I have been using Creative Wavestudio to record vinyl. This works fine except the level I have to record at to avoid clipping is much quieter than the average storebought CD. Am I doing something wrong or is that just the way it is? Any help appreciated.

Could you describe your problem more precisely?
So many parameters can do such things...

Here's a rundown of my setup. I have a turntable hooked into a mixer which is plugged into the "line in" on my computer. I have a Soundblaster Audigy soundcard. When I record vinyl, I adjust the level coming from my mixer and the recording level in my software (I am using Creative Wavestudio and have used other software as well) so that the peaks are just about to the edge but don't get cut off. If I turn up the levels any more, the peaks would start to get cut off. Then I save as a wav file and burn it to CD. But when I play the CD on my stereo I have to turn up the volume about 15% higher than I do with the majority of storebought music CDs I have. Any idea why this is? Many thanks.

See the picture. In the first wave, you can see that the wave contains some little peaks (see in the rectangle). This prevents the main volume to be higher because the vertical limit is the maximum volume level you can get. These peaks can be produced by some unhearable clicks for instance. The second wave is the same but I compressed the signal. I chose the main volume I wanted to get and the program reduced the peaks. This is what you get with a compressor/limiter.

Second case, the Dc offset. You can see that the third wave is not centered vertically. As you know, the wave can never go out of the vertical limits. If you do so, you'll get a distorted wave. So because of this offset, you're losing more than 50% of the volume. In the last wave, I applied a Dc removal, and the program centered the wave. Now all you have to do is maximizing the volume again [use a compressor!), so back to the first wave!

Many thanks Alternator. I believe the first scenario you have outlined answers my question.

Perfect! If you have any other trouble, you know where to find me!

One last quick question. Can you recommend a good limiter/compressor (any that are lossless?). Thanks again.

My favorite one is the Sonic Wave Hammer (included in Sound Forge 6 and 7)!
I always use the preset "drums" with a RMS scan mode, then all you have to find is the right treshold (you can find it graphically then adjust it!)!

By the way, what do you mean by a "losless" compressor? I hope you don't see the thing just like a compressed format, like a mp3 for instance! Compressing datas and compressing a wave is absolutely not the same thing! Compressing a wave is like crushing it, it doesn't mean that you lose a part of the datas! It means that the difference between the higher levels and the lower levels are less important ; that's how you get a higher main level!
The only trouble you can get with a bad compressor is a slight distortion or a slightly low main level! Any semi-professional tool should be ok because compressing a wave is nothing more than a mathematical and geometrical operation!

Thanks, I'm new to this stuff so I'll give it a try. :tongue: