On 2 Feb 2012, at 10:52, TheLastMan wrote:

> You can make it shorter if you are prepared to use simpler software that
> finds track breaks and tag information automatically.

Audacity and Amadeus Pro are about as simple as it gets! I suspect that you 
mean "more complex software that makes the process simpler"!
> 
> *'VinylStudio'
> (http://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/VinylStudio/screenshots.aspx)* gives
> access to all the usual tagging databases *while the LP is recording*
> and adds the data to your FLAC, OGG or MP3 files automatically.

Very useful reminder. I'd forgotten I'd tried VinylStudio. Thank you. It is 
some time now since I did any transferring, and it's obviously progressed a lot 
since I last looked at it. (I can't even remember now whether it was for Mac 
when I did, or whether it handled Aiff and ALAC). However, there would have to 
be a very good classical database indeed in order to enable this. It would need 
to include classical LPs going back to the 1960s, many of which have never been 
transferred to CD, or which have been issued only as filleted and repackaged 
transfers with missing tracks, extra tracks, amalgamation of tracks from 
several different LPs and so on. Last time I checked, it didn't exist and 
tagging on all the discs I had chosen to transfer (because I couldn't buy the 
CD) had to be completely manual.

> All
> you do is enter the artist and album name and it finds the track
> information and album art. It also detects breaks between tracks either
> through the silences or using the timing information that usually comes
> with the tags. A bit of fine adjustments of the track breaks is usually
> necessary but it has very simple tools for doing that.

Automatic track division tends to be very dodgy indeed with classical - the 
bulk of my music. I'll try VinylStudio again and see if it works now, but it 
certainly didn't last time.

> 
> If you don't do any de-clicking the whole process only takes 5-10
> minutes on top of recording the LP.

I very rarely de-click, and never noise reduce. I clean.
>> 

snip
> 
> 
> I am surprised at your combination of Technics and SME V. I would have
> thought a highly rigid, high mass arm like the SME would be better
> suited to a rigid belt drive suspended sub-chassis turntable. Have you
> looked at the SME turntables?

Yes. I do not need to spend more than, or use a setup different from, this. The 
combination I have is better than my ears.
> 
>> ...if an LP has been issued as a CD, I buy that rather than rip the LP.
>> There is no post processing other than topping, tailing, splitting and
>> tagging - and it still takes the best part of four hours per
>> (classical) LP including the tagging.
> 
> Four hours!?!
> I give up if it takes me more than 15 minutes!!

You can transfer a 45 minute LP in 15 minutes? That's a neat trick. It tends to 
take me 45 minutes, plus the time it takes to clean, set levels (often needing 
a complete dry run through in itself, watching the meters all the time, if I'm 
dealing with unfamiliar music on a disc I've not previously heard), run/record, 
divide, top, tail, and tag.
> 
> I only go through this process with pop, rock and jazz that are
> generally "loud".  I do not bother with classical or quiet acoustic
> folk music where surface noise can be more intrusive. Also classical
> CD recordings are usually much better than you find with recent
> pop/rock CD reissues.  There is not the same compression and "loudness
> wars" going on with classical CDs.

That's the difference, then. All the stuff I'm transferring is the stuff with 
which you don't bother. It is all acoustic. There is no way round doing it 
because none of it is issued on CD. My collection of amplified music is, on the 
other hand, almost all - with a few exceptions - on CD.  These were either 
bought when the original LPs were first transferred and issued in the new 
format, or were always CD only.
> 
> I am very suspicious of recent "digitally remastered" re-issues of
> albums from the 1970s - 1990s. I prefer to buy the original CDs second
> hand which are probably more faithful to the vinyl version.

 I don't use remasters if I can help it, either.

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