Record tape/LP/analog to mp3 with Audacity

From Sean:

Plenty of us older folk have those older analog media like tape, record, etc. How to get it to mp3?
Well, I wanted some program that would record from Line In, and be able to clean up the hiss and other background noise that comes from playing this media.

I found on the web that someone used Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) to do this. So, I downloaded and installed it.

See this link for a nice more-detailed tutorial on this process, if you want more than I describe below: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Transferring_tapes_and_records_to_computer_or_CD

Also, you'll need the LAME MP3 encoder - see this page
for instructions:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3

To actually record from tape to MP3, here's what I do:

• - Set the recording source to 'Line In'
• - Set the recording level to around 7
• - Run a stereo cable (male-to male, get from Radio Shack or wherever)) from my tape player phono jack to the computer's sound line-in jack
• - Insert tape into player and press play, listen for a few seconds to check the volume level and adjust as necessary
• - Stop and rewind tape
• - Press record on Audacity, then press play on tape
• - When tape stops, then stop recording on Audacity - the recording will be on its own track
• - Turn over tape to other side, Press record on Audacity, then press play on tape
• - When tape stops, then stop recording on Audacity - the recording will be on a different track
• - In Audacity, on each track, clean up the noise:

• - Select about 5 secs of dead (non-music/talking) footage
• - In the menu, select 'Effects -> Noise Removal'
• - Click 'Get Noise Profile', then cancel
• - Select the entire track (can click on the empty area under the mute/leveling items)
• - In the menu, select 'Effects -> Noise Removal', then click 'Remove Noise'
• - After a few mins of processing, the noise will be pretty much removed from the track

• - Edit/splice tracks as desired

• - Edit MP3 bit rate settings:

• - In the menu, select 'Edit ->Preferences', then the 'File Formats' tab
• - In the 'MP3 Export Setup' area, choose the bit rate (I use 96 for a compromise between quality and file size), then click OK

• - Edit MP3 id tags:

• - In the menu, select 'Edit -> Edit ID3 Tags'
• - Enter desired values in the various fields, then click OK

• - Export each track separately as desired:

• - Select an entire track
• - In the menu, select 'File -> Export Selection as MP3'
• - Enter filename for the mp3 file, then click OK

• - MP3 will be created

And there you go!
See Audacity help and the tutorial link above to understand how to do more things - I often do
Amplify, or Normalize before exporting to MP3.