My signal path and process is as follows for Digitizing Vinyl:
(labor of love)
1) Shure M44-7 Cartridge
2) Technics SL1200
3) Phono pre amp. I'm bouncing back and forth between the Rolls VP29
and I just picked up the ART Phono Plus to try out.
it a has Gain Control Knob and USB connection!
The thing is, even with the Gain lowered all the way, some records
are pressed to hot for this device and I get clipping/distorition on
input into the computer. I still need to play with the ART Phono Plus
some more. Also, it is my understanding that the Shure carts i use
have a pretty hight output as well, but, they sound pretty good, so,
I don't want to switch that up. Note, levels from the Rolls into Edirol
are always good, but that's another device in the signal chain which
I was trying to cut back on with the ART Phono Plus purchase.
4) with Rolls VP29 preamp, go into Edirol FA-101 channels 1+2, adjust gain
there.
With the ART Phono Plus, Live reconizes as a sound card device and I select it.
5) Inside of
Live, I created a nice "Digitizing Vinyl" Template.
setup with 3 Channels,
Ch1/Track1 = Side A of vinyl
Ch2/Track2 = Side B of vinyl
Ch3/Track3 = Phono Input.
In the phono input channel i load up the Elemental Audio "Inspector" VST plug
in. I use it to meter levels, make sure my levels are not clipping.
Then, I turn on a soft amount of Peak Limiting on PSP Vintage Warmer or
similar. Just to try to boost/bump/even out levels on input. From there. I
assign that channels' output into either Ch1 or Ch2. The Vintage Warmer's
processing gets recorded into my new .wav file.
6) From there, I just edit the tracks into new clips per side of the record.
Dump into arrangement mode and rename all tracks on the vinyl accordingly.
Trim start and end for each track.
Consolidate each new named artist_track_side_track# as a new file.
Delete all songs from arrangement mode.
Go to the file browser, Drag newly consolidated tracks into Performance View
and begin the Warping process in case in the future, I want to dj with Live.
Haven't done so yet....
7) Almost to the last step, bring .wav files into iTunes. Tag all info in iTunes per
release for how how many ever records i just recorded. Each vinyl release is its
own live file session by the way. Call up a LAME encoder and rip those wavs
into mp3s. I'm ripping 320kbps constant bit rate stereo settings for LAME.
After mp3 ripping is complete. Go back to iTunes, pull in any album art off of
discogs.com.
9) Open up Mixmeister (PC app) analyze bpm of all new mp3 files.
10) Open up Traktor DJ Studio, Add tracks to collection (import from dynamic
"newies" playlist in iTunes) and stripe all the new mp3s. I'll also every once in
a while bust open Maxi Patch for Ms Pinky's Binky Toy and batch stripe new
waveform stripes for Binky Toy performances.
11) Final step, back up all .wav and mp3s files periodically to dvd-r.
12) Sit back and take a deep breath and hope all this work is worthwhile and await
next DJ gig.
