After posting about the USB turntable from Ion, I did a little more research, and, sure ’nuff, the reviews of this product (long before it’s even released) were abysmal. Leaving me wondering if it was worth either the wait or the pricetag.

I realised, while I was pondering, that I hadn’t tried to do any LP-to-CD conversion since either getting my Mac or experimenting with some of this new audio stuff. So I trailed wires all over the living room and tried to do some conversion of LPs that probably haven’t been played in 20 years. I got a great recording of Brahms’ 3rd Symphony in F, Op 90.

When I tried to do some noise reduction with Audacity, it took out the noise, as well as most of the music, leaving something sounding electronic and tinny. So I put the noise back in. It sounds really good to me except for about 4 seconds where it was too loud and clipped quite a bit. But I think I might just go back to trying to do stuff this way.

I *might* consider getting something like the iMic, which might improve my input a little bit. Although that’s really hard to tell without trying. It would be nice if I the local Target actually carried one, and I could give it a spin without waiting 4 weeks for it. I guess I should have gotten one at the Apple store in San Diego when I had a chance. Bah.

I’m also having this problem where the mic input jack on my PowerBook isn’t deep enough. So I can’t push the line in all the way, so it doesn’t connect right. Thus, I have to monkey around with it to get both channels to record, and then not wiggle anything, so that it doesn’t fall out. I expect that this, too, would get fixed by getting the iMic, but it’s kinda annoying that I can’t just get the thing to plug in correctly.