Doing the Splits

WaveCorrector will automatically detect the silences between tracks and slit the LP side into tracks for you. I find it just as easy just to load up the whole side into Nero (my favoured CD writing software). From there you can split the tracks. You will need to use the 'non-wizard' interface.

Load the files for the LPs you want to record onto CD in Nero. Right click on the file you want to split and choose 'Properties'.

In the Dialogue that appears, choose the 'Index, Limits, Split' Tab. You can select and zoom in on sections of the file.

Have a look at the beginning of the file. If there is silence or the sounds of the needle setting down on the groove you can adjust where the start of the file will be taken from. Click on the yellow bar at the far left of the file and drag it closer to the beginning of the first song. After you drag the marker to the right of all the 'rubbish', you can click on 'Play' to check that you have not gone too far. All this has done is changed the 'beginning' of the track and the section to the left of the first marker will not be used. In the example below, the first 5 seconds or so has been 'removed'. You can also trim the end of the file by going to the end and moving the End marker to the left, again just make sure you choose Play to make sure you are not removing part of the fadeout.

Splitting the tracks is just as easy. Click to place the cursor where you want to split the track and then just click on the 'Split' button where you want each new track to start. You do not need to worry about the silence at the end of the song.

When you have spilt the side in the appropriate places click on OK and confirm that you do want to spit the file into X separate tracks. Select all the tracks (except the first track on the CD) and right click for the properties again. This time set the pause between tracks to zero. This will mean that the CD is burnt without any pause or gap between tracks. This is important if tracks run into each other and there is no silence between them. For LPs that do have a silence between tracks it just means that the CD will never drop down to complete 'silence' between tracks. This can sound odd, as you expect to hear a small presence of the record between tracks. This method also maintains any very short or long gaps between tracks. This means that if you are used to there being a gap of 2 beats between track 3 and 4 on an LP, you do not get a forced 2 second unnatural pause between them.

If you want to create the track listing and cover directly from Nero you may rename the individual files in the project window as well.

Now if you have all the tracks arranged as you need you can go ahead and burn. Choose 'Disk at Once' if you have the option. This means the laser stays on during the whole recording process and makes it much easier to copy a CD if you need to make a further backup copy.