Category Archives: Audio

Golden Records Vinyl/Cassette to MP3 Converter

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Golden Records is what I’d call a good entry-level vinyl-to-digital converter. If you have never tried to convert your vinyl records to MP3 or redbook CD formats, this is a great way to give it a try. Among the most attractive features of Golden Records is the normalizing function, which will give your new MP3s consistent volume for the entire album. Some of those indie/alternative albums like The Blasting Concept series and the amazing Homestead Records compilation The Wailing Ultimate are unfortunately the victims of wildly diverse recording and mastering techniques from track to track. Differing volume levels make listening to the tracks on MP3 a bit of a right pain in the arse—unless you use the normalizing function to make them all even across the board.

Audiophile purists won’t be so thrilled with normalizing as it can alter some of the dymamics of a song, but for most of us normalizing isn’t a bad thing at all. Golden Records is advertised as being designed specifically for vinyl and cassette transfer to MP3, including a handy set of fix-it features to get rid of clicks, pops and other artifacts.

If you’re an advanced audio nut you won’t need this software package, but Golden Records is great for anyone just getting started and needing a solution to get those all-time vinyl favorites running on your iPod in no time.

LP Mailer Resource: Sleeve City

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I’ve played in my share of bands since 1992 and I never, ever wondered how a record album got mailed out once it was ordered. Even when I was tempted to start selling vinyl on eBay, I never got round to asking “Where the hell do you buy the mailers?” Part of that may have been due to the influence of my friends in Pink Filth, who simply used any cardboard boxes they could get from behind the supermarket. We used to have these box cutting sessions to mail out orders on the band’s label–slash up the boxes to size, bubble wrap the goods and coat them in cardboard.

Except that doesn’t quite work when you need a good first impression from an eBay buyer or other customers…so for the discriminating seller, there are places like Sleeve City (aka SleeveTown.com) that sell everything from cardboard mailers to heavy duty, white-label style LP jackets. You can also get gig cases for your vinyl…sturdy anvil cases with closing tops that hold 100 titles. This site is worth a look for anyone selling records.

ION USB Turntable

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Yes, I own one of these. No, it is NOT pro DJ gear or high end audio equipment. The ION USB turntable is basically just a tool to get your vinyl converted to MP3s quickly and without too much fuss. When I do actual DJ work, I prefer to spin the vinyl records themselves in addition to my digital library of sounds, but for travel I enjoy plenty of converted albums thanks to the ION.

They just are NOT going to release those hilariously corny (and quite fun) born-again Christian new wave albums by Steve Taylor, Servant, or The Seventy-Sevens on CD, and if they have, I predict they will sound wretched compared to the vinyl. Why I have an affinity for those particular releases has a lot to do with why I love those old Isaac Hayes disco records and the Mystic Moods Orchestra, but that’s another story for another time.

The ION is under a hundred bucks, gets the job done with software included and keeps me traveling with all the hardcore evangelistic new wave quaalude music I can stand. Why born-again Christians ever thought that futuristic quiffs and syncopated synth fills could disguise the fact that they were trying to save you from THE DEVILLLLLLL is beyond me, but the music is still pretty fun. It’s like listening to a Karen Finley album, except you feel dirty in a completely DIFFERENT way.