Going Digital

Hardware isn't a major concern if you want to record music--even a PC as modest as a Pentium MMX-166 with 32MB of RAM can do the trick. However, we suggest that your system have at least a PII-266 CPU and 64MB of RAM. If you intend to edit and clean up the music after you capture it, you will want at least 96MB of memory.

You'll also probably want to reserve 2GB to 4GB of hard disk storage space for your music library, but you can get by with less. Assume you'll need about 1MB of disk space for each minute of music converted to .mp3 format; if you record in Microsoft's .wav format (required to make CD-quality copies), you may need as much as 10MB per minute of music.

At least as important as the CPU is the sound card you use. Most current sound cards offer two types of audio-input jacks: line-level input (usually indicated with the words line-in) and microphone-level input (indicated with the word mic or a picture of a microphone). For music recording, you will need to use the line-in port--if you connect a stereo component to the PC's microphone input, the resulting sound will be muffled and soft.

Some sound cards are better than others. Those found on most laptop computers are optimized to deliver "near-CD" quality when you play music, but they're not nearly as good at recording. For desktop PCs, you can't go wrong with high-end models from Turtle Beach, Ensoniq, or Creative Labs. We found an exhaustive set of current PC sound card ratings at PC Technology AudioVisual. But don't be discouraged if your sound card is at the bottom of that list: For this story, we used a low-end Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE64 on our desktop machine and an older Yamaha OPL-3 device in our laptop, and we got good-enough-for-folk-music results with those setups.

You'll need to schlep your stereo components near enough to the computer for you to hook everything up. For an LP record player, you will likely need both the turntable component and your amplifier; you'll have to connect the turntable to the amp's line-inputs and then connect the line-outputs from the amp to the PC's sound card. Most cassette players provide a sufficient line-level signal without the help of an amplifier.

You must also have a stereo audio cable--with male RCA connectors (the large round plugs on your stereo) on one end and a 1/8-inch "mini" stereo (headphone-style) plug on the other end--to connect the components to the PC. Any store that sells stereos will likely carry the necessary cable; save some money and skip the high-end, gold-tipped cable, which won't make a difference in the sound your computer picks up. Once you have your cable, connect the line-out port of the playback device to the line-in port on your sound card.

Radio-frequency interference from the PC itself can put a lot of static into your music, so do the following to minimize it:

The Sound Recorder applet included with Windows won't cut it for recording high-quality stereo music. For our examples in this story, we used MusicMatch Jukebox. MusicMatch Jukebox can record sound to disk in the uncompressed Microsoft .wav format, as well as in the compressed Windows Media Audio and 160-kbps .mp3 formats. We also liked MusicMatch Jukebox's database, which you can use to organize your digital music collection.

If you don't like MusicMatch Jukebox, you can also use any of a wide variety of free or shareware applications (available in our Audio Downloads library) to record and rip music. The latest versions of Roxio's $90 Easy CD Creator software can also record digital music and make discs, and it includes CD Spin Doctor, an application that cleans up digital recordings by taking the dust pops out of LP recordings and cutting the hiss from older audio tapes.

Before you begin, to avoid any interruption in the sound-recording process (and resulting errors), close any open windows on your desktop as well as all open applications, except for your audio-recording software. Disable any screen savers and antivirus utilities, making sure to turn off any auto-update features as well.

First, set MusicMatch Jukebox to capture sound from your playback device. Launch MusicMatch Jukebox and choose Options, Recorder, Source, Line In. (If you're not connected to the Internet, you may need to wait a couple of seconds after MusicMatch Jukebox opens, until the program recognizes that you're not online.)

Open the Recording window (select Options, View, Show Recorder) and click the Edit track name here... caption in the Recorder window to enter a new title for your song selection.

Next you'll need to specify a recording format. Here are a few criteria you'll want to consider:

To make your recording quality selection, choose Options, Recorder, Quality, and then pick your option.

If you haven't used a turntable in a while, don't forget the basics for a clean, pop-free playback: Always give the LP a quick brushing with a lint remover just before you begin recording, play the LP in a dry run to remove packed-in dirt from the vinyl grooves, and then clean the disk again (check the stylus for accumulated lint as well). And if you have a direct-drive turntable, calibrate your turntable's rotation speed.

If you plan to capture music from a tape player, clean and demagnetize the tape heads. You can pick up a tape head demagnetizer at any good stereo store or at a Radio Shack. Check the Dolby NR and tape material settings on your player against the cassette. To determine the optimal settings, listen to the output before recording.

Just before you start recording, you will need to make final adjustments to the playback and record levels for your sound card. This is an essential step, and you should do it any time you change the record or cassette, or whenever you switch between different playback devices.

To begin, double-click the speaker icon in the system tray. (If you don't see it there, click Start, Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, Volume Control.)

