Recommendations for digitizing vinyl

[mike70]

they are sooo quiet between tracks! now you've got me thinking about going MC.. I'm cutting your files into song tracks in flac and it's funny bc I went to streaming to determine exactly where to cut between the first 2 tracks and your version sounds so much more natural compared to the 2014 digital re-master. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU, especially for This Note's For You (not singin' for pepsi...)

learn to clean the records properly and you'll have that on any decent record.
my experience ... i don't hear any background noise or bothering clicks and pops, with MM / MC or elliptical / advanced stylus type

 

[Ben Jenssen]

"Boston - More than a feeling (1976) Side 1.wav" around 5:35, between "people live" and "in a competition"
(CD version resampled to 48k and volume matched)

Thanks. I see what you mean; there is a loud click and some distortion overall.

There are explanations:
The Boston album was one of the first attempts I made after getting my new Ortofon MC x10. It was not 'broken in', so that's one thing (I have since played 70+ full albums and it's better now), also, I was using an old receiver's built in MC stage. And I had RX11 Declicker on a much lower sensitivity setting, so more clicks got thru.

You can sort the files on my googledrive link by last modified, and the results from the last week is where I'm at now. Much better than the Boston album. It was also very battered.

But in your snippet of vinyl vs cd, you should notice that vinyl is a bit brighter and fuller. CD is pretty flat in comparison.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

As a measurement test one could try importing a digital file into Audacity (which will upconvert to 32 bit), then export it in the original input format. The compare them in Deltawave.

I will do that. But it's going to have to wait a week or so due to, well, life events.

 

[JP]

We were early adopters of streaming, back when DMX became available via cable - for about $12/month we got abut 30 channels of music - three jazz stations, three or four classical, various pop, folk, etc.. Both my wife and I were working in terrestrial radio and the time and figured that something like this was the future. This would have been about 1994 or so. Unfortunately, it sounded absolutely like dogmeat, due to the processing to "make it sound better".

It wasn't processed to "make it sound better" in any way, at least not from the source. The operator likely transcoded it to rather low bitrate AC3. Not sure what the source rate was in 1994, but toward the end it was 256 MP3 IIRC.

 

[Ben Jenssen]

"Boston - More than a feeling (1976) Side 1.wav" around 5:35, between "people live" and "in a competition"
(CD version resampled to 48k and volume matched)

I just did a new one of the Boston album, with my new MC preamp, calibrated anti-scating, and newest settings on the Declicker, and mc cartridge broken in. Let me know if you think it's better.

Platearkiv - Google Drive

drive.google.com

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

It wasn't processed to "make it sound better" in any way, at least not from the source. The operator likely transcoded it to rather low bitrate AC3. Not sure what the source rate was in 1994, but toward the end it was 256 MP3 IIRC.

This ship sailed a long time ago, but at the time I compared it's output with that of a vinyl record via an RTA (which is what I had at the time) - the lower mids were about ten db down compared to the record. I had to wait until a song came on that I had in my collection and put it on the turntable to do an apples to apples comparison, and the RTA showed what I was hearing - thin sound with no body. My recollection is that lossy compression at the time had a flat frequency response, which was obtained by allowing anomalies in the time domain. So, they must have been doing some kind of additional processing to make it sound "better".

 

[JP]

put it on the turntable to do an apples to apples comparison

Maybe a comparison, but there's not a universe where that's apple to apples, sorry.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

Maybe a comparison, but there's not a universe where that's apple to apples, sorry.

The point is that anything with frequency response that bad is basically broken. I didn't need test equipment to tell me that.

 

[Subob]

It may be more convenient but streaming isn't for everyone and it's not the same thing as having a copy of your own personal records and enjoying the nostalgia of handling the sleeve and looking at the pics/ reading the sleeve notes

People would also do well to remember that an album you put in your downloads on a streaming platform today, may be gone tomorrow.

 

[Balle Clorin]

I really do not understand the point of using time money and effort to digitise hundreds or thousands or records.
Get Tidal and stream the music if you want it digital,you can even burn a USB/CD from steaming and use it in the car. Play the vinyl records when you want to listen to vinyl.

 

[Ben Jenssen]

I really do not understand the point of using time money and effort to digitise hundreds or thousands or records.
Get Tidal and stream the music if you want it digital, play the vinyl records when you want to listen to vinyl.

