Tips for samling sounds of vinyl to PC?

Hi

For too long I've used MP3 vinyl rips found on sample blogs to make my beats, hell even breakbeats I've often gotten in MP3 format.

But I'm a purist at heart. So now I want to go (almost) strictly vinyl samples. I want to build up a wave sound library of vinyl loops, vinyl drum hits, vinyl drum loops, and whole breakbeats.

I have a collection of 300-400 vinyls in the soul/disco/jazz/rock'n'roll/R&B of the 60's/70's/80's which I have FAR from fully explored yet... to tell you the truth because I was to busy being lazy sampling MP3, lol. You can have your oppinion about whether I'm a geek or not. I don't give fnugg. But like I said I'm a purist. I want vinyl samples now in my sound library.

So... my question is: does anyone have any good tips for sampling vinyl? I have a Numark Pt-01 USB record player which is semi-okay (Numark is an acceptable brand IMO):

- Do I turn up the volume as loud as possible when I record?

- Any advantage to recording at a higher pitch and then slowing down? I'm thinking sonically?

- Mono vs. stereo? When should I use the one as opposed to the other? Should I only use mono for drum samples?

- Any post-editing to the samples when I get them into Audacity (wave editor) that's recommended?

It has to be said, that the sound I'm going for is raw, boombap 90's golden age hip-hop: DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Buckwild, Large Professor, Lord Finesse, DJ Muggs, Marley Marl and newer guys like Marco Polo, Necro, M-Phazes, 9th Wonder etc.

I know this is a bit of a handful, but any small recording tips are welcome.

Thanks a lot, peeps!

Peace to all and everyone!

I can only sample vinyl itself because when it becomes a file, it becomes a digital copy. So if you draw with a pen, lets say ODB passing Jesus a blunt at the last supper, and you scan it to PC, you'll see on the screen all the little cubes it took to replicate your pen work. And thats what happens with audio, all those beautiful analog curves are gone and trimmed down to blocks and squares. Thats why beats made with mp3s don't really thump even though you have your expression.

BUT, on a few occasions I've recorded vinyl directly to CD monitoring the levels so the CD could sound better than the vinyl and then ripped to PC.

Ill-Green wrote:I can only sample vinyl itself because when it becomes a file, it becomes a digital copy.

vinyl sampled in sequencers, become digital copies too. the only difference is youre not copying a copy. and heretic, for the most part all that stuff depends on the over all composition of what youre making. you figure that stuff out by trial and error and listening.

Heretic wrote:Hi

For too long I've used MP3 vinyl rips found on sample blogs to make my beats, hell even breakbeats I've often gotten in MP3 format.

But I'm a purist at heart. So now I want to go (almost) strictly vinyl samples. I want to build up a wave sound library of vinyl loops, vinyl drum hits, vinyl drum loops, and whole breakbeats.

I have a collection of 300-400 vinyls in the soul/disco/jazz/rock'n'roll/R&B of the 60's/70's/80's which I have FAR from fully explored yet... to tell you the truth because I was to busy being lazy sampling MP3, lol. You can have your oppinion about whether I'm a geek or not. I don't give fnugg. But like I said I'm a purist. I want vinyl samples now in my sound library.

So... my question is: does anyone have any good tips for sampling vinyl? I have a Numark Pt-01 USB record player which is semi-okay (Numark is an acceptable brand IMO):

- Do I turn up the volume as loud as possible when I record?

- Any advantage to recording at a higher pitch and then slowing down? I'm thinking sonically?

- Mono vs. stereo? When should I use the one as opposed to the other? Should I only use mono for drum samples?

- Any post-editing to the samples when I get them into Audacity (wave editor) that's recommended?

It has to be said, that the sound I'm going for is raw, boombap 90's golden age hip-hop: DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Buckwild, Large Professor, Lord Finesse, DJ Muggs, Marley Marl and newer guys like Marco Polo, Necro, M-Phazes, 9th Wonder etc.

I know this is a bit of a handful, but any small recording tips are welcome.

Thanks a lot, peeps!

Peace to all and everyone!

I bought a computer for making music a few weeks ago, and got the same idea, saving my drum samples on the computer. I sample all my drums in my MPC 2000 and then record them on the computer( I think you can export them if you have a more recent model with USB?).

To answer your questions:
-I try to record at a quite high volume, but I don't think that recording as loud as possible is very important, I just don't record too low.

-The sounds is a little different, I think it depends of the break, sometimes it sounds better recorded at high pitch sometimes not. Try do to both techniques and see what sounds better

-I always save my breaks in stereo on the computer, because you are able to separate the tracks in your MPC after, but I know a lot of people prefer to sample their drums in mono.

-I sample my drums in audacity too, most of the time I use the normalize function to get them at a decent level, but I'm not sure that it's really important?

As a purist I have to say:

..dont use the your portable TT
..dont use any onboard soundcard
..dont use 45rpm on 33 records

..use a stable TT on a stable desk with a good cardrige/stylus
..use a phono preamp a good dj mixer or a home stereo amplifier with a phono in
..use a soundcard or USB soundinterface with good A/D converter (for example the Fast Track Pro)
..use quality cable (no hi-end needed but quality. so no 1$ cable)
..leveling should be done in line with the signal path FROM source TO destination. In case of a dj mixer the first knob you should turn is the channel gain untill the meters on the mixer hit the first red LED sometimes, after that turn the dj mixer master out to 3 o'clock. then set the level in the software but dont gain too hot. If you use a 24bit soundcard (which I highly recommend) you should leave a bit headroom. GGain to -10dBfs and you should be fine.

If you want to keep the whole song you can normalize the whole song and save it in that hi quality as 24bit flac file. If you want just a sample, cut the part you want, normalize it to 99% or -1dBfs and convert it to 16bit. Save it as wav.
If you record that way you will get a good audio copy of your vinyl and I promise you wont hear a difference to the vinyl.

If you really want clean copys of the audio you also should buy a microfiber cloth, isopropyl and destillated water. Mix the two liquids (70:30), put the vinyl on the TT, start the motor, put some bit of the mixture on the vinyl, roll the microfibercloth to a cigar and press it slowly, smooth on the vinyl. wait till the vinyl has turned a few times (10-20 rounds) and turn the cigar to the dry side and put it down on the vinyl again for some turnarounds.

Clean record

peace

peterpiper wrote:..dont use 45rpm on 33 records

And lose that internal MPC pitch down crunch on my drums? Never!

Ill-Green wrote:I can only sample vinyl itself because when it becomes a file, it becomes a digital copy.

The MPC is a computer, audio is captured to RAM making it a digital copy of the audio.

Fung45 wrote:

peterpiper wrote:..dont use 45rpm on 33 records

And lose that internal MPC pitch down crunch on my drums? Never!

Ill-Green wrote:I can only sample vinyl itself because when it becomes a file, it becomes a digital copy.

The MPC is a computer, audio is captured to RAM making it a digital copy of the audio.

I depends on the workflow. You talk about sampling with your MPC and the crunch you get from that technique. I talked about recording vinyl to a DAW in order to keep it as a song or sample from that recorded file. You can even add more crunch when you first recorded the song to your DAW, then pitching it +12 semitones or more, sample it with your MPC and tune it down.

peace