The Volume Control has two mixing consoles. The first one that opens is the playback mixer; to switch to the recording mixer (labeled Recording Control in its title bar), click Options, Properties and then click the Recording radio button, followed by OK.

You'll need to adjust the line-in slider in both mixers. If that slider is missing from one or both mixers, choose Options, Properties, click the radio button for the mixer that is missing the slider, and check the line-in box in the Show the following volume controls area. Click OK when you're done.

You can launch two instances of Volume Control if you want both mixers to appear at the same time. Launch Volume Control once and then switch that window to the recording mixer. Launch Volume Control again by way of the Start menu, and you should then see both the playback and recording mixers on your desktop.

Some sound cards, such as Aureal or Creative Labs cards, may include custom volume control software that lets you set playback and recording levels from a single mixing console.

The final step before you start recording is to run a test playback session to check your audio levels. With everything hooked up and ready to go, lower your turntable's tonearm onto the record (or push the play button on your cassette deck). Turn back to your PC and open the Volume Control console. Switch to the recording mixer and adjust the line-in slider until the sound reaches a volume that's comfortable and lacks static and distortion from being overdriven through the sound card.

Next, open the playback mixer and adjust your playback levels by moving the line-in volume and balance sliders. You should hear sound through your computer's attached speaker system or through your headphones. Select the Mute check boxes for the Microphone and CD Audio Balance sliders. In general, you'll get better results by setting the main Volume Control sliders to a slightly higher level than the line-in sliders.

When you've achieved your perfect playback level, open MusicMatch Jukebox (or whatever sound recording application you plan to use). Click the red REC button in the Recorder window, capture the playback for a minute or so, and then click the Stop button.

To hear what you've recorded, click the My Library tab in the center MusicMatch Jukebox panel. Scroll down and highlight the title you've just captured, right-click the track, and choose Preview Track. If you hear distortion in your recording, lower the recording mixer's line-in slider. If the recording level is too low, nudge the slider up a bit. Record another test selection and check the new recording level. When you're satisfied, switch back to MusicMatch Jukebox, right-click your test selection in the Music Library, and choose Delete Track.

With your PC recording setup now calibrated, enter a new name for your selection in MusicMatch Jukebox's Recorder window. Cue up your track, click the Record button in MusicMatch Jukebox, and drop the needle onto your LP (or press the play button on your tape deck). Let the song play through to completion and click the Stop button about a second after the end of the song.

If you have scratchy LPs or older cassette tapes, you can remaster your favorite tunes by using some widely available commercial software.

If you own Easy CD Creator (the suite of CD recording tools made by Roxio, a subsidiary of Adaptec), its CD Spin Doctor utility can remove tape hiss, pops, and crackles in your recordings.

CD Spin Doctor has a simple interface: Select a source audio file (.wav or .mp3) from the left pane and then choose a destination "cleaned-up" version of the file. Click the Options button, followed by the Clean Audio and Verify Before Write buttons on the next screen. Click the Properties button at the lower-right side of this screen, and then click the Preview button on the next screen. You can adjust the Noise Filter and Pop Removal sliders to hear what your song will sound like after those filters have been applied.

In our tests on scratchy LPs, CD Spin Doctor only superficially removed the kinds of surface noise you get when you record from LPs and cassettes. In comparison, Enhanced Audio's $100 Diamond Cut utility banished crackles and pops almost magically, without losing the richness of the musical content.

Diamond Cut allows you to record directly through your sound card's line-in port (bypassing MusicMatch Jukebox), but it's much more than that. This shareware gem, available in a 30-day free trial version and bundled with some disc burners, includes a full set of recording studio tools and detailed documentation to go with them. Preset filters for electrical hum, tape hiss, crackling vinyl, and clicks and pops allow you to clean up a recording without being a professional sound maven.

Whether you decide to polish your music collection after recording it or you merely capture tunes and play them directly in .mp3 format, you'll want to check out FXSound's DFX, a playback enhancer that restores the dynamic range and quality of compressed .mp3 files.

DFX, a plug-in for the most popular MP3 players (including Nullsoft's Winamp, Real's RealJukebox, and MusicMatch Jukebox), provides an auxiliary set of playback controls. Using DFX, you can adjust the treble and bass response, add "concert ambiance," or create artificial stereo separation without altering or distorting your sound file.

With all the tools available to help you create a digital music library, there's no real reason (other than sentimental value) to keep hold of your LPs, cassette tapes, or reel-to-reel devices. After a while, even the best-maintained player will likely break or fail beyond repair, so it's best not to wait to convert your music to a digital format. Besides, in converting your albums you can reacquaint yourself with the music of yesteryear. Then again, you may want to choose wisely--we all might be better off if you don't help the music of the Bee Gees survive into the next millennium.