Importing MP3s from Vinyl
This is a short how to on importing your old vinyl records into digital AAC or MP3 format. I have begun the painstaking process of digitizing my vinyl collection of over 7,000 records at home. Here is the basic equipment that I use to streamline the process on my MAC using Serato’s Scratch LIVE software instead of using Garage Band.
I used Garage Band initially because the other software tools were expensive or required hardware like an MBOX. The new version of Serato’s Scratch LIVE has an import utility where you just playback a record on your turntable to get the levels so they are just barely bouncing off the red once in a while. I usually backspin the record a half rotation and let it go to get up to speed and hit the record button. Make sure that you are recording at a 192 or higher bit rate as recordings in the old school 128 and 144 bit rate just don’t sound so crisp in club settings. I usually set my import preferences on iTunes to 320 bit rate in Stereo.
The lower bit rate settings are fine if you are just playing these files back on your iPod though. The Scratch LIVE recording will come in as a large AAC file where you will then need to have a naming convention going to then convert them to mp3’s in iTunes. You can find the conversion tool in iTunes under your advanced toolbar drop down menu as “Convert ID3 Tags”.
Your imported songs should be located on your home folder in the Music > ScratchLIVE > Recording subfolders on a MAC.
What I have done is naming the tracks that I bring in via Scratch LIVE by the Title and then editing in the Artist name after I convert them to MP3s in iTunes and then adding in BPMs and other genre information. I found a free BPM tapping tool for MACs at:
The red box on the picture above shows the recording levels that you can adjust. I try to keep it bouncing to where it barely touches the red every once in a while. Feel free to ask questions or post comments on how you are doing your digital conversions as I am always looking for better ideas and tools.
-Theory
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Comments
Nice little tutorial, man. You should expand on this one for sure… this is super-useful information.
I have some rare old jazz albums on vinyl that are pretty scratched up, do the programs you mentioned get rid of the popcorn from the recording? I’ve been meaning to do this for like around 10 years. :-(
Good tut theory, serato does wonders but to the new DJ’s they need to put in their longevity on the decks before converting to it i feel.
that anonymous comment was me lol
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