Newbie questions re: creating system for digitizing vinyl

[matejcek]

I want to transfer my old vinyl to a digital format. I may also want to save CDs the same way.

 

I was originally daunted by the task, but I think most of it will be pretty easy. I can't find my '60s Garard turntable, but I've got a similar vintage Sansui SR1050E that should do the job (assuming the belt is intact.). I was thinking that I'd have to get some sort of pre-amp – but my Scott 490 should serve.

 

I've got a PC that I'm refurbishing for the job. It's got an Intel Pentium D (2.66 Ghz dual core) on an Intel D945GCCR motherboard. It's probably got 2 GB of RAM. I'm adding a 256 GB SSD, and I'll probably reinstall the 1 TB hard drive that was in it. I think it's got a ¼ TB hard drive, as well. It has DVD and CD writers. Magically, the power supply smoked just when I completed the new build that's taking its place, so I've got a new, beefy PSU for it.

 

My intention is for the PC to be headless, and silent. It will sit in the living room, and if it isn't quiet, my wife will throw it out a window. Toward that end I'm trying to replace the CPU cooler with an ultra-quiet one, and I've run into some nuisance challenges -- all solvable, I think.

 

I have a couple of immediate questions (below). I sincerely hope that it's OK to post them all here in one place, rather than trying to find the right forum niche...

 

 

Is the D945GCCR motherboard up to the task? The codec is a RealTek ALC883. That seems like a pretty sophisticated chip – but if I recall correctly, the board does not take full advantage of its features.

 

Any reason to prefer WindowsXP or Ubuntu 14.04? I increasingly detest Microsoft, and I'm mostly using Ubuntu Linux. I have some experience with Audacity from a long time ago; I believe that it now runs on both platforms, plus iOS. I have not quite figured out how I'm going to coordinate dropping the needle onto the LP and starting recording with a headless system, when the controlling system will be 40 feet away in another room. But I think I can just start recording, drop the needle, and then later trim out the dead air with Audacity.

 

My old turntable has a Stanton 500 cartridge. I have heard that there are two types of 500s: 'old' and 'new.' Since mine is from the '60s or '70s, I'm thinking that it's the old style. Remembering the '60s and '70s as best I'm able, I'll have to assume the needle – oops sorry – the stylus is trashed. The stylus carrier has a red rectangle on a black body. The Sansui documentation says to use a 0.5 mm diamond spherical stylus at 2 grams. Am I likely to find a new stylus for the old Stanton 500 cartridge?

 

Is there consensus on how to clean vinyl? Specifically, to clean vinyl without having to take out a mortgage. I won't be purchasing a $1500 device for cleaning. And I'd rather not use spit and the elbow of my shirt (though that's probably how I cleaned them when the were new...) Can I wash them with detergent and rinse them thoroughly? Somebody is probably going to point me to some pre-existing thread. It would not be my preference to study this extensively and try to make a decision – though I'm pretty sure I won't be using wood glue. (I thought it was a joke. It was serious, wasn't it?)

 

What's the best format to store the files once the are on the PC? I've got a feeling that may be tantamount to a religious question, but I'm going to have to pick something, and I don't know how.

 

To anybody who has made it this far: Thank you! I'll be grateful for any tips anyone wants to share. I'm hoping that I won't need my anti-flamethrower asbestos underwear...

 

Paul in East Troy WI

[iago]

Hi Paul,

 

First a remark about procedure: you would use a completely different approach for transferring CDs than you would use for your vinyl. CDs can be read using one of your CD /DVD readers (check that they are still working; mine break after some years - independent of use). Check out dbPoweramp and Exact Audio Copy. Both are Windows programs but can be installed and used via Wine under Linux.

 

I would advise you to get an analog to digital converter and not use the built-in audio solution of your computer. Especially on an older main board the quality is lacking. Steinberg UR22 came up recently on this site and looks like a decent, not too expensive solution; though I believe this one does not run under Linux yet. Completely compatible interfaces are quite rare; UAC