Preserving your memories IV - Vinyl Album or Single Transfers

So you have that irreplaceable album that never made the leap to digital in the marketplace. Or maybe you have a tape or reel to reel of Grandma singing at the piano. You can now preserve these in a digital format which will be easy to manipulate, edit and share.

Today we will talk about transferring vinyl records to digital media files.

This is one painstaking and time consuming process if you want to do it right.

First you need a USB turntable or an older turntable adapted to your input card on your computer.

Next you need some kind of capture software that has some capacity to EQ, filter and process the captured digital audio files.

You may have seen the turntables that are offered with credit card statements or online. They look like old radios or consoles. BUYER BEWARE. Mechanically they are not accurate which may add rumble and hum to your tracks and in most cases they offer ceramic cartridges which are highly abrasive and less efficient compared to a traditional stylus. Don't waste your money on these rigs. Search the net for other solutions or go to a studio that offers a transfer service. In my opinion, if you want to do this on your own you will have to invest $150 or more on a new USB turntable and stay away from ceramic cartridges.

Once your software is running you have to clean your disc. Use a static free cloth and slowly move it from the centre of the record to the outside while the turntable is turning. Next you play it while capturing/recording the tracks with your sound device. 

You have to capture in real time. Some software will allow you to index your tracks on the fly and others will capture entire sides where you have to go into the software later and divide the side into the individual songs. It doesn't stop there. 

Once you have your sound recorded you may need to add noise reduction, filter out rumble and de- click if the album is old and scuffed up. All of this processing can add up to a lot of time. Remember too that each thing you do to "improve" the audio sacrifices something else. There is a lot of experimentation here. Be prepared to spend more than a couple of hours per record.

Most USB turntables do not have the 78 speed. In this case you playback the disc at 45 rpm and then do a speed conversion with the software you have. The results are kind of cool. It's a neat workaround.

I once had a really neat disk to convert. It was from a soldier overseas during WW II who went into one of the old recording booths to record an engraved 1 minute disk to send home to his mother. It was ra very small disc accorded as a 78 so I had to convert it using a pitch/speed plug-in with my software. Then I processed it using a de-click plug-in and noise filter. The result was quite gratifying. A little WW II history leapt out of the speakers at me. Very cool!

Once you have all of your album tracks recorded, processed and split then you have to burn your CD master using whatever software you prefer. 

Remember, if you have good gear, have lots of patience and good recording media you will get a decent result. If you are in a hurry the results will not be as nice as you would hope.

In the next instalments we will talk about transferring magnetic media formats into a digital format.

Thanks for reading. Remember, if you have questions or comments please feel free to add them. Also keep in mind that KEMEdia Studios offer these transfers services should you require them.

You can receive notice of new blog instalments automatically. Please subscribe to the Blog by "Joining this site" and becoming a member.

Mike Reid can be heard approximately once a month on the Dave Fisher Show, weekends on CJAD 800 in Montreal. Mike and Dave talk about technology and new directions during these ten minute spots.

Preserving your memories III - A short history lesson on media - Vinyl Albums, Audio Cassettes, Reel-to-Reel Tape and yes, even 8 Track Tapes

In this third blog of my series on preserving your memories, I am going to talk about audio source media.

in the next couple of blogs I'll talk about about preserving your analog sound media.

First a little history.

Vinyl Records such as 78's or LP's

Records were a huge driving force for music and entertainment. As usual, there were many formats over the years. Each successive format got a little better and more versatile with some exceptions.

The first really commonplace record was the 78, so named because it had to be played back on turntables that could rotate at 78 revolutions per minute. 

Developed in the late 1890's, it was the only readily available format (other than cylinders) until the 50's when 33 1/3's and 45's were developed.

Fidelity wasn't great but it was reliable. They were also quite fragile because the material used was hard and somewhat brittle so as to improve wear characteristics. At the 78 speed recording companies could not put much on each side of the disc. A capacity of 3 to 5 minutes per side was possible depending on the record diameter. 

When 33 and a 1/3 LP's were developed, record companies were able to increase the amount of media recorded on a disc. They were also less fragile than the 78's as different types of vinyl were used for pressing.

