This time Rob IS right!
I heartily agree with David. that a well tweaked LP system
outperforms a CD based one until you throw a small fortune at it, and
even then...
However, if DVD and SACD fair better, I still feel LP can be as good,
or better.
I have three turntables, but my trusty old Garrard from the 1950s
with a Denon 103 cartridge from around the same time, or
a Pierre Clement for mono, knocks-out my CD system for resolution,
micro dynamics and presence.
On the LP system, you can hear a plucked note's sustain and slow
death into a dark background, while on CD it is suddenly cut-off.
This is supposed to be something to do with the sampling rate, but I
wonder whether it has anything to do with the RIAA boost at recording
on the LP,
which is supposed to help retrieve high frequency detail from the
record's surface noise at playback.
If I tweaked my LP system it was to delve into the sort of tonal and
attack differences that you can hear on Paul O'Dette's Tablatures de
Leut, (Astree AS76)
according to his choice of diapasons. It is the sound texture and
subtle attack-release that I still love so much about the lute, and
feel I really hear from gut stringing;
(although some player's delicate touch gives just as rich a texture,
as on Rob's "The Healing" CD.)
if I tweak my lute's stringing now, it is still with that delving
into the sound texture, in mind.
I don't quite agree with David on the diamond shape, I prefer the
conical ones, as on the Denon 103, and the Pierre Clement. If your
records are worn, you should have a slightly larger diamond
so as to go less deep into the groove, further down you will probably
find more noise. Well, I understand that a very expensive Shibata
diamond may get the best of both worlds, but the Denon
is quite cheap, and excellent value. The Clement is now ridiculously
expensive, more than a fair CD player, but I bought mine before
anyone knew about its extraordinary qualities.
People who have only heard CD would be amazed, by what the PC can
drag up from an old mono record of the 50s (ok not for lute obviously).
Of course, I now wish I had spent my LP tweaking days playing the
lute, I gave-up playing because of pressures from research and
teaching ; when ever I sat down to work, I found I was playing the lute.
Then, I did not have enough spare regular hours left to take it up
again. That is the problem with research, you never attain your
ultimate goal, rather like playing the lute...
When I stopped playing, I built up a fair LP collection including
lute music from Astree and Reflexe. The CD transfers of these are
unfortunately very poor.
I regret that the research element of those CNRS Astree days seems to
have disappeared from most CDs. You are lucky if you find details
about the
lute used, let alone about the stringing. I suppose the finance from
the CNRS included some obligation for research considerations,
or perhaps this came naturally in those pioneering days.
This link about my LP tweak feels as though it is from another life,
through lute-playing, I now barely listen to my records, but it was
not so long ago:
http://www.theanalogdept.com/anthony_hind.htm
Anthony, (an inveterate tweaker)
Le 24 nov. 08 à 07:28, David Tayler a écrit :
I love vinyl. Lasts forever, too.
Tips for transfer:
1. Do not transfer vinyl on CD. Repeat, do not put vinyl on CD.
2. Use a real turntable. You can buy them very cheaply on eBay. Do
not use a USB turntable.
3. If you can't deal with the whole tracking force thing, get a P
mount model. Easy to deal with.
4. Technics makes great budget turntables you can buy used. If you
have a big collection, borrow, rent a Rega.
5. If your records are chatty & natty, they need to be cleaned. Nitty
Gritty record cleaners for this for this, the one with the vacuum.
Some hifi stores will do this for a few cents.
6. Unless they are mint, you will need to use a needle that has an
elliptical "nude" profile. This needle goes deeper into the groove,
the results are nothing short of miraculous. There are many types;
audio technica makes a nice one that goes up to 27kHz that is fine.
7. Hook the TT up to an amp that has a TT input--there is EQ built
in, you need to decode it. Amps can be had very cheap on eBay, I like
Rega, Rotel, NAD, there are many to choose from. Panasonic and
Technics are fine, so are Yamaha and the better Sonys.
8. Hook the line out to a flash recorder such as the Fostex FR2 LE or
use a decent converter. Focusrite makes a decent one, and there is a
4 channel E-MU that is pretty good as well. I use RME and Mytek, they
cost more.
9. Record at a minimum of 48/24 bit wave files. Do NOT use MP#, do
not use 44.1. If you need a CD for any reason, record at 88.2.
records have extended frequesncies; if you chop these off you will
ruin them.
10. Load the wave in Samplitude and burn as a DVD Audio. Or just save
it as a wav file. This will preserve the high frequencies and the
detail.
USB Turntables: If you must go this way, get a Pro-ject model or
something with decent parts. Better to spend your money on a good
recording interface that you can also use to record yourself.
Such as http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_hdsp_rpm.php
If you need to compress the file, use aac "plus" V2 encoding, using
the high frequency rate. However, your DVD audio disks, if properly
made, will absolutely, absolutely beat any commercial remaster that I
have ever heard.
If you have something you really want some extra care applied to,
record it twice, and edit back and forth to get the best tracking.
Fraunhofer has new codec that will be released fairly soon that will
also be good, sort of backward compatible HD for audio.
EQ normally is not necessary. However, if you wish to jazz up the
sound, record the master untouched, then apply effects to a separate
file. Apply all effects using a minimum 24 bit master.
If you Turntable has rumble, you can use a notch filter to remove it,
WAVES filters work pretty well for this.
dt
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