Time Consuming Steps - Digitizing Vinyl ?

I'm telling on myself here but I use ClickRepair and I use the automatic mode for clicks, pops and crackle and it works great. Sometimes I have to use Audacity to manually remove pops. Some people here are really into the needledrop thing and they will tell you to never use automatic mode but I can't imagine manually declicking an entire album. You just have to be careful as to how you set it up - I found to my chagrin that a couple of rips I did had a distorted sound in places and I had to re-run Click Repair at a lower level to correct it. If you've got it running too high, it can cause distortion.

 

After running ClickRepair I check the waveform and can see if there are remaining clicks. No need to listen to the recording to discover them. Remaining clicks are then removed by redrawing the wave or applying Magix Audio Cleaning Lab click repair to the isolated clicks.

 

I have not even read the owners manual for the connection details. As you know, typical current production preamp or receiver no longer provides tape loop and if this Zphono requires one to make the connection, I am out of luck. Fortunately, my preamp is 15-year old though it is still working great and has two tape loops ...

 

Just get a freakin' cd recorder (Tascam makes great ones,) a stack of cd-rs, and record away...
Unless you don't like what you hear when you play the "actual record", the cd-r needle-drop should be acceptable.
And, since you HAVE the cd-r, and it's a .wav file, you can "clean it up" or whatever, with software, later.

 

I just measured the time I spend on post-processing in iZotope RX (declicking and setting tracks) and it’s an average of 8.5 times of the LP length. So for 10 minutes I spend about 85. That’s for classical music; rock and pop varies a bit more depending on content. I do most declicking manually by selecting portions that don’t contain transients, sometimes just individual frequencies. The spectral view is the best friend and helper there, because it allows you to see clicks and anomalies you would never ever see in a waveform.

 

I capture them in Audacity at 16/44 - this has to be done in real time - and then Save Project As - Artist - Title.
I dice the one, long recording into tracks and add track names and then Save Project. This takes a few minutes.
I then export them to the folder my iTunes library resides in as 16/44 AIFF files. This takes about a minute.
I then "Add to Library" in iTunes and fill in the meta data. This takes a few minutes.

Most of my vinyl is in decent enough shape that I don't have to worry about getting rid of ticks and pops so in my scenario it's 90/10 (capture/editing). On records that are I just deal with it - for me the whole point for doing this is being able to play it anywhere I am.

As has already been mentioned, if you plan on doing editing of the actual recording it's better to capture at a higher sample rate. Just be sure to periodically delete the capture files if you're doing a lot of albums as they take up space.

 

Digitizing your LP's is a novel idea but it is too much work ...

 

It can take as long or short as you want it depending upon how obsessive/compulsive you are and what you want to do.

The minimum is maybe about an hour per single LP. The max can be days or even weeks if the vinyl is noisy and you want to give it the platinum treatment.

Without knowing what it is it you want the final product to be, it is impossible to answer the question.

 

totally useless thing to digitalize vinyls. just get the best cd version

 

With a cd-recorder, it's as easy as playing a cd. Just pop the blank cd in, and press "record". That's it.

 

I have records that smoke any available cd. When I needle-drop, I get the better mastering. Very useful (imo).

 

yeah, this. I used to use CDR, my recorder is getting a bit wonky, so I am trying out using the PC and doing them at 48/24. But still no post processing or click repair. not necessary if you have good records. If you want absolutely no surface noise you shouldn't bother with vinyl anyway.

 

nonsense, vinyl is more fun to collect (IMO), better mastering (not always of course), and needle drops can sound great if done right, giving you the convenience of digital.

 

As a note, i got audacity to record 48k/24 bit on windows 7 at least, using a tascam thing as an interface. In case there is still an issue with that. Adobe audition confirmed bit depth of 24 (it can tell if it is 0-padded 16 bit). and they *look* like 24 bit files zooming in with goldwave. so I am satisfied. the actual recording device driver has to be set for 24 bit and you have to use the correct windows host, in my case WASAPI is the one that gave true 24 bit files to audacity. Does it sound better than 44/16 CDRs? I dunno...

my process is to start the recording, start the lp, "mark" the tracks (while playing or after), then "exportmultiple" to flac files. I don't bother saving the original project. no post-processing, except adding the tags for artist/album/tracks/etc.

 

Not if you have own records that were never released on CD or digital.

Going back to the original topic, has anyone tried Vinyl Studio for recording LPs?

 

oh, ok then!!
but why not just play the record? the SQ drops when you digitalize then play back your file via your dac...

 

One reason is music never released on CD and as I said in my 1st post my last project was vinyl I'd deem unplayable but now sounds very good with no clicks or pops.

