With a good sound-recording and sound-editing program you can take those old scratchy LPs and 78s and record them through your sound card and then burn the music to an audio CD or store it as an MP3 file. You can even filter out all those clicks and pops. On today's episode of "Call for Help" we walk you through the steps of preserving your old LPs.

Many old 78s and LPs are irreplaceable, so it pays to preserve them in a digital format. The following process also works for recording audio from other external sources, such as cassette tapes and microphones.

Before you start, download a program such as Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit) for the PC or Peak for the Mac. Demo versions of both programs can be downloaded for free. It pays to experiment with a short clip before you record and clean up an entire album. Find out which settings work best for different types of recordings and write these settings down for future reference.

Connect adapter cable
Connect an adapter cable from the tape out (or record) jack of your stereo receiver to the line input of your sound card. These cables can be purchased from most consumer electronics stores. Just tell the salesperson what you want to do and he or she will help you find the correct cable. Newer turntables with line-out jacks can be connected directly to the sound card.

Create new file

Create a new file in the sound-editing program you're using. If you intend to create an audio CD, you must choose a sample rate of 44,100, two channels (stereo), and a resolution of 16 bits. This will create a file that takes up approximately 10MB of space for every minute recorded, so you will need plenty of free disk space.

For voice or music to be embedded in a webpage, you can use a lower sample rate, a single channel, and 8-bit resolution to create a much smaller file.

Set volume control
Play part of the track and use the volume control program to set your recording levels. In Windows, the first screen of the volume control program is for playback levels. To get to the recording level screen:

1. Choose Properties from the Options menu.
2. Select the check box for Recording.
3. Make sure the check box for line-in volume control is also selected.
4. Click OK and the record level screen will appear.

Set record level
Set the Monitor Record Level option in your recording program to On, and, as the track plays, adjust the slider for line-in so the level meter shows a strong signal, but not too strong, because any peaks will cause the meter to go into the red area.

Record

Be sure all background applications are turned off while you record.

1. Lift the stylus and queue up the beginning of the track.
2. Click the record button in your recording program.
3. Lower the needle to the album.
4. When the track is finished, click the Stop button and lift the stylus.

Bruce Fries is the author of The MP3 and Internet Audio Handbook.