Your Vinyl Transfer Workflow (sharing best needledrop practices)*

Let me further expalin. If people are drinking from a river you can't purify the river downstream because the people upstream would drink contaminated water. Filtering it later downstream would not help. The are drinking from the river as opposed to their water supply coming out of a pipe. But excuse my imprecise post. People who grow up in a modern city never get this one. I probably should never have used it.

Nice pic though. Are they hiring?

 

Izotope RX 7. Will someone please remind me what control keyboard function is used to delete a segment of a recording. Thank you.

 

I just use the delete key, same as I do in all of the audio editors I use. Highlight what you want to cut out, and hit that key. Done!

 

Thank you. I was using a command something key, but I have not edited files since March and I forgot what it was. So I use the delete function in the upper dialog box, which surprisingly does not show a shortcut. Next, I'm try the delete key in the upper right of my key board.

 

On a MacBook Pro, the delete key does not work in Izotope RX7. Nothing happens. Anyone else have experience?

 

Ah! You didn't say what operating system you were using. The delete key works in Windows.

 

Command-X?

Keyboard Shortcuts

 

I

Step 0 - clean the vinyl extremely well. Ultrasonic if you have the access. Stylus as well
Step 00 - set levels. Find the loudest passage and make sure you’re staying below the clipping/overdriven point of your input electronics. You don’t want to ruin a pristine recording by introducing distortion at loud passages. And, on properly calibrated meters, don’t cross 0db.

 

Works like that even in Pro Tools HD.

 

I have questions on mono recordings needledropped on a stereo system. I know some people use stereo to mono cables to convert the stereo to mono as the recording is made but I don't have that luxury. I record the mono LP in stereo. Do you convert it or leave it in the stereo format? If you convert it at what point in your workflow? At the beginning so you are working with a mono file? At the end after you have run all your filters, adjustments, labeling? Thanks for your input.

 

When I was using a simple CD recorder, I'd use Y-cables to mono out the turntable output so that the CD-R was pure mono. But that was before I started using the computer for cleanup.

These days, I allow the CD recorder to grab the mono record as it sounds in two channels. After ripping the record into the computer as WAV files, I use ClickRepair to lightly remove the offending clicks on the two channels as they were recorded. Once I go into my sound editor, Audacity in my case, I'll mix the two channels to mono. As I see it, it really doesn't make much difference at what point you combine the two channels into mono, but I figure that letting Click Repair do its job first, it might find some clicks that would be reduced as a mono file.

Mixing to mono in Audacity does the same thing as y-cables to start with. I find the result the same.

 

Don't cross 0VU sounds better for me.

 

I wish it did that on my 2017 MacBook Pro. I have a large sized "delete" key in the upper right of the built-in keyboard. I highlight a section to remove, depress the "delete" key, and absolutely nothing happens. To actually remove the segment, I go to the "enter" dialog box on the upper left within the program and about 2/3 the way down is the delete function. That works. Strangely, when I use that function, the screen image of the recorded track is resized to the default, even though I have enlarged the track to pinpoint a segment to remove. The other interesting thing is that most function show a short cut in that dialog box, but not for delete. I'll try Control X.

 

I believe this was answered on the other thread about this type of thing. In short, I think it's better to record your mono records to stereo and deal with it in software. You could pick one or the other channel, or sum them in software, which will also allow you to correct any issues that may arise as a result.

 

I have done the same, used Audacity to create a mono file. Someone posted here prior that this could be better done in ClickRepair. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to do it there and I have read the manual several times to learn how. It might be better to minimize the number of programs that are used to manipulate the files, so if someone knows how to avoid Audacity, please share.

My routine is to record the mono lp in stereo at higher resolution and bit rate. Run ClickRepair on the complete recorded track. Pull that file into Audacity to create a mono file. Take that file to Izotope RX7 for final processing.

I have not figured out how to create a mono file from a stereo file in Izotope RX7. In Gearslutz, someone writes this:

"Under 'Utility' select mixing. You can select the preset the says left channel only and render. Or select both right sliders and set them to zero and both left sliders to 100%."

Has anyone experimented with this routine?

 

On the Studer A800-16 you could always run the meters hard at 3VU and still get a great sound. And you don't have a Studer A800-16. ...Dumb comment. Ignore it.

 

So long as the sample rate and size are maintained as recorded, and no dither introduced, there's no impact on sound quality moving from one program to another. Use whatever works best for you.

In the "Mixing" tool, there should be a "Downmix stereo to mono" preset: RX 7 Mixing

 

I know what your problem is. Your 2007 Macbook has an attuide. You need to get an update. It is called the 2008 smarten up upgrade. May take awhile to install. And your Mac may throw rude comments at you as you install.

 

If your are using screen software to set your levels then you should aim for - 18 dbfs RMS. Peaking at 0 dbfs will not get the best out of your converters. In digital 0VU does not equal 0 dbfs.
Wierd I know? Why don't mixing boards have stereo pans for the effects sends? Who knows? Off topic.....

The digital signal doesn't overload until it goes over 0 dbfs. But ADC have analog circuitry in them. And they are set up to mimic analog. You will get the best stereo separation, lowest distortion, etc by aiming for - 18 dbfs RMS. And not peaking over - 6 dbfs PEAK. In fact for 24 bit recordings consider - 6 dbfs PEAK to be you new 0 db. This is the level your ADC will operate it's best at. That is how we pros do it. And by the way this is a MORE important rule for consumer equipment as professional gear will always have way more headroom.

 

2017. Not 2007.

 

Same upgrade.

 

Seriously though it should. And I thought Macs were suppose to be superior to PCs. Did you call the company?

 

Yes, but I know plenty of engineers who use Macs and the delete key deletes.

 

If you have a relevant meter before that then yes. On my Sony app, they show a digital meter in “db” which is a dubious measure but crossing that line is definitely similar to saturating tape. What I don’t know about the device was if everything above it was distorted in analog or digital. Didn’t matter really, it just didn't sound right

When I record anything, I don’t let a properly calibrated vu cross zero, even for peaks, because it would be beyond tape spec and sub-optimal. This made recording anything with a wide dynamic range to cassette problematic because the lower sounds would end up in the noise. I don’t know if I ever made a cassette recording I liked because of it.

But friends insisted that it was ok to record and peaking into the vu red because 0 was a sort if midpoint, especially for high quality tape line Maxell UDXL. I didn’t believe that because, if properly calibrated, that 0 point should be the limit of the whole chain ending at the head. But, I don’t really know.

What I do know is that 43 years later I can pull out my recording of Close to the Edge from vinyl to a Maxell UD-C90 and it sounds excellent. So I must be on to something.

Yet there are commercially available recordings where a voice or an instrument were recorded “too loud” and they distort and it’s unlikely an artistic choice. Actually, that might be a hood thread topic

 

sigh....while that all may be true. The OP isn’t likely to have but one level he can see so my advice still stands to keep it from crossing the “bad sound” threshold even momentarily as he records. I am interested in helping him make good recordings rather than parading my knowledge of electronics