Dear Balle. I'm using some money on Ortofon MC x10 and a MC/RIAA stage, I used much less on a used turntable. This way, I have wonderful SQ, and each time I listen to records, I hit rec on a simple app on my mac. This way, I can eventually some day enjoy all that music, and share it, without bothering with the turntable. I get a wonderful analog warmth and punch, and also iZotope Declicker software does a fantastic job of removing clicks caused by scratches.

And, I'm retired, so I have lots of time on my hands.

Have you had a listen to 'Platearkiv' on my Googledrive? The best quality are the ones with modification date in the last couple of weeks. I'll be redoing the earlier ones, although they aren't awful. Some scandinavian material there too.

 

[rwtooley]

I really do not understand the point of using time money and effort to digitise hundreds or thousands or records.
Get Tidal and stream the music if you want it digital,you can even burn a USB/CD from steaming and use it in the car. Play the vinyl records when you want to listen to vinyl.

could've just stopped there to be honest, you'd have sAvEd tImE. derp

 

[mike70]

and i don't understand why people thinks that everyone must do / be in the same way than herself

if we talk about science, math ... normally there's not much space to be right / wrong ... but life is so colorful and open when we're talking about what people likes or wants, and i celebrate that.

 

[Subob]

and i don't understand why people thinks that everyone must do / be in the same way than herself

if we talk about science, math ... normally there's not much space to be right / wrong ... but life is so colorful and open when we're talking about what people likes or wants, and i celebrate that.

It's a tendency that goes with scientific arrogance in my experience. But of course, YMMV

 

[SKBubba]

I used AT-LP120USB and Vinyl Studio to record 200+ albums. Excellent results. Vinyl Studio makes tagging and cleanup brain dead simple.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

I have a fair number of vinyl LPs that simply are not available on CD, streaming, etc. If I want to hear them, I have to find them, clean them, put them on a turntable, and then put them away each time. Or I can digitize them and do this once. Seems like an easy decision.

If the record is available for download somewhere for some reasonable amount of money, I'll probably just download it. I'm probably weeks or months away from starting this project in earnest, although I did find some things on bandcamp that I've already downloaded. Once I get started I'll subscribe to Tidal and see what they have. Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.

 

[AndyMorris]

* how is the status for public domain stuff ? Can you share a 78 record ?

It depends if you are in the USA or Europe. Grok: USA 100 yrs plus, EU 70 yrs

 

[Balle Clorin]

Dear Balle. I'm using some money on Ortofon MC x10 and a MC/RIAA stage, I used much less on a used turntable. This way, I have wonderful SQ, and each time I listen to records, I hit rec on a simple app on my mac. This way, I can eventually some day enjoy all that music, and share it, without bothering with the turntable. I get a wonderful analog warmth and punch, and also iZotope Declicker software does a fantastic job of removing clicks caused by scratches.

And, I'm retired, so I have lots of time on my hands.

Have you had a listen to 'Platearkiv' on my Googledrive? The best quality are the ones with modification date in the last couple of weeks. I'll be redoing the earlier ones, although they aren't awful. Some scandinavian material there too.

How can I listen to your google drive?

 

[krabapple]

It wasn't processed to "make it sound better" in any way, at least not from the source. The operator likely transcoded it to rather low bitrate AC3. Not sure what the source rate was in 1994, but toward the end it was 256 MP3 IIRC.

256p kbps mp3 should be more than adequately 'transparent' for most listeners on most material (i.e. unable to tell a difference in blind ABX, without applying forensic cheats) , assuming a decent encoder. I would predict other difference was in play, if it really did sound like 'dogmeat'.

 

[krabapple]

This ship sailed a long time ago, but at the time I compared it's output with that of a vinyl record via an RTA (which is what I had at the time) - the lower mids were about ten db down compared to the record. I had to wait until a song came on that I had in my collection and put it on the turntable to do an apples to apples comparison, and the RTA showed what I was hearing - thin sound with no body. My recollection is that lossy compression at the time had a flat frequency response, which was obtained by allowing anomalies in the time domain. So, they must have been doing some kind of additional processing to make it sound "better".

It seems you were simply hearing a different mastering. Which isn't surprising. There's no reason to expect an album mastered for CD will sound the same as one mastered for vinyl. If not that, the streamer , for whatever reason, was applying their own EQ to the stream.