By lowering the number of rpm's and making the disc somewhat larger in diameter, record  labels could put approximately 45 minutes of music over the two sides of an album. 

The 45 rpm, or single, was the engine of radio play from the 50's to the 70's. Artists would release their new songs on a 45 and then follow up with the  long play album as a 33.

These formats were fabulously reliable but prone to wear and tear. They had to be played back on a turntable with a stylus or needle. The needle would eventually wear the grooves of the record and the needle itself would wear out. This compromised audio clarity and reliability and contributed to a lot of background noise, hiss and clicks and pops on playback.

There are still many people who mourn the loss of the vinyl format. They pine for the "warmth" of the acoustic and analog recording and tend to ignore the artifacts that appear through constant playback.

Tape formats

Recording to tape started with reel-to-reel units. Professional recording decks had several speeds available to them. The rule was the faster you record the better the quality as there was less signal being recorded on more tape.

As a rule, professional recordings were made at a speed of no less than 7 1/2 inches per second and more often than not at 15 inches per second. In many cases 30 ips was used for higher fidelity. Consumer decks generally had lower speeds allowing for longer duration on spools of tape. As a rule consumer decks had 1 7/8 ips, 3 3/4 ips and 7 1/2 ips. 

Interestingly enough there was a speed slower than those that was used for extremely long duration purposes such as radio station log tapes. The speed was 15/16 inches per second. As a boy hanging around the stations where my Dad was a broadcaster I remember seeing these tapes moving super slow, recording the program output of the station.

The move to tape recording allowed for something that was not possible before. Editing now was now a part of the workflow. Using specialized recorders, razor blades, a splicing block and splicing tape, audio engineers could cut and paste to their hearts content giving the recording industry a whole lot more flexibility and versatility.

The problem with reel to reel recording for consumers was the high price of admission. Decks were expensive and had to be maintained constantly for optimal perfromance.

In 1963 the Phillips company introduced the audio cassette as a new standard for the consumer. It was a standard size tape, recorded at a standard speed and offered instant load and playback without ever having to touch the tape. It sold like crazy. For the first time ever you could play the music you wanted in your car. This drove te format to huge volumes of sale. The format was robust and reliable although car playback exposed tapes to very harsh conditions which could deteriorate the tape quickly. Wow and flutter would be exhibited on tapes which degraded audio fidelity as the ribbon would distort and change with the heat and cold extremes.

Later in the 60's a new format called 8 track was brought to market. This again was a tape cartridge that you inserted into a deck for playback. Playback decks generally had a button to select one of  four available "sides' of a tape, allowing some flexibility in access to the tracks you wanted to hear. it was also and "endless" format. An 8 track would play its contents forever if you let it. This was great for some applications like restaurants and stores. Drawbacks were that it was much bulkier than the audio cassette and suffered from some mechanical weaknesses. Sometimes it switched tracks in the middle of a song. Record labels would change album play orders around to accommodate the amount of time allowable on each track. Fidelity was almost the same as the audio cassette.

Signal to Noise Ratio

This is described as the amount of the desired recorded signal you want to hear vs. the level of background noise. The chart below illustrates the differences between the various medias that have been available. It should be noted that higher numbers are what is wanted for audio clarity.

78 - 35 db

33 1/3 - 40 db

45 - 40 db

8 Track  - 40 to 45 db

Audio Cassette - 45 db

Reel to Reel - 40 to 45 db

VHS mono or stereo - 45 db

VHS stereo HiFi - 90 db

Compact Disc - 95+

DVD - 95+

In the next instalments we will talk about what to expect if you want to transfer your precious sound files from any of the above formats into a digital format.

Thanks for reading. Remember, if you have questions or comments please feel free to add them. Also keep in mind that KEMEdia Studios offer these transfers services should you require them.

You can receive notice of new blog instalments automatically. Please subscribe to the Blog by "Joining this site" and becoming a member.

Mike Reid can be heard approximately once a month on the Dave Fisher Show, weekends on CJAD 800 in Montreal. Mike and Dave talk about technology and new directions during these ten minute spots.

