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You MUST connect your turntable to your amplifier or a stand-alone pre-amp and then the outputs from that go to your LINE IN connection on your sound card.

Check out this from a TDK website:

Burners

> Archive Vinyl to CD (Part 1)

> Learn NeroExpress (Non-Flash)

> Learn NeroExpress (Flash)

> Drive Installation Video

> Jumper Installation Video

Speakers

> Learn About Soundcards

Audio CD Recorders

> Archive Vinyl to CD (Part 2)

Video

> Shoot Better Footage

> DVD Owners' Video Guide I

> DVD Owners' Video Guide II

Accessories

> Label Your CDs

The audio from a turntable must pass through a phono preamp before entering an audio CD recorder. LPs are recorded with an RIAA EQ curve, which — for the purpose of cleanly storing the sonic information on the vinyl — cuts the bass and boosts the treble. The preamp boosts the volume and brings the bass and treble back to normal, listenable levels.

There are three basic ways to run the audio through a preamplifier before it enters the audio CD recorder:

1. Many home audio receivers have a built-in phono preamp. If yours does, you can connect as follows:

2. Some turntables have a built-in phono preamp. If yours does, connecting will be quite simple as illustrated below:

3. If neither your receiver nor your turntable has a built-in phono reamp, you'll need to connect via an external preamp as shown:

Phono preamps can range from around $150 to thousands of dollars, with higher cost units typically yielding superior sound. One inexpensive option is Terratec's Phono Preamp ($139 list), specifically designed for LP-to-computer recording.

Once all the gear is connected, you're ready to start recording. Here are a few tips:

1. Using your recorder's front-panel controls or remote, select the input to which the preamp is connected.
2. Make sure the recording level is as hot (loud) as possible without distorting. Most audio CD recorders have a visual level display on the front panel. Typically, if the red section of the level meter lights up frequently, the audio will be distorted. On some models, the audio may distort if the red section lights at all. Check your recorder's manual for more information.
3. Most audio CD recorders give you the option of track indexing manually or automatically. Track indexing saves the songs as separate tracks on the CD. Indexing manually gives you more control, and can be done on-the-fly while the unit is recording.
4. There's one last step that makes your new CD playable in virtually any CD player. You must finalize the disc. Check your player's manual for instructions on how to do this.

This concludes the general information section. If you have a TDK DA-3826, you'll find gear-specific information in the next sections.

The following section discusses how to use the TDK DA-3826 Audio CD Recorder to archive vinyl.

1. If using a receiver, switch the receiver to its Phono input.
2. The TDK DA-3826 has two disc trays-the play-only tray (called the Play Tray) on the left of the front panel, and the record/play tray (called the Record Tray) on the right. Place a blank CD-R or CD-RW in the Record Tray, label side up. The display will show various messages as it recognizes the disc.
3. Next, select the Analog input by pressing the DA-3826's INPUT button.
4. Now the recording level must be set. Press the RECORD button on the unit's front panel or on the remote. The DA-3826 will now be paused and ready for recording. To set the level, play the loudest portion of the LP or track you want to record, and adjust the RECORD LEVEL knob until the blue segments of the display are almost all lit and the red segments light only occasionally. If the red segments are constantly lit, the recording will be distorted.

If you're recording from a single LP, set the level to the loudest portion of the record and leave it there. If you're recording tracks from different LPs, you'll have to adjust the level for each track.

Before recording with the DA-3826, you must decide whether to use Automatic or Manual track indexing mode. Indexing is the process that puts an individual track number at the beginning of each song, allowing instant access to any song on the disc.

You should typically use the DA-3826's Manual indexing mode when recording from an LP. If using Automatic mode, a new track number will not be added whenever the LP has two songs with less than three seconds of silence between them. Also, in automatic mode the recorder will stop if there's a low-level musical signal for more than 20 seconds.

5. Press the remote's AUTO/MAN button to select a track indexing mode.
If you selected manual indexing mode, during the recording process, push the recorder's front-panel NEXT button or the remote's TRACK+ button when you want to set the next track number. Typically, you will want to advance the track number during the silence after each song.
6. To begin recording, press either PLAY/SELECT button on the front panel or the PLAY/SELECT button on the remote. When finished recording a song or album side, press PAUSE on either the player or remote. Try to avoid recording the sound of the needle dropping and lifting at the beginning and end of tracks-deejay skills are a big help here!
HOT TIP: Pressing PAUSE automatically advances the index number to the next track. Don't manually press the NEXT (or Track+) button before starting the next album side or track after pausing.
7. To record the next track after pausing, press the RECORD button followed by the PLAY/SELECT button. If you need to reset recording levels for the next track, remember to do it after pressing the RECORD button but before pressing PLAY/SELECT.
8. When you've finished dubbing all the LP tracks, press the STOP button on the front panel or remote. You'll see some messages on the display as the deck stops recording.

But wait, there's more! The disc must be finalized before it can be played in other CD players.

1. This is simple-just press the FINALIZE button on the deck or remote, and while the Finalize light is flashing on the display, press the INPUT button on the deck or SELECT button on the remote. 60 to 90 seconds later, the Finalize light will go off, and the disc is done!

After recording, you can easily create a custom CD label for your disc using the TDK CD Labeling System, which enables you to design your own customized CDs in minutes using the included PC software and labels.

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About the TDK DA-3826 Audio CD Recorder

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