Connecting Your Turntable (and Cassette Deck) to a Computer

Introduction

Connecting a turntable to your PC is easier than you think. Just think of it as connecting another tape deck.

What Do I Need?

Apart from a turntable and PC you need a soundcard that has a line-in input. Some older computers with on-board sound do not have this input and you cannot record via the microphone input so a soundcard upgrade will be in order. You will also need an amplifier or a pre-amp as a turntable needs to be amplified before reaching the computer. Just plugging in your turntable to a soundcard could damage your computer. Lastly you need some leads to make the connections.

Connecting a Turntable

The easier way to record vinyl onto a computer is to use your existing hi-fi system. At the back of the amplifier locate your cassette decks tape out (record) connection and, using a RCA-to-3.5mm cable (see image below) connect this to the line-in of your sound card.

I actually use an external soundcard which has phono sockets as opposed to a line-in socket so connecting this is just like adding another separate to your hi-fi system using RCA to RCA jacks.

You could of course use a pre-amplifier, including those dedicated for PC use. I have no experience of this but there is mention of this on Jack Daniels web site.

Try not to make the connecting lead from stereo to PC to long. If you do you could get humming on your recordings from grounding.

Connecting A Cassette Deck

I use my cassette deck in the same way as the turntable. Some guides suggest using the second tape decks tape out if it is available but I find this is not necessary on my amplifier as the tape deck is hardly in use!

You can connect a cassette deck to the PC without the need of an amplifier using a lead between the decks headphone out socket to the line-in socket.

You can also use a personal stereo which can be connected in the same way using a 3.5mm to 3.5 mm connection. This is also the same method for connecting a portable mini-disc player.

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