[Dixielandjazz] Transfering 78s

[Anton Crouch]

Hello all

John Farrell wrote (in part):
>The Sony turntable ... plays 33 and 45 rpm but not 78<

Very few people need to transfer 78s but it can be done with a turntable
that lacks the 78 rpm speed.

First, most importantly, you need a coarse groove ("78") stylus! You can
play 78s with a microgroove stylus, but the results are usually awful (all
that noise from the bottom of the groove) and you will probably ruin the
stylus and make it a weapon of mass destruction for the subsequent playing
of LPs.

The procedure is to record the 78 disc to the computer at 45 rpm and then
correct the pitch using an audio editor. I don't know if CoolEdit and/or
Audacity have this capacity but some editors certainly do. The process
assumes that the signal is coming to the computer pre-amplified and equalised.

If you are (dare I use the word?) an audiophile, you may also want to
correct the equalisation error introduced by the 45 to 78 process.

All the best
Anton