Just a few quick comments:

  - I'll assume that your goal here is providing "access" rather
    than "preservation", and so I'll make my comments along those
    lines...

  - Record cleaning makes a difference. Cleaning adds time to the
    process, but is worth it because you'll get less noise. The
    Packburn helps, but the cleaning can help just as much if not
    more.

  - Be sure to use the correct stylus size. If you are using only
    one stylus, I would recommend a 2.5 mil truncated elliptical.
    Do not use a modern LP stylus. If you can afford a few more
    styli, I would add a 2.3 and 2.8 mil truncated elliptical
    to your supplies.

  - CDs have a limited life. At the very least, "rip" the CDs to
    a hard drive so that you don't have to repeat this exercise
    again. In the mantra of LOCKSS, "Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff
    Safe". If this were a preservation effort, CDs and a hard
    drive wouldn't be enough.

  - If you "rip" the CDs to a hard drive, consider using a tool
    like EAC (Exact Audio Copy, free) and generate uncompressed
    WAVE files (not a compressed format like MP3).

  - As for "time-consuming software processing", software like
    Wavelab and others have batch processors. This would allow
    you to capture by day, and then process unattended at night.
    You'll generally get better audio quality and noise reduction
    from the software than from the Packburn. And if you use a
    batch processor, it will not add that much time to the
    "human processing" side.


You did not mention:

  - How many 78s?

  - Your objectives?

Eric Jacobs

The Audio Archive, Inc.
tel: 408.221.2128
fax: 408.549.9867
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.TheAudioArchive.com
Disc and Tape Audio Transfer Services and Preservation Consulting


-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Jan Myren
Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2009 10:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Analogue CD-recordings from 78 rpm records


HI!

Any good suggestions about what can be a useful addition tool to the
REK-O-KUT re-equaliser and the Packburn 323A noise suppressor when doing
easy "real-time" (not time-consuming software-processing) recordings from 78
rpms to CD?

Jan Myren