How to record an album
Recording an album means playing it once, start to finish, into your computer. That one recording, every side in one file, is what Groovemark cuts into named, tagged tracks. You don't need a studio. You need a way to get the sound from your turntable or tape deck into your Mac, and a program to record it.
What you need
The basic chain is the same for almost everyone:
Turntable or cassette deck → USB → computer + recording program.
The middle part, how the sound gets to USB, is where setups differ.
Ways to connect
A turntable with USB built in. Many turntables today have a USB port built in. Plug it straight into your Mac and the turntable shows up as a sound input. Nothing else is needed.
A turntable into a mixer with USB. Many DJ mixers have USB built in. Plug the turntable into a phono channel on the mixer, and the mixer into your Mac. The mixer is the bridge.
A turntable, a phono preamp and an audio interface. A turntable's own signal is very quiet. A phono preamp raises it to a normal level; some turntables and receivers have one built in. The preamp goes into an audio interface, a small box that turns sound into something your Mac can record, and the interface plugs into your Mac by USB.
A cassette deck. A tape deck already plays at a normal level, so it needs no preamp. Plug its output into a line input on a mixer or audio interface, never a phono input. USB cassette players also exist, and plug straight into your Mac.
The recording program
We recommend Audacity. It's free, it runs on any Mac, and it records everything Groovemark needs. Any recording program you already use works too. For anything deeper, see Audacity's own manual.
Before you record
- Clean the record, at least a brush across it. A used record may want a deeper clean. It doesn't have to be perfect.
- Give the stylus a quick look for dust.
- Choose your input: in your recording program, pick the turntable, mixer or interface as the input.
- Check the level: play the loudest part of the album and set it so you're close to 0 dB without hitting the red.
Record the whole album, in one take
- Start the recording, then drop the needle on the first song (or press play on the tape).
- At the end of each side, lift the needle and leave at least 10 seconds of quiet before the next side starts. With the needle up, the quiet is true silence, and that's how we find the sides. On a cassette, stop the tape, turn it over, and leave the same 10 seconds before pressing play.
- Keep recording through every side, a double album too. One album, one file.
- Stop the recording after the last song.
Next
Your recording needs a little preparing before Groovemark. See Preparing your recording for Groovemark.
Still need help? hit us up.