying to then jack it into your PC you'll probably have run the tape out audio jacks into it and you hopefully will get proper sound after adjusting the recording levels in your program.

[coonsanders]

hi
what i have on my amp as i said before speaker inputs turntable inputs an input 4 cds,,,,both needle and cartridge are new.so how to i control the distortion?should i still get a preamp?if itll help the sound i will...where do u connect in the computer?well thats the problem.....i want to know how to adjust the sound with audicity...

lenny

[Dartman]

Well most receivers, if thats what you have, also have a tape loop that has inputs and outputs and you'll need some sort of line out from the amp so the turntable can get audio into your PC. If you don't have a audio out anywhere you might want to consider a phono preamp like was mentioned that you can then directly input to the PC through the analog inputs of your sound card to the audacity program.
Usually there is a input jack on your sound card or built in sound on your mother board and you need some break jacks that have the red and white analog inputs for that jack. You should have gotten one with the PC or sound card and if not they are pretty common and easy to get at a PC shop.

[SithTracy]

I used a preamp because my PC was not near my stereo equipment... I also opted to send the sound in through a Griffin iMic instead of through the sound card.

[coonsanders]

i c......thanks tracy

[redk9258]

Is the sound correct / undistorted when you play the record through the stereo speakers that are connected to the receiver?

How exactly is the turntable connected to the soundcard? It should be turntable to the PHONO input on the receiver (with the ground wire also connected). Then you should use the REC OUT from one of the tape loops to feed the soundcard. You should NOT be using speaker outputs! Also, on the soundcard there should be a LINE IN or AUX IN and a MIC in. Make sure you are using LINE IN or AUX IN. NOT MIC in.

Once this is connected correctly, you should be able to play a record and hear the sound on your computer. Does it sound correct undistorted at this point?

Now inside Audacity, when you record you need to set the record level be using the system mixer (double click the speaker in the system tray). Make sure you do not exceed 0db or you will have distortion.

Can you list all of the equipment involved?

cartridge
turntable
receiver
types of cables (RCA to 3.5 mini plug, etc.)

[Dartman]

Thanks Red, sometimes it's hard to do these things after the fact, if either of us were right there with him he'd probably all ready be up and running now. You covered everything better then I was trying to explain and obviously you know Audacity. If Lenny sticks with it he'll be recording his records soon enough.

[coonsanders]

hi guys

why shouldent i not use the speaker outputs on my reciever?what should i use instead?im using a technick usb turntable the reciever is onkyo tx 8211.
the carteidge is stanton.....the stylus is and71ee.im not sure of the stantion cartrigde model nimber...

lenny

[Dartman]

The actual speaker outputs put out way too much voltage and will overdrive the inputs of audacity I would guess unless you turn both the volume and input for audacity down to almost nothing.
If that table all ready is USB that may mean it has all ready been EQ'd inside the table so you might just need to hook it up to like the tape or CD input and see if it sounds right if it also has normal RCA audio jacks or a adepter included. If you have a USB input on your PC, which almost anything recent should try hooking it directly to that and then get that input into audacity and see if it now works OK.

[coonsanders]

hi dart

heres what i do....and it works great...my usb tuentable is connected to the "phono inputs on my reciever. then i run a wire from my speaker outputs on
the rear of my reciever into the in line on my sound card.i open up audicity make sure the "line in"on the menu top is selected.i dont use the speaker
option...i use the mike vu meter on the right side.because thats how i have it connected to my line in.the line in is actually for my mike to speak into
the computer (going in...aka line in)the speaker inputs are going "out to my speakers".it works very well......a pre amp is the last thing i need...

lenny

[SithTracy]

You have a USB turntable? There is no need to connect to the line inputs. The audio will record through the USB interface to your PC. Check your documentation....

[coonsanders]

ok thanks...

lenny

[Dartman]

Well sounds like between everybody your good to go now so enjoy burning your records to CD and maybe you can now do other audio in type things now that you have a couple of good ways to make it work.
Have fun and good luck with it.

[coonsanders]

thanks pal....

coonsanders

[redk9258]

I do not have Audicity installed. I mainly use Sound Forge. I did not know Technics made a USB turntable. I would use the REC OUT from the receiver to the LINE in on the soundcard. I'm suprised the soundcard is not fried from having it connected to the speaker outputs! Another thing we did not discuss.. Make sure the turntable is level and the tracking force / anti skating is set correctly.

[coonsanders]

thanks