Subject:Converting LPs to CDs: way to import track names?

Posted by: fherr

Date:3/22/2010 9:51:27 AM

Wondering if anyone has a faster workflow for making CDs from old vinyl records? Here's what I'm planning to do, for about 150 LPs:

1. Record LP, turning it into one big WAV file.
2. Create regions for each track in SF.
3. Convert regions to tracks in CD Architect.
4. Add track names in CDA.
5. Make CD with CDA.

Step #4 is what's slowing me down. Is there any way to get the track names from Gracenote (or similar) without having to type them all in manually?

Thanks in advance for any tips or improvements on my plan.

Subject:RE: Converting LPs to CDs: way to import track names?

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:3/22/2010 1:45:53 PM

You need to have the track times pretty close to what Gracenote recognises. You can do that from SF, but you need to burn a CD first, then extract it, selecting 'Read Entired Disc" (if desired) and click on the 'Music ID' button to gather the data.

Not 100% reliable,but your only way to do it 'easy'.

geoff

Subject:RE: Converting LPs to CDs: way to import track names?

Reply by: Buckskin

Date:3/22/2010 1:48:33 PM

something I have done in the past is to find the album online and still enter them manually. but at least use copy and paste. Unfortunately it's really the only option.

Subject:RE: Converting LPs to CDs: way to import track names?

Reply by: fherr

Date:3/22/2010 2:59:32 PM

Thanks Geoff & Buckskin, both for confirming that I wasn't missing something in CDA, and for suggesting those shortcuts.

- Frank

Subject:RE: Converting LPs to CDs: way to import track names?

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:3/22/2010 3:19:40 PM

Besides, how would Sound Forge or CDA or Gracenote know what the names of the songs are unless you, well ... tell it?

I suppose you might be able to google the artist name & album name and find a list to copy & paste from. iTunes might be helpful here too, though i've never tried to copy titles from it's catalog screen.

Subject:RE: Converting LPs to CDs: way to import track names?

Reply by: fherr

Date:3/22/2010 6:23:39 PM

I was hoping that by naming the album first (in CDA), you would then be able to tell it to go get the track list for that named CD from Gracenote. It would be a lovely (and doable, unless there are RIAA issues that I'm not aware of??) feature for a future release perhaps.

Until then, copying and pasting track names from Amazon.com seems to be my next best option.

In my searches today I did come across a piece of software called VinylStudio that may do what I'm looking for ... I'll try the demo and report back if it does.

Thanks all,
- Frank

Subject:RE: Converting LPs to CDs: way to import track names?

Reply by: fherr

Date:3/22/2010 10:11:51 PM

Just tried AlpineSoft's VinylStudio and it looks very promising indeed. Tested it with a pretty obscure LP - Blodwyn Pig's 'Ahead Rings Out' (brilliant LP BTW, after all these years) - and it found the track names easily. Gives me a choice of several databases and sources to look for the album, including Amazon.

Haven't tried making a CD with it yet, but it looks like it will become an integral part of my new LP-to-CD-to-MP3 workflow. Automatically pulling in track names (and inserting approximate markers for each track that I can adjust when necessary) will be a huge time-saver.

This is exactly the functionality I was hoping to find in SF or CDA. In a future release, perhaps?

SF remains my absolute fave audio editor, of course - indispensable.

Subject:RE: Converting LPs to CDs: way to import track names?

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:3/23/2010 2:17:32 AM

So that identifies the album and loads the track names from the (presumably Gracenote sourced) tracklist BEFORE burning to CD ?

geoff

Subject:RE: Converting LPs to CDs: way to import track names?

Reply by: fherr

Date:3/23/2010 6:21:34 AM

Yes - you can even use it to record the WAVs, but in my case, I already did that with an Edirol R09, so I import the WAV into VinylStudio, type in the artist's name and the album name, and tell it to look up the track listing and album art. You can choose from several databases, including several flavours of Amazon, "Discogs, Music Brainz and TrackType (formerly freedb2)".

Just tested it with another somewhat non-mainstream album ('Pat Metheny Group' by Pat Metheny Group), found it no problem in most of the db choices. Automatically inserts markers corresponding to the official durations of each song, which you can adjust to the left or right if your WAV's timing is slightly different. Very cool.

Subject:RE: Converting LPs to CDs: way to import track names?

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:3/23/2010 1:03:27 PM

Ah , OK - not the regular Gracenote method then . Gracenote finds the album identifies it purely by track lengths and orders - doesn't need to know the artist or album name in advance.

Surprisinglyh it works most of the time on factory CDs, and even often on CDs transcribed from LPs and the tracks entered arbitrarily ! Must find a 'best fit' if tracks not exact.

geoff