matrulesok Posted April 12, 2005 Report Share Posted April 12, 2005 Ok, please bear with me as i'm not too experienced at this sort of thing (I have done a quick search of the site but found nothing).I am planning to try and put all my dad's vinyls to pc, so from there they can go back to minidisc or cd etc. I have a nh900 to record in pcm, and an old sony seperates system.The seperates system has a tape deck, and on the amplifier there is a phono out for the tape player to record from. I unplugged the tape and connected the nh900. I then played and recorded the 1st album (from the biginning - A for Allman brothers!).The sound is the problem - all the instuments sound fine (or as good as I was expecting) but the voices crackle/sound very scratchy when they appear at medium to loud volumes (i.e. normal singing!)I havent yet tried any other records or even asked my dad if the needle needs changing etc ( I am very young- 20- and have no experience with vinyl! ha!). However I was wandering if I was doing anything fundamentally wrong, or if there was anything that would make my life easier! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tourist Posted April 12, 2005 Report Share Posted April 12, 2005 Do the albums sound the same played through the speakers as they do on the recording? If they do, then either they are worn, or there's dust in the grooves, or you need a new needle. You can probably still find an LP cleaner--a velvet-like cylinder that takes some liquid in the middle, you start the turntable and hold it against the grooves to brush off the dust--at a record store somewhere. There's nothing in the MD that would single out voices to be scratchy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrulesok Posted April 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2005 Do the albums sound the same played through the speakers as they do on the recording? If they do, then either they are worn, or there's dust in the grooves, or you need a new needle. You can probably still find an LP cleaner--a velvet-like cylinder that takes some liquid in the middle, you start the turntable and hold it against the grooves to brush off the dust--at a record store somewhere. There's nothing in the MD that would single out voices to be scratchy.←I was wandering more about the connections, but you pretty much said what I was expecting. Thanks. The problem with the speakers is that they are replacement £30 types from richersounds - not particularly audiophile. This means that I can't tell for sure, but I think it is similar if not as bad.Thanks agan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tourist Posted April 12, 2005 Report Share Posted April 12, 2005 (edited) You could always try a replacement cord, but again, a cord is not going to discriminate--it's going to be all staticky or not at all. How about listening through headphones if the speakers are poor?Also, check this out:http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7989 Edited April 12, 2005 by Tourist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrulesok Posted April 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2005 Thanks! I'd missed the obviouos (using the headphones) and found the link useful - I will have a play with the level setting on the nh900.Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrulesok Posted April 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 (edited) I have looked again - it's the record itself - I tried another one and that sounded ok, so I'll try giving it a clean and see what happens. I just assumed it was somthing that I was doing wrong, just goes to show.... Thanks again for your help. Edited April 13, 2005 by matrulesok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smkranz Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 I am also recording LPs to minidisc (and putting them onto CDs, etc.). I first dug out my old turntable, went Phono-in on my receiver, and all I got was an incessant buzz with barely audible music in the background. Simple diagnostics (i.e. replacing wires, whapping it once or twice for good measure - and in that order) to no avail. The turntable probably had a multitude of problems, starting with a stylus that was shot...and I was afraid to even try to find out if it was my receiver (which performs fine otherwise) for fear of what I might learn.Rather than head down an unknown path of frustration trying to fix an old turntable, I plunked down $99 for a new Audio-Technica turntable that has a built-in phono-line switch. Also came with a stereo "Y" adapter (L/R RCA jacks, to stereo mini-jack) for use directly with portables, speakers, etc. Set the switch to Line, and connected it directly to my NH900 using the "Y" adapter, with a mini-to-mini stereo cord I already had.Setting manual recording level to 18 on the MD seems to be just right. Recordings thus far are great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrulesok Posted April 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 I am also recording LPs to minidisc (and putting them onto CDs, etc.). I first dug out my old turntable, went Phono-in on my receiver, and all I got was an incessant buzz with barely audible music in the background. Simple diagnostics (i.e. replacing wires, whapping it once or twice for good measure - and in that order) to no avail. The turntable probably had a multitude of problems, starting with a stylus that was shot...and I was afraid to even try to find out if it was my receiver (which performs fine otherwise) for fear of what I might learn.Rather than head down an unknown path of frustration trying to fix an old turntable, I plunked down $99 for a new Audio-Technica turntable that has a built-in phono-line switch. Also came with a stereo "Y" adapter (L/R RCA jacks, to stereo mini-jack) for use directly with portables, speakers, etc. Set the switch to Line, and connected it directly to my NH900 using the "Y" adapter, with a mini-to-mini stereo cord I already had.Setting manual recording level to 18 on the MD seems to be just right. Recordings thus far are great.←Could you post a few snipets of you recordings? Just the beginings so I can hear how they sound? Or are your recordings with your new record player better than these? I just want to see if its worth getting a cheap deck....[attachmentid=210][attachmentid=211]clip1.wavclip2.wav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbeefdog Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 I first dug out my old turntable, went Phono-in on my receiver, and all I got was an incessant buzz with barely audible music in the background. Simple diagnostics (i.e. replacing wires, whapping it once or twice for good measure - and in that order) to no avail. The turntable probably had a multitude of problems, starting with a stylus that was shot...and I was afraid to even try to find out if it was my receiver (which performs fine otherwise) for fear of what I might learn.←Showing my age here, I know..... but this used to be quite common with magnetic-cartridge turntables that didn't have a good ground connection.Virtually all of the older receivers (back in the day when vinyl was king) had a "Ground" post on the back, and all of the turntables had, in addition to the RCA line outs, an extra wire with a horseshoe-shaped lug for the ground connection. If the ground connection wasn't made, and made well, the hum was unbearable.I don't think it was your receiver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smkranz Posted April 21, 2005 Report Share Posted April 21, 2005 (edited) If the ground connection wasn't made, and made well, the hum was unbearable.I don't think it was your receiver.←I agree it probably wasn't the receiver, though this particular turntable did not have a ground wire that I recall (can't do better than that, since it's in the landfill by now).Below is a short clip from an LP recorded onto MD...(Self-edit: btw, this particular LP was brand new, and sounded very quiet, i.e. very little background noise, pops, scratches, etc., so I did not have to apply any noise filtering, etc.)Critton_Hollow_Clip.wav Edited April 21, 2005 by smkranz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrulesok Posted April 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2005 (edited) I agree it probably wasn't the receiver, though this particular turntable did not have a ground wire that I recall (can't do better than that, since it's in the landfill by now).Below is a short clip from an LP recorded onto MD...(Self-edit: btw, this particular LP was brand new, and sounded very quiet, i.e. very little background noise, pops, scratches, etc., so I did not have to apply any noise filtering, etc.)←My dads records seem to be ok in terms of hiss (but could be better), but I am planning on storing all the "masters" (split into tracks but unedited .wav's) on dvd's, but will probably use nero wave editor's noise reduction and stored on cd's for favourites and the same noise reduction and stored as .mp3's and minidiscs for all the rest, to make them sound cleaner.I am willing to listen to suggestions on how to store the edited versions as i feel there is probably a better method than .mp3. I plan on using ejays mp3 convertor and a high bitrate, probably 256kbps, but if anyone has a better suggestion....mp3 appealed because 1) can play in windows and linux without fuss 2) can play on dvd player 3) I already have the programs neededThanks for any suggestions! Edited April 22, 2005 by matrulesok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozpeter Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 A good source of info re restoring LPs - http://www.a-reny.com/iexplorer/restauration.html(Not an answer to the above question, however!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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