Hey there fellas,
Long time reader but only fourth time poster. Appreciate any advice anybody can offer on the below.
Its come time to archive my records, its getting too hard to store them all and they are getting damaged by heat and age ETC. Giving me nightmares actually so I have decided to dedicate the time and money to record them to wav. They are all 12".
I only want to do it once, and I want to do it right. So very interested to hear your thoughts and suggestions.
Heres what i have currently,
1x Technics SL1200MKII
1x Shure M97x stylus
1x Pioneer DJM800 Mixer with digital out and balanced xlr out
1x Presonus Firestudio with both analog and digital inputs
1x Windows DAW, software includes: sound forge, ableton, cubase, serato scratch live
The so many variables and not enough time in my life to test them all, so I come to you guys for some advice.
Firstly,
A) I was considering buying a proper phono stage.. Is this going to make a massive difference over using the pre's that are in the DJM800? If so, recommendations on units, with the sound interface i have I can use stages with either analog or digital outs. Budget for the stage is maxing out at about $3000. Another option is to buy another sound interface that has a phono stage inbuilt.
Software reccomendations for recording, some of these older albums could benefit from a little touching up/remastering
C) If i dont buy the stage, and use the pioneer mixers phono inputs, should i do the ADC right in the mixer and go digital from the mixer to the sound cards input, or should i go out of the balanced XLR and do the ADC at the presonus sound interface?
D) Is this shure hifi stylus ive got the way to go, or would you guys suggest another type
Anything fundamentally different to suggest, or that i have missed? Obviously there are some phono stages that have USB outs in which case the sound card and mixer both become redundant, but the higher end models i have looked at seem to lack both USB and digital outs.
Cheers, Paul