Your Vinyl Transfer Workflow (sharing best needledrop practices)*

Thanks.
And so you use the D-PRE mic preamps as your inputs, using some kind of converted cording system from your phono?

 

No, on my UR44, I use line inputs 5 and 6 on the back of the unit and set my recording DAW to records inputs 5 & 6. My UR22C has just the two inputs on the front, but on both of these units the D-PRE inputs are switchable between mic and line.

 

+1 on the Steinberg units
I love my UR242.

 

Ahh, so you use the LINE on your 22C as well. Got it.

I see you have a Lehmann Black Cube as well - so you run the RCA outs into the LINE of your 22C - using what kind of cord combo?
Custom interconnects I'm guessing?

There's a sweet s/hand UR22 MKII that just came up for for sale here locally.. might jump on it.

 

Yes, I made my own interconnects with some RG59 cable. As for the UR22, go for it. They are great interfaces.

 

I've been loosely following @Stefan method for denoise and eq for the subsonics go back to page 91 read through the next 3 pages you will get the jest of it. Your Vinyl Transfer Workflow (sharing best needledrop practices)*

I have basically following that with the exception of, I denoise both channels in M/S and my EQ is slightly different. My EQ setting in Ozone while in M/S I highlight 0-50hz in the side channel doing a digital brickwall 20hz highpass.

Since Stefan posted how to view the subsonics in the Extended Log I have been checking and I'm feeling pretty confident that this has been working very well.

So today I was working on Crosby Stills Nash & Young 4-way street. This sample and screenshot is a acoustic track but I happened to see the low bass in this clip and when I zoom in on it its the bass kick for what ever reason. You can see as well as hear it just a little you can see most of the subsonics have been removed but the basskick is preserved. Dropbox - bass kick.flac - Simplify your life



Another question mainly for @john morris Looking at the screenshot you can see a line of noise like 16k-20k I have seen this on many records always in the upper ranges and figured it must be something in the recording or mastering baked into the master. On this record you can see this all the way through side A and side B and during the beginning of the last track on B it is gone. So what piece of equipment does this and why? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

I've been doing a few needledrops. The latest one I did today was the S/T Johnny Winter album.

I'm learning to back off using the de-hum because it tends to leave a pre-buildup at the track intro.

 

Grant can you explain further? I'm not sure what pre-buildup is. I've been archiving a 32/96 pre denoised wav file for every needle drop since I started denoising so I can redo them if I figured out I have been over doing it. Or later I can post screenshots of intro's pre and post denoising.

 

Hard to describe. OK, you know how, say, a snare drum hit sounds cold clean at the leading edge of it? Well, after I run the de-hum module, I get a slight lead up roar, kind of like a pre-echo. In fact, the help section states this, that it can cause this audio phenomenon. I'm not sure why. It didn't do it to every single file.

Since I didn't save versions of the wave step by step, as opposed to simply reverting backward before using the de-hummer, I just trimmed it out in my top and tail phase before the dithering to 16-bit or archiving. This happened on my last project a couple of days ago when doing a Smokey Robinson & The Miracles needledrop of the "Special Occasion" album from the same year.

I'm going to not use the de-hum module on my next project and see what happens.

 

That is good enough for vinyl, but is not class-leading, especially for the price.
They claim "32 bit audio", but it has a 24 bit chip with 16 bit specs.
The box is not going to be better than the ADC chip used:




Instead contrast the less expensive Motu M2 (here complete specs of the full device), adding 12dB to dynamic range and 6dB+ to THD:


Even my 10-year-old Saffire Pro has >109dBA dynamic range on all inputs.

 

I use MOTU M2 for my needledrops. Good stuff! And Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 (SABRE32 Ultra Class PCIe DAC). Great DSP.

 

What dither setting are you guys using? I pretty much record, process and listen in 96. I dither from 32bit float to 24 but I thought that was actually needless but I do it anyhow. I know if I do any additional processing in RX after I convert to 24/96 flac no matter how minor it becomes a 32 bit float and has reconverted back. Could be a lot of dithering if you go back a time or two.

I will convert some down to 16/44.1 for MP3 or CDs but none of that is for critical listening. I could never hear too much difference but if there is a better way I'm open to suggestions.

 

I use MBIT+ dither

 

Thanks.

Would a Tascam DR-100MKII do better on specs for AD processing, and give me a recording solution without computer being in the way, in one?

 

I have a friend that has one I once thought that would be the way to go especially if you want to record outside. That's the one to get the cheap one uses a stereo mini and that is crap. Now that I'm not recording in clubs I'm glad I stuck with computer based devices.

 

The portable recorder is worse still in spec to the Steinberg, and you also pay for unneeded mics, batteries, etc.
The rack unit Tascam recorders are a bit better, but pricier still then a better computer audio interface.

I would say that instead, the recorder gets in the way of the data being on your computer where you want it.

 

Wow - really depends on who you talk to doesn't it?

Now I'm thinking this would be a good option : SM PRO IN5E USB AUDIO INTERFACE & STANDALONE MIXER 110/240v | eBay

 

That's all well and good but given the noise floor on vinyl, I wouldn't worry about a few dB that are all below the level of thermal noise on modern PCs!

 

By 1975 cutting lathes had reached their zenith of ability. By 1975 you could cut a record up to 18 khz no problem. Nice and quiet records too. Not the crap we get today.

However, many studios were ahhh....slow and cautious to upgrade their equipment. Especially tape machines. The noise you seem to be detecting between 16 - 20 khz is sadly a 1960's left over. Because of head and transport designs 60's tape machine couldn't record the last half octave (16 - 20 000 hz). This would change by 1970 -1972. Most studios didn't upgrade to 8 track until 1969. And many were still using 8 tracks right up to 1972. And some studios were still using 2 inch 16 tracks up to 1976! One engineer back in 1971
2 used two Scully 284-12s synchronize together for 22 tracks. 2 tracks lost to sync pulses. Even 2 inch 24 tracks like the Ampex MM-1100 were 30 - 15 000 hz +-2db @ 15 ips. So even though a record might be recorded in 1972 they might be using a 2 inch 16 track from 1969. Up until 1970 these machines didn't really produce much of anything useful above 15 khz but noise and buzzes. This is most likely what you are

 

I normally use dither going to 16 bits and flat without noise shaping. One of the gurus at iZotope confirmed to me that noise shaping is not a good idea if one is going to be converting to lossy formats, which I do for listening on my phone, car, etc.

 

Yes and you can't go only by published specs. I have a little Zoom H1 (1st gen) recorder I bought for doing some narration work at my job. I tried it a couple of times for recording needledrops and although the specs claimed it was flat down to 20Hz, the bass response was noticeably weak (and yes, I double checked to make sure the bass cut was shut off).

 

One way or another you get what you pay for. So be careful with stuff that is cheap. Specs you take with a grain of salt you want listen to it if possible or be able to return it if you don't like it.

 

Yes, easy return is helpful. A couple of years back I ordered a Focusrite 6i6 from Amazon and it was lousy for latency on the PC I was using. I was able to return it and instead I went for the Yamaha UR44, which on the same machine was much better for latency (latency is not a big issue for needledrops but I also use the PC for guitar and keyboards).

 

Yep this is a remaster from a 1970 live recording so you know they weren't state of the art. I can't hear that high I bet a kid can. Interesting how it is present for 90% of the recording but not on the last track of the B side.

 

Interesting...... - 118 dba is standard on pretty much any pro mic preamp in the last 20 years.