 

If I have the time, and want to hang in "the music room" sure, I play the record. A needle-drop of a well mastered record sounds good even if "digitized".
Vinyl has a definite "tone" and it comes through on the playback of the cd-r - even from a 32ok mp3 (I load my needle-dropped vinyl to iTunes).
But let's be clear, I have to believe that the vinyl I do take the time to record DOES sound better, or I would not bother to do it.

 

I rip all my vinyl to digital, and the software used is VinylStudio. Reasonably priced, simple to use, and good at what it does.

 

Good luck finding the PRO-CD for this one
Finished this today.

 

I disagree. For example, I really like The White Stripes. However, the CD versions of their albums lack dynamic range - making them hard to listen to for me. Their vinyl releases have much more dynamic range, and I enjoy listening to them much more.

I don’t just want to listen from my turntable. I like the convenience of a digital version for the PC and for my iPhone/iPod. I’m happy I invested in the tools to digitize vinyl.

 

Somebody already mentioned this, but many LPs/45s haven't been released on CD and that is a reason to digitize the ones you have.

I agree. That's what I did, as follows:

• Record each side of the album as a track on one recordable CD.
• Rip the CD as a WAV files, and keep the raw CD as a backup source.
  
• Run each WAV file through a program to remove pops, ticks and surface noise at a modest level so that the actual music was minimally impacted.
  
• Edit the WAV files to split them into individual tracks.
• Convert the WAV files into the compressed format of my choice.
• Listen and enjoy.

The above process took me about an hour from start to finish for each single-disc album.

 

This morning I received 20 tracks, 78:23 seconds, all recorded from vinyl with a plethora of clicks, pops & crackle. It took 1 hours to de: click & crackle, insert silence at start and fade out, match volume levels. The results sound like they're sourced from a well done CD.

Music that was possibly lost to time without the people making these needledrops, certainly a good reason to spend 1 hour of my time.

 

I need to get the digitizing, declicking and the whole shebang under my belt. Two quick questions: 1) What other apps do you use besides Audacity? 2) What kind of computer do you use? I am thinking about getting a new Windows 10 desktop to replace my 10-year old Dell desktop running Windows 7 Pro, which at 4 GB RAM is woefully inadequate. I am thinking about at least an i5 or even i7 processor with 16 GB RAM ...

Thanks for your info.

 

This would be the best process.

As far as time, I spend about 20 minutes cleaning an album before ripping it. If you figure an average album is 40 minutes or so, then that is an hour to produce the raw rip. On average, I'd say I spend about 2 hours per album manually de-clicking and "finishing" the raw rip to get it to its final state - maybe a bit longer with meta data tagging and FLAC processing.

So for me, I would say 30% on the front end and 70% on the back. This obviously varies with the pressing itself, and mono albums are typically easier to complete than those recorded in stereo.

FYI, I capture all rips on a HP i5 laptop that is getting its digital signal from a Tascam UH-7000.

I use Goldwave to capture the audio. From there it goes to ClickRepair then on to Audacity which I use to normalize and split the tracks. Most of my post-production time is spent using Izotope RX 6 to declick and fix any other anomalies with the rip. I use Xrecode II for tagging and FLAC processing.

Here's what my process looks like:

Vinyl Cleaning Process

Place on VPI 16.5 and apply Audio Intelligent Down With Dirty Enzyme Record Cleaner with VPI brush
Vacuum off cleaning solution
Flip record and repeat
Place record in Spin Clean #1 filled with distilled water to remove any remaining cleaning solution
Pat dry with clean, lint-free towel
Ultrasonic Cleaner (home brew cleaner) with Side A prominent for 5 mins
Ultrasonic Cleaner (home brew cleaner) with Side B prominent for 5 mins
Place record in Spin Clean #2 filled with distilled water to remove any remaining cleaning solution
Pat dry with clean, lint-free towel
Place record back on VPI 16.5 and apply L’Art du Son Cleaning Fluid with Osage Audio brush to Side A
Vacuum off cleaning solution
Record Side A
Place record back on VPI 16.5 and apply L’Art du Son Cleaning Fluid with Osage Audio brush to Side B
Vacuum off cleaning solution
Record Side B

Recording/Processing Steps

Capture LP rip in 24/96 via GoldWave
Run thru ClickRepair at level 1 with Pitch Protection: on/Reverse: on/Method: Simple
Amplify recording in Audacity to -0.7
Split racks in Audacity
Listen to each track in Izotope RX 6 Standard with AKG 702 headphones>Schiit Asgard II headphone amp>Schiit Bifrost DAC cleaning any remaining clicks/artifacts
Tag and FLAC level 8 processing with Xrecode II