How to Transfer a Vinyl LP to a CD

Reduce wear and tear on your vinyl records by transferring them to CD.

There's no reason to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars buying CD replacement copies of your old LP collection. Your money would be much better spent investing in a standalone CD recorder component. With the press of a button, you easily archive your vinyl record collection, digitally back up cassettes, 8-track and reel-to-reel tapes, an even make copies of CDs (if your burner has dual decks.) With all that functionality, it's easy to see how a standalone CD burner will save you lots of time and money in the long run.

Things You'll Need

• Soft, damp cloth
• Quality turntable w/ phonograph plugs
• RCA cables
• Preamp (or integrated amplifier)
• Standalone CD recorder
• Blank recordable CDs

Instructions

1. Connect your turntable to the CD recorder's analog input jack using standard RCA cables. If your turntable does not have an integrated preamp, you'll need to purchase an external phono preamp. (See Resources for help finding the right preamp.)

2. Wipe the first side of your LP clean with a soft, slightly damp cloth or special record cleaning brush. Also remove any accumulated dust from the stylus gently with your fingertip.

3. Insert a blank recordable disc into your CD recorder, and then place the recorder in "Record/Pause" mode.

4. Play the LP and adjust the recording levels on your CD recorder until the signal is strong, but not distorted (also known as "going into the red"). The best way to test this is to play a very loud song from the album and find the peak volume level.

   Do this while you're still in "Record/Pause" mode so that your test does not record onto the disc.

5. Re-cue the record and un-pause the CD recorder. You are now recording.

6. Press the "Stop" button on the CD recorder when recording is complete. You may choose to record each song as an individual track, or record an entire album side as a single track.

   Check the user manual of your CD recorder to learn how to set the Auto Chapter feature; this will automatically set a new track number when it detects a certain user-defined number of seconds. For most commercial LPs, two seconds is the standard gap between tracks.

7. Press "Finalize" when the disc is full or you are done recording. Do not omit this step or your CD will not play on other CD players.

8. Eject the disc from the CD recorder and pop it into your computer's CD drive. Use an audio editing software program on your computer to digitally remaster your transferred album from the CD. You can get rid of pops and scratches, stylus noise, adjust speed/pitch, and convert it to other digital formats like MP3 or WAV.

   This step is optional but recommended to make those old records sound like new again.

Tips & Warnings

• * For best sound quality, use only clean needles on your turntable. If your needle is worn or old, replace it before starting an LP to CD transfer project.

• * Consider sending especially rare or heavily soiled or damaged or fragile LPs to a professional transfer facility. Costs vary depending on your needs, but you can expect to spend $20 to $30 per album.

• * Another method is to transfer LPs to your computer. However, this requires a good deal of technical know-how, some special hardware and software, several extra steps, and it can be time-consuming. The turntable-to-CD recorder is still the fastest and easiest method.

• * If you want to save some time and money on components, check out the all-in-one turntable and CD recorder from Ion. In addition to burning 33 rpm records, the Ion Turntable can also handle 45s and 78s. See Resources for more information.

• * Never touch the LP surface with your hands; you don't want oil and dirt from your hands getting into the grooves. Instead, handle the disc with one thumb on the side rim and one finger resting on the center label.

• * Clean each side of an album before playing. Do not use any harsh chemicals. For general cleaning, a soft, lint-free cloth, slightly dampened with a solution of distilled water and rubbing alcohol, works fine.

• * Use "Music CD-R" discs. Most standalone CD recorders will not accept CD-R/RW discs.

References

• Stason: How Do I Transfer My Records or Cassettes to CD?
• CDR FAQ: What's the Story with Standalone CD Recorders?
• Soundabout: Convert LP to CD With Computer
• YouTube: Backup Vinyl Records to CD

Resources

• LP to CD: Analog to Digital Music Transfer Facility
• Deep Sky Audio Remastering: Vinyl to CD
• Phono Preamps
• Ion Audio: LP to CD Turntable With CD Recorder