what set up / audio card to you guys use to digitalize your vinyls ?

any recommendations/ tips on how to do it properly ? i really dont want to do it twice.

thanks

I go through a digital external recorder which has a limiter. I have not found yet a good recorder on PC with a limiter that works fine... Any hints are welcome.

I record my vinyl to cassete tape, then I play the tape through my home speakers and record with my headphone's plugged in to the mic jack on my laptop. Any free software for recording will do.
This gives me a real "warm" sound to my recordings

you are welcome

Interesting! tx

The Reloop IPhono is a pretty good piece of kit for around £60. It has a built in phono stage so you can plug your deck straight in, or go via your mixer using the line in, then plug the USB into your computer. It comes with software but Audacity has always served me well for recording purposes.

http://www.reloop.com/reloop-iphono-2

Thanks!!

I'm french so excuse my english...
AS every recording process, sound quality depends of the quality of the recording chain.
here's a few tips i've experienced. I recommend :
1 using a good cartridge, i do not have expensive audiophiles cartridges, but the concorde night club Mk2 has a really nice sound, very rich and warm (20hz to 22 Khz)
2 using a good mixer, especially with good phono preamps (i use a rodec one, but vestax or Allen and Health will also do a good work), forget about beringher...
3 you have to use a RUBBER SLIPMAT, it will guarantee a stable speed (i've done a hundred recordings with djs slipmat, they're all bad and have very little timing delay that make impossible clear beat matching)
4 use a good quality soundcard, i recommend MOTU or RME which have rich and powerfull sound but there's a lot of other good brands
5 the sofware doesn't matter a lot, but Sony sound forge is recognized to be the best wave recording software and will be very useful in other aplications...

Recording is a complex and expensive process, but with a setup like this you will ear the difference...

I'm pretty right with you miganchi, but can you answer me on following points :

1 ortofon concorde dj s or pro s, what's the best (or the "less bad" ) ? pro for his "neutral sound" ?
2 a&h modern mixers have got good preamps (xone 42/92)

thanks

nice topic, any advice on phono pre amps such as ART DJPRE II, Terratec iVinyl, Behringer PP400, etc to record to pc keeping the warmth feel on signal?

New needles are a must! Try to use an analog mixer or preamp.
Also, if your soundcard has 2 stereo inputs you can record 2 records at once, You can run out of your DJ mixer main outputs as 1 and use your Aux out's or Headphone cue as 2.

derp

The best tip would be to get your levels set perfectly first so that the limiter is never used. Tracks already have been limited - you'll compromise the sound by letting a limiter kick-in.

Second that. don't use a limiter, it will kill the dynamic range of the recording. You can do limiting etc. after its recorded.

I wouldn't trust too many DJ mixer preamps, most are weighted to be on the bassy side. Bellari/Rolls have a nice tube phono preamp that I've used a lot if warmth is what you're going for.

The other thing to mention is to clean your records first too after that, give them a "dry run" first and then do the recording.

Definitely do that! I take a piece of muslim (a fine linen) out when I dj as it acts as a perfect duster. A small amount of dust all over a record will quickly accumulate at the stylus ruining the sound and sometimes causing the needle to jump if it becomes unstuck then then sylus hits it on the next rotation. I am always surprised that barely any djs seem to clean their records before playing them.

djs is better than pro s
a&h will sound fine

1/vestax pmc mixer....Three 1210mk2....stantons....laptop with realplayer15 rec line in....most important quality techno on clean vinyl.