how to make recordings with my set-up?

[decibelle]

Well, yes, I would definitely consider it, but . . . I may be misinterpreting, but I thought increasing the volume this digital way was less likely to cause distortion?

My system as it is now sounds very good. If I were to introduce a preamp between the turntable and the receiver, could that create problems as well as solve them?

Before making any decisions, is there an objective way I can test to see whether what I tried actually did raise the noise floor?

Thanks,
Ellen

[decibelle]

Update: I did some investigating and it seems that the Tascam DR-2d is known to have problems with insufficient gain. The Sony PCMD50, which is the one Trackside uses and recommended, seems not to. So I think I'm going to order the Sony and if it turns out to be better then the Tascam, I'm going to return the one I have now and keep the Sony. That would hopefully solve all these issues of optimization and needing a preamp.

[mmarston]

It looks like there is a loud click or pop at around 29:20 on the time line. The normalization is bringing that up to max level but the rest of the music is much quieter. If you go back to the original file and fix that click, then you should be able to normalize to a much higher level...

Best,
Mike

[Dimal]

Well, yes, I would definitely consider it, but . . . I may be misinterpreting, but I thought increasing the volume this digital way was less likely to cause distortion?

G'day Ellen...

It's not so much distortion, but raising the noise floor to within an audible range.

My system as it is now sounds very good. If I were to introduce a preamp between the turntable and the receiver, could that create problems as well as solve them?

No, it won't so long as you use something that is at least halfway decent, between the Phono Preamp and the Receiver. Fortunately these days, it is possible to do this without the need to spend a fortune.

Before making any decisions, is there an objective way I can test to see whether what I tried actually did raise the noise floor?

Yes you can.

I'm not familiar with your particular DAW Software but if it has a facility to observe the recorded waveform and also perhaps a graphic Spectrogram so that you can observe where in the audio spectrum, the noise resides, it can be quite illuminating.

The images below were created using screen dumps of a truncated section from an original low-level recording before any noise reduction was applied. The top image is the original as recorded. The bottom one is the same file but with Normalisation applied.

You can quite clearly see that both the musical passage and the noise floor have been raised and in this instance, the noise floor became quite audible at low listening levels.

Hope this helps a bit...

Mal.

[decibelle]

Mal,

The software I have is turning out to be not so great. What are you using?

Thanks,
Ellen

[Dimal]

Mal,

The software I have is turning out to be not so great. What are you using?

Thanks,
Ellen

G'day again Ellen...

Those images were captured while using "iZotope RX2" (a digital audio restoration application) but I use "Adobe Audition" for recording and basic editing functions - It also has tools that allow you to visually examine recorded waveforms but it is quite expensive these days unfortunately (well, for me anyway).

iZotope RX2 is great for restoring audio though, and I love it. There are other programs available that have some of the same tools and functions as RX2 but it is just the program that suits how I wanted to do things.

Cheers,
Mal.

[Trackside]

Update: I did some investigating and it seems that the Tascam DR-2d is known to have problems with insufficient gain. The Sony PCMD50, which is the one Trackside uses and recommended, seems not to. So I think I'm going to order the Sony and if it turns out to be better then the Tascam, I'm going to return the one I have now and keep the Sony. That would hopefully solve all these issues of optimization and needing a preamp.

The Sony does indeed have plenty of 'clean' gain in the line stage but it may not necessarily give you a better recording. Normalising does indeed raise the noisefloor but it depends what the noisefloor is. If it's the noisefloor of the recording equipment (inc recorder gain stage) you have a problem but if the noise of the vinyl itself simply adding gain in the signal path won't improve the end result.

[decibelle]

Trackside, that's an interesting distinction, and I'm going to see if I can tell the difference between the two recorders, if there is any. If the noise is inherent in the vinyl, I think I'm just going to have to put up with it, which is what I would have to do if I were listening to it on my turntable anyway. I don't think I can afford the time or money now to work with very complicated, advanced software. Unless there is a way to reduce the noise more easily. I think I will be happy enough with moderately improved sound, such as reduced clicks, etc.

The software I have is proving fairly buggy so I will have to try something else.

Ellen