LPs to CD or Mp3 – Records to CD or Mp3 – Vinyl to CD - 45s, 33s and 78s to CD or Mp3
As technology changes some legacy formats get left behind. One of the most common ‘old’ formats is the LP or Vinyl record. Sadly most families now are home to collections of Vinyl records that are being left on shelves un-played with a vast amount of songs, and artists going unheard.
While a lot of audio records (Single 45s Long Play 33s or the older 78 records) have been re issued on to CD there are still a vast number that haven’t been transferred by the major music companies and a lot of one off recordings such as War time Message Discs or one off records recorded in radio stations or recording studios that are unlikely to be ever heard again unless transferred to another format such as CD or MP3.
In many cases the discs have been stored poorly for years. Favourite LP records or singles may be well worn due to repeated playings. Rough handling may have damaged the surface of the disc and the stylus may have been dragged across the disc surface by a badly calibrated turntable tone arm (thank goodness for the mechanically isolated CD player of the last 25 years).
Thank fully modern technology enables us to capture and repair a lot of these treasured recordings and output them to CD or other formats such as Mp3 for our portable devices or computers so that they can be heard again.
At ProCopy we can transfer these recordings for you and output them to CD or Mp3 if you require, We can repair a number of problems in the audio records using our computer based processes and other audio hardware. Once the audio is improved we’ll output to CD with track IDs so that you can access each of the songs individually.
Some of the problems that we listen for and try to repair include:
Broadband noise such as hiss, a common problem in recordings that are too low in volume.
Background noise such as hum* (usually a consistent low frequency noise).
Distortion, caused by too high recording levels or poor record quality due to reconstituted vinyl, common in LPs and 45s produced in the late 70s and early 80s when oil prices were high (Oil at $35 per barrel, I wonder how much it would affect the price these days!).
Pops, clicks and crackles are all varieties of impulse sounds caused by embed dirt in the groove walls or again poor quality pressing or vinyl.
Speed changes – Many 78s were only nominally 78RPM ! Different manufacturers had varying speeds and it’s quite common to have speeds between 76 and 82 RPM. In order to be a faithful copy of the original it’s a good idea to try and get the speed as accurate as possible.
Each of these problems can be reduced and help make the final result much easier and convenient to listen to.
If you have any style of record (16rpm, 45rpm, 33rpm or 78rpm) that you would like to transfer to CD please don’t hesitate to contact us via phone here, or email to discuss your collection. We also now run regular classes to teach you how to transfer your own collection if you have the necessary equipment and time to do it. Copyright is an important consideration and as we are an Amcos licensed facility for this work so you can be assured that our work is legal.
This is a great place to start looking for those hard to find LP replacements - There's a massive collection of CDs and Mp3s for download