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78rpm Standard transfer prices 78rpm Deluxe transfer prices Optional extra services for 78rpm Description of services

Minimum order value: £15. Payment details are given on the ordering page. Within the UK I normally return media using First Class Recorded Delivery; postage costs are added to the transfer fees, and are not returnable under the money-back guarantee.

I can make quality conversions to CD from 78rpm records if they are in at least reasonable condition, and I can work with records which play at other speeds such as 80rpm. I use a correct 2.5mil wide-groove Shure stylus and a quality turntable-tonearm combination (Thorens / Linn) along with low-speed mastering and digital equalisation for the digitisation process. CD track division is also included in the price of 78rpm transfers.

If you're looking for vinyl-to-CD transfers, try the vinyl services page.

I can provide MP3-CDs as an alternative. Please see the MP3 page for details.

Standard 78rpm record transfer: £3.90 per side [5 or more £3.60] Includes:   Professional VPI record cleaning   High-quality analogue-to-digital capture ("ripping")   Level 1 noise reduction   Track division with track order as required   * CD blank   * Printed disc label with title/artist(s)   * Printed case insert with track listing (audio CDs only; MP3s include basic tag population instead)  (* provided CD playing time is 20 minutes or more)   Plastic CD slip cover (with each CD)   Limited money-back guarantee   I can provide MP3s as an alternative. Please see the MP3 page for details.

Deluxe 78rpm record transfer: £5.50 per side [5 or more £5.10] Includes:   Professional VPI record cleaning   High-quality analogue-to-digital capture ("ripping")   Level 2 noise reduction   Track division with track order as required   * CD blank   * Printed disc label with title/artist(s)   * Printed case insert with track listing (audio CDs only; MP3s include basic tag population instead)  (* provided CD playing time is 20 minutes or more)   Plastic CD slip cover (with each CD)   Limited money-back guarantee   I can provide MP3s as an alternative. Please see the MP3 page for details.

Optional extras for 78 rpm records:   CD blank (if total playing time is less than 20 minutes) £0.70   Detailed restoration from £8 per side   Eccentric record correction (for off-centre discs) £2.90   I am happy to discuss your detailed requirements, both prior to and after receiving your order.

In any 78-to-CD transfer there are a number of processes to undertake. The ones which are absolutely necessary are marked so: all the others will improve the result in some way. The order of work is as follows:

How I carry out each of these processes is outlined below.

Professional record cleaning
Before extracting the music signal I clean your record thoroughly using a professional VPI wet/vacuum record-cleaning machine imported from the US. A clean record contains less noise. The cleaning fluid used contains only distilled water and a trace of surfactant, so as not to damage the shellac surface of your 78rpm record. (View the VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine at the VPI UK site.)

Off-centre (eccentric) record correction
If, like many 78s, your record has an off-centre hole, causing pitch variation in the transferred signal, I can correct this by enlargement of the hole and careful exact placement of the record on the turntable prior to digitisation. The transferred signal will normally then be as pitch-stable as the original recording. This service must be specifically requested if required, though I'm happy to check your record for you.

Not sure if your record is off-centre? If you have a turntable, you can check (provided you're sure that the turntable/stylus won't damage your record). Put the record on the on the turntable and set it turning. Carefully place the stylus on the groove fairly near the middle of the record, using the cue control if possible. Look along the tonearm. If it is visibly moving from side to side, your record is off-centre. Don't be misled by an up-and-down movement - that's warping, not an off-centre pressing. If you don't want to put your stylus on the record, you may still be able to check for off-centredness. Crouch down and look across the top of the record where the stylus would normally be. Depending on lighting conditions, you should be able to fix your eye on a between-tracks band. As before, watch for it moving from side to side. If the band appears to remain in the same place as the record rotates, there is no problem. Don't forget to check both sides of the record - I've seen several cases where one side was correct and the other was wildly out.

Quality analogue-to-digital conversion
The signal from your cleaned record is captured on hard disc; this process is also known as "ripping". For this job on 78s I use a Thorens/Linn turntable-tonearm combination. The Thorens is of a similar suspended-subchassis, belt-driven design to the Linn Sondek used for vinyl. One reason for using a different turntable is that you cannot use a conventional vinyl stylus on a 78. The stylus I use is the Shure M78S, which is designed to be optimum for the vast majority of 78s.

At this stage I trim the recorded signal. Your CD won't contain the sound of the stylus dropping onto the record, for example, or leaving it again. Gaps between tracks will be appropriate.

Noise reduction
78rpm records contain a great deal of noise, whatever their condition and however clean they are. If in good condition, however, the noise tends to be fairly uniform throughout, making the job of removing it a lot easier. I can significantly reduce the noise in your transferred 78rpm record. This service is available at three different levels.

Level 1 is a quick automated process which removes a great deal of the noise carried through with a 78rpm digital transfer, making the result more pleasant to listen to.

Level 2 is a more sophisticated multi-stage process which goes much further than Level 1; from a shellac record in good condition, the result is usually fairly clean sound along with the characteristic steady "fizz" associated with old records, although a number of small noises may remain.

"Detailed restoration" is a time-consuming manual procedure which has the aim of removing these last stubborn small noises one at a time.

It should be noted that the automated noise reduction procedures applied to 78rpm shellac record transfers are completely different in design to those used on vinyl records, despite the use on this site of the same names. The noise problems with 78rpm records are much more severe than and quite different to those with vinyl records (one of the reasons they changed, all those years ago).

Division into tracks
I divide the music from your record into individual tracks so that you can use your CD skip control to find them. I don’t leave it to the computer to find the starting points, as some other services do, because the computer doesn’t do this job very accurately. Although it takes a lot longer, I search out the track beginnings myself and mark and test their positions before putting the music onto the CD. (Because of the way data is organised on audio CDs, it is important to make sure that the track markers are positioned at data sector crossover points to ensure seamless transition from one track to the next on the finished CD.) If you are having a number of 78s transferred, I can arrange them as individual tracks on your CD, in any order you like.

CD blank
This means the blank recordable CD on which I provide your transfer. For transfers totalling at least 20 minutes of playing time, these are provided at no extra charge. A CD transfer with a total playing time of less than 20 minutes will incur a small charge for the recordable disc.

Burning to CD
Once the signal has been tidied up and organised according to your requirements, I create your CD using a quality CD writer, and I use a fairly slow writing speed in order to avoid errors in the finished CD. The CD-text option is used. This means that track titles are included with the the music on the CD; a CD-text-enabled player will be able to display them while the CD is running. (CD-text is not normally provided when a case insert is not included with the transfer.)

I can provide MP3-CDs as an alternative. Please see the MP3 page for details.

CD label and case insert
On the front of the CD case insert I put the name of the original record (or the name of the music on it) along with the artist(s). On the inside of the insert I list the track numbers along with their names and playing times. To the CD itself I affix a label which also contains the name of the original record (or the name of the music on it) along with the artist(s). I don’t normally provide a jewel case, because these are often damaged in transit and in any case may cost more to send than they're worth. Your CD will arrive in a slip cover, and you can easily buy a CD jewel case for pennies at a local store.

If your transfer is to an MP3-CD, instead of a case insert I populate the Title, Artist and Album MP3 tags. Details are on the MP3 page.

Money-back guarantee
If you are not delighted with the transfer work I do for you, you can return your CDs, inserts and slip covers to me undamaged within 14 days and I will refund your transfer charges up to a limit of £20.

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