Hi, I've been working at transferring my large collection of LPs to digital for many years now. I have hundreds of LPs that have never been available on CD. ECM Records for instance has failed to issue over 100 important LPs in their catalog on CD.
I have reached a pretty good point now where I can get repeatable and good results. It took quite a bit of time trying various hardware components and software approaches. I believe that my results while maybe not the last word are pretty good and sufficient. First the hardware: I have a dedicated computer I've setup that I use. It isn't imperative since most any PC or Mac can be used. It just means I can leave things setup and not have to dismantle things and risk messing things up. I find a big issue is that the signal from LPs is measured in the micro-volts and having this so near computers with RF issues can be a headache to achieving the lowest noise floor. Since I am spending the time to make a digital copy, I want to make sure that my copy is as free of RF and hum as is humanly possible. It is important to note that I believe it is imperative to eliminate all sources of noise at the beginning of the process. No amount of post processing is going to be as good as starting with as pristine a source as possible. Garbage in - Garbage out. Thus, my first step is to use my VPI 16.5 LP cleaning machine to scrub my LPs of any residual dirt that may impact my transfer. I've been collecting LPs since I was 10 and am now 48. I have kept my LPs in immaculate condition and the VPI machine allows me to remove any detritus. I can't emphasize how important I believe this step to be. My current hardware chain is as follows: Audio-Technica Direct Drive Turntable AT-PL120 with Shure M97 cartridge ---> ART Pro Audio USBPhonoPlus v2 Phono Preamp ---> Computer (Windows Vista) I arrived at at this after much trial and error. While I prefer belt drive for my audiophile listening system, I found that using some basic and inexpensive belt turntables (Pro-Ject) for this purpose posed several issues such as speed fluctuations and hum and noise. I have found the AT-L120 rock solid and noise free. It also has a built in RIAA preamp which can be switched off but could eliminate the preamp if you wanted to do so. I preferred to have more control so I went straight to my Art Pro Audio USB phono preamp which outputs a standard usb audio signal that is recognized by both Windows and Mac so drivers are required. This device is fixed at 48k/16b which many have already commented is more than enough resolution. I like the Shure M97 because it is fairly neutral relatively cheap and I even use the built in stabilizer brush which is great for the occasional warped record. I also use the free ASIO4ALL driver instead of the standard windows audio drivers and mixer (KMIXER). This isn't absolutely necessary but I found it easier to avoid the messy Windows audio mixer interface and go straight to Sound Forge using ASIO since it supports it. For the software, I use Sound Forge 9 although one could use the free Audacity as well. I like Sound Forge because it supports scripting and now supports FLAC so I can really speed up my work flow. I do almost no post processing on the raw sound file. I do apply a normalization using Sound Forge's Music preset. This may be controversial with some but LPs are typically mastered at a lower level than what we have come to experience with CDs and I find the normalization brings the average level of my LP recording in line with other CDs in my collection. In Sound Forge, I can mark regions for the start and end of each song, label them with the song title, and then run a script I made that will export to FLAC at 48k/16b with the file name in the proper order. All that is left is to fix up the FLAC tags in MP3Tag and I'm ready to deposit the files on my Squeezebox server. So, there's my basic approach and I'd be happy to answer questions for any gaps I've left out. -CB -- ctbarker32 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ctbarker32's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2816 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=57431 _______________________________________________ ripping mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/ripping
