Your Vinyl Transfer Workflow (sharing best needledrop practices)*

A well mastered audio file has the true peak at -6 dB around.

The quality audio systems usually have powerful amplifiers to increase the volume at whatever level, with no sound quality loss. The low level audio systems have not. That's why the music on standard CD (music for the masses) is mastered at -0.1 dB with loudness, clipping and distortion. The sound quality doesn't matter, only volume is important. The loudest s.h.*.t. sells better.

 

A well mastered audio file can have peaks right up to the limit. In fact, I doubt you could find any of our host's masterings with peaks that low (and I think most if not all of us can agree that his work is well mastered!).

In fact, he even admits to letting some digital overs get through:

 

I guess that our host produces music for the audiophile world, not for boomboxes. He may be an exception related to the good sound quality and his mastering skills.

But the music mass production sounds horrible in most cases. That's why I make needledrops. For better sound quality on my audio system.

Dropbox - sample.wav - Simplify your life

Dropbox - sample2.wav - Simplify your life

(the HF range was messed up by the original mastering engineer who produced the recording, not by me).

I remastered the entire album recorded as needledrop at L/R true peaks of: -3.02/-3.04 dB and LUFS: -19.1 and sounds great on my audio system at only 60% volume.

 

Those really sound good. Nice job

 

Is it me or or do those cymbals actually sound like cymbals?
And I'm listening on a cheap Chromebook.
Wow.
Would you care to needledrop my collection?

 

The JICO SAS-1/b stylus is awesome.

 

Indeed. After trying various Ortofons, ATs, etc., I always come back to my Paradox Pulse-modded Shure M35 with SAS. It's the same stylus as the AT150MLX but without the big high-end rise of the AT.

 

Hopefully I came to a right place )).
I am curious about needledrops, as some of my records are rare and in NM and I do not want to play them often, and also feel it will be good in evaluating some carts for me )).
I have a questions regarding ADC - most of them have USB outputs, but are there ones which can be networked and output on network drive? My main rig is too far from office to bring USB cable, and it is not convenient anyway..

 

Use a solid state recorder instead.

 

Interesting indeed, albeit I would prefer 24/192... How is sound quality?

 

For 24/192, the Tascam DA-3000 has been a topic of discussion around these parts. It also does 5.6MHz DSD.

 

It is almost a grand.. A little rich for occasional recording.. 250 for so-20m is very reasonable.. So I order if there huge difference in sound quality, 96 vs 192 notwithstanding..

 

You could pick up some of the small data recorders round. I have a Zoom H1 that sounds great. It only does 24/96 but there are those who feel even that is overkill for needledropping. I use a Steinberg UR44, which does 24/192, but I prefer 24/96 as I hear no difference with my 59 year-old ears and the file sizes are a bit more reasonable.

 

You might consider the Tascam DR100-mkIII portable, it does 24/192, is half the cost of the rack unit, way newer tech, dual ADCs, battery operated, both digital and analog inputs, etc...

 

96 kHz is (more than) enough for vinyl transfers, but I completely understand the appeal of 192.

In terms of sound quality, what goes in pretty much comes out. The SD-20M has a greater SNR than any LP or tape, so its operational noise is masked by that of the disc. It's frequency response could be better: 20Hz to 40kHz +1dB/–3dB (INPUT1-2 to OUTPUT, Fs 96kHz, JEITA). In contrast, the DA-3000 boasts a frequency response of 20Hz to 40kHz +0.1dB/–1dB (Fs=88.2k/96kHz, JEITA) and even higher SNR. Of course, the price is a lot more.

One thing I've found with Tascam recorders (both the SD-20M and the DR-05 I had previously) is that, when using the unbalanced phono inputs, you need a passive pre-amp to prevent clipping. Set the level with a test disc like the Hi-Fi News Test LP. The +12 dB track on that should read -12 dBFS on the Tascam. Not an issue if using balanced inputs.

What music do you like? I could post a sample.

 

Classic Rock, Prog Rock, KrautRock - all from seventies ))).
I was thinking to use tape out from my preamp, however it does not have tape output level control (not many do). another passive preamp looks as overkill... May be Harriron Labs -12db attenuators will work?

I also understand that there no balance control on Tascam, where can then I adjust channel imbalance (1-2db)?

 

Wow. No DSD support, but not that important.. the only issue is little controls and my old, big fingers )))

 

Yes, attenuators would work also.

The SD-20M has balance control on its balanced inputs only. If you were to use unbalanced phono inputs you would need to correct for channel imbalance in software.

 

But one can use RCA->XLR male cables, right?

 

Yes, that's an option as well.

 

Very tempting option those tascam boxes..

 

Guys one question how it should be the volume on the amp when digitizing the vinyl to the PC? I saw that if we push the volume too much we are sacrificing (a lot) the dynamic range. But if the volume is too low can be un-listenable.

 

You should adjust your levels so that the highest peak in your recording reaches above -6dB (this ensures that you're using every bit possible for the highest resolution). Of course you don't want any peaks to go above 0dB. Some folks may feel that -6dB is too low but some cheaper A->D converters can tend to add distortion when the signal going through them approaches 0dB. You can always ajust or preferably normalize to -1dB, etc. afterwards.

I set my levels by using a test LP. I have one with a track recorded at 0VU. This corresponds to about -18dB in digital, so I adjusted my level so that the track recorded at exactly -18dB. Since then I never run into problems with levels.

 

-6dB! Got it! Thank you

 

Yep, that's best practice. You can then adjust gain to say -0.3 dB post capture. Better that you do that at 32 bit floating. Make sure that dithering down to 24 bit (or 16 bit) is the last step in your process.