Recording Albums

The essential steps to record an album are as follows:

• ensure that your turntable (or tape deck) is hooked up correctly to your
• check that your setup is working
• set the record level
• enter the artist and album title
• start recording

Albums are recorded one complete side at a time and, usually, VinylStudio will stop recording when your record deck lifts the needle at the end of an album side.

For more details, please refer to the following sections within this help page:

Setting the Record Level

Start the record or tape playing and then click on the Check Level button. If all is well, you should see the recording level indicators moving in time with the music (you may need to select the correct sound card and/or input source in the dropdown boxes first time through):

While the album is still playing, adjust the recording level using the slider. The recording level indicators should just enter the red zone on the loudest sections of music. If the indicators flash completely red, you definitely need to reduce the recording level.

If you cannot get the recording indicators to move in time with the music, you will need to check that you turntable (or tape deck) is hooked up to your correctly. There are some details on how to do this here.

Why is The Recording Level Slider Disabled??

Some USB devices, notably the Ion USB Turntable and the NAD PP-3 phono pre-amp, have no software level adjustment. There is nothing VinylStudio can do about this as any clipping which occurs happens before the signal reaches the computer. The Ion USB turntables have a manual control on the back of the unit. The NAD PP-3 implements something called 'soft clipping' which reduces the severity of the distortion that clipping introduces.

If this is a major bugbear for you, you might consider disconnecting the USB cable and running a cable from line out on the USB device (most USB devices have one) to line in on your computer's soundcard instead. VinylStudio's normal level control will then become available. The cable you need is a 3.5mm Jack to Twin Phono Lead as pictured here.

Recording an LP Side

Once everything is connected and working:

• lift the needle (important!)
• close the 'Level Check' window
• enter the artist and album title for the album you wish to record; you can also enter the release year and genre if you have them to hand, or you can do this (and other things) later via the Edit Album Details button in the Split Tracks window
• if you are recording a single (or other material with no trackbreaks) check the This is a Single box
• if you want VinylStudio to save tracks for this album in mono, check Mix down to mono. The actual recording will still be made in stereo because the declicker works better.
• click on Create Album

VinylStudio will then add the album to your collection in preparation for recording:

Now:

• click on the Record button
• wait until VinylStudio asks you to lower the needle (the computer will beep)
• lower the needle

Recording should then start. If it does not, see setting the needle down level below.

While you are Recording

To listen to what you are recording, check the Monitor Recording box. The sound might be slightly choppy on low-end machines or if you run other applications while recording, but your recording is not affected. Uncheck this box if you hear an echo (again, your recording is not affected). Use the Monitor Volume button to change the monitor playback level - again this does not affect the recording in any way - and use the Change Playback Device button to select a different playback device if no sound is coming from your speakers.

If your record deck lifts the needle or stops the turntable at the end of the record, recording will stop automatically. Alternatively, you can select a maximum recording time from the dropdown list.

If the 'clipped' counter starts to mount up while your are recording, consider reducing the recording level and re-recording as loud passages of your recording may sound distorted.

You can edit the track listing for the album you are recording it (or you can do this later - it's up to you). To do this, click on the Edit Track Listing button which will take you to the Split Tracks window. To return to the Record window at any time, click on the Record tab at the top of the window.

Recording Side 2

To record side 2 (or 3 or 4) of an album, select the appropriate side from the drop-down box. Then click on Record. You can first select the album you wish to record from the drop-down list if needs be and you might like to use Check Level to set the recording level (although two sides of the same LP don't usually vary that much).

You can now also record an entire album as a single file. Some people prefer this as any audio cleanup work can be carried out on the album as a whole, rather than having to be done per-side. If this is what you want to do, check the Record all sides as one file box in the record window. VinylStudio will then pause the recording at the end of each album side, rather than stopping. You can then turn the record over and resume your recording from where you left off. You will wind up with a single file, still with a 'side1' suffix, containing the entire recording. This is the default setting for new users.

Recording from Tape

To record from tape, the procedure is the same as described above but if the music fades in gradually, VinylStudio might miss the start of it when the Wait for Needle Down box is checked. If this happens to you, uncheck this box. VinylStudio will then start recording as soon as you click on the Record button, but it also prevents VinylStudio from stopping automatically at the end of the tape (so set a maximum recording time instead).

Setting the Needle Down Level

If you check the Wait for Needle Down box, VinylStudio will wait for you to lower the needle before it starts recording and, as long as your record deck has an automatic tone arm, it will stop recording automatically at the end of the record.

The default Needle down level setting of 5% works in the majority of cases, but you might need to adjust it if:

1. VinylStudio does nothing when the needle hits the record surface, or:
2. VinylStudio reports that 'the needle appears to be already down' when you click on the Record button

For case (a), start the record playing and use the Check Level button to ensure that the recording level indicators are moving in time with the music. If they are not, you need to sort the problem out before you can record anything.

For case (b), you can increase the Needle Down Level setting and try again, but the real problem might be that there is a high level of background noise (typically mains hum) and you might look into this first. Also, it is essential that you do not lower the needle until VinylStudio asks you to.

If VinylStudio stops recording between tracks, rather than at the end of the record or tape, try increasing the Needle up timeout setting.

As mentioned above, when recording tapes you may get better results if you uncheck the Wait for Needle Down box and set a maximum recording time instead.

Speed Conversion

If you wish to record 78's on a turntable with no 78 RPM speed setting, check the Speed Conversion box and set the record and turntable speeds appropriately. We recommend recording 78's at 45 RPM (rather than 33), as this preserves more of the bass notes. You can also record 33's at 45 RPM to save time, but you will lose a little treble by doing so.

For tapes, type numbers in the boxes as shown in the following table:

For best results, set the deck speed as close as possible to the tape speed. Faster deck speeds will save you time but cost you treble which the graphic equaliser can only partially correct.

Notes

If you wish to import an existing sound file (e.g. a recording made in another program), you will find details here.

If you are short of disk space, you might want to record to MP3 format. More information can be found here.