mastering vinyl to digital for DJ use

[craven008]

hi there,

i am a DJ and have a stack of vinyl (around 500 records) that i am thinking of getting mastered to digital. all the vinyl is 12" and almost all of it consists of one-track-per-side.

i was wondering if anyone out there has experience in doing this.... whether anyone can recommend some good places in Sydney to do the job, or what a reasonable cost would be.... etc etc

cheers

[Kris]

Call Rick (the owner of this forum). He used to cut vinyl so I imagine he would have a pretty good understanding of what you're after.

[NYMo]

Ok...lets see !

500 records x 2 sides @ approx 6 min each = 6000 minutes or 100 hours of transfer time @ say $20 hr = $2000 !

That doesn't include record cleaning, setting up , prepping PT etc.

I went through this myself when I transferred my 900 Cd collection to mp3(before they became worthless !)...it took about 3 months !!

Enjoy !!

[smash]

Or Alternatively,

You could spend $400-$450 on a semi-pro Audio Interface, set the Audio Levels yourself, and then teach your brother/sister/cousin how to import into your chosen program and pay them a ridiculously low amount to do it.

My Little brother was more than happy to get paid $40 oer day to listen to music.

[craven008]

haha yeah that wouldn't be a bad idea... i have a set up at the moment that gets close to what i want, but i wouldn't mind getting it nailed once and for all! sadly there are no poor siblings or other relatives who fit the desired description.... ;)

[harry]

hey Craven 008

i have done this extensively for my vinyl collection, i use wavelab for the task, if you get the key commands sorted out it is really quick.

I try to get the wav's to peak at about -1db but more importantly i try to keep the average level of each track at about -12db to -9db (this is because the dynamic range of most of my vinyls is small - that way my cd's are at about the same average level and if i make a compilation the tracks will be at roughly the same level.
i also leave a consistent 1 second gap at the start and finish of each track (2 secs is the standard i think) as it makes it easy to find the start cue point in a hurry.

apart from that if i know there is a pop or two on the record, it is quite quick and easy to redraw the waveform in wavelab.

i stopped doing this at about the 150 record mark.....
although i might have to do it when i lock in some DJ gigs abroad. It is sure easier to burn 200 cd's using a batch processor than having to replace your prized rare disco treasure after they magically dissapear at the airport. (Damm shonky Greek customs agents...)

Have fun

[craven008]

hey thanks harry - nice one....

aplogies for the delay in response.... one interstate trip and one broken laptop later, we are back up and running!

maybe i'm going overboard here, and i am leaning back toward a simpler solution rather than a more complicated one, but the biggest thing i want to do (other than repair some waves where there is a mega pop or some such) is to independently normalize each channel after recording. this is because i have noticed a difference (sometime up to 2db) between levels between channels, that could be due to uneven wear on some of the records....

do you have any tips on how best to do this in wavelab? i too have wavelab at the moment am using the audio montage function to record left and right independently, then normalize, then render.... surely there's an easier way??!!!

[Kurt]

If I have a stereo wav file that is obviously lopsided I measure the rms value of the lower channel and then match the other one to it. I'd also roll off <40hz if these are to be used for dj work, not many PA's are capable of going much lower than that anyway.

Of course sometimes one channel is supposed to be louder and you could skew the stereo image :)

Also, many club PA's run mono, or have bizzare speaker placement, they also tend to run at pretty insane volumes, so will a 2db difference be noticed by anyone at all?

[smash]

I'd also roll off <40hz if these are to be used for dj work, not many PA's are capable of going much lower than that anyway.

Sure, not many P.A. systems are able to reproduce lower than 40hz, but some can. What do you do if you end up in a larger room that does go down low, and suddenly discover that you have no sub energy mix becuase you have rolled it all off, and the DJ before you has been cranking the bass all night?

[Kurt]

I guess you'd leave it in if you thought it would be a problem.