A New Product Launch for KEMEdia in 2012. Our strike against "The YouTube Syndrome"

As 2012 dawns I reflect back on 30 years in the production business. My, how business has changed!

In terms of gear and equipment alone the changes and advances in quality have been stupefying. I think back to my first production. It was a wedding shot with an RCA single tube camera that really only gave colour in daylight. I shot all kinds of footage and had to edit it on a VHS tape at the EP speed. It was ugly but it was 1983 and video technology was expensive and relatively new. Now I have HD cameras with 3 image sensors, HD Multi camera live production equipment, 3 high end editing suites, DVD/CD duplication with printing and a video lab to transfer all kinds of old formats to new ones. In contrast to that first production what we offer now is as good as it gets. But we came up the hard way.

The internet has been hard on many traditional businesses while opening hundreds of new avenues for different business models. Record stores, printing businesses, photo stores, sound studios and video production houses, amongst others, have seen their business models get trashed completely or change dramatically with the convergence of all things to the internet.

In the last 5 years I have watched as my own studio has suffered from the "YouTube Syndrome". YouTube is ubiquitous with literally millions of people uploading all kinds of crap every day. While it is all fun, amusing and easy to consume, it has also served to water down production values considerably and therefore expectations as well. Companies I used to shoot and edit for now shoot and edit for themselves at a considerable compromise in quality and professionalism in the finished product. The attitude now seems to be "it's good enough. Put it on the net!"

 This thinking has really taken a swipe at my business and that of all of the other production companies I know. Business is hard because of the YouTube Syndrome. It is compounded by smart computers with smart software and the Do It Yourself mentality.

Don't get me wrong, it's all fun and exciting and neat to play with but I would say that 99% of the media being uploaded to the web each day has no semblance of production values or good storytelling.

Any kid with a hot Mac and some software can become a sound engineer or video producer. HD cameras can be had cheap. Consumer cameras give a nice image compared to older models but they are NOT THE SAME as professional cameras or gear. And the knowledge to properly use this gear is not prevalent.

If your band gets recorded in the garage of someone's house and the person recording you is cutting their teeth on the recording of your music, then you have virtually wasted any money you paid and your time. Sound recording is a science best left to those that have been blessed with a gift. I would hazard a guess that out of every 100 backyard sound engineers or video producers out there you would be lucky to get one who is actually any good. But I suppose everyone has to start somewhere.

In 1983 I was that kid playing at video producer. I learned my production values and standards the hard way, with cranky gear, low budgets and a thirst for progress. I started with a table top VCR and a crappy camera. Now, I have learned how to tell stories properly. I pursue quality at every turn and I have a very nice facility with a sound stage, sound room, green screen and some really, really neat gear.

It comes down to this. If you want something professionally done then you should hire a professional.

Professional production houses know how to build films. They know how to tell the story of a product or service. They know how to shoot with a storyboard and with editing in mind. They use lights, tripods and professional microphones that improve a video dramatically.
Doing it yourself may save you some money in the short run but in the long term a well constructed film will be your best business card moving forward. It will also have more lasting value because it is well crafted. With media, the do it yourself mentality is truly a false economy in business.

And so, here I am in January of 2012. I am launching a new video product that is internet based. It offers high quality, professionally acted, shot and edited pieces for anyone who has a website and who wants video or audio on their home page. (Which in truth, should be everybody!) And it does all of this at a price nobody can refuse.

In 1983 it would be me uploading stuff to YouTube if it existed. Today I am launching a really neat product, for a very cool price that offers high value to the buyer. It is my shot across the bow of mediocrity. Hopefully it will help push the pendulum back towards the professionals.

Thanks for reading my rant. If you want to see our new product you can go to:

www.30secondpitch.ca

Here is the Home Page film.

You can receive notice of new blog instalments automatically. Please subscribe to the Blog by "Joining this site" and becoming a member.

Mike Reid can be heard approximately once a month on the Dave Fisher Show, weekends on CJAD 800 in Montreal. Mike and Dave talk about technology and new directions during these ten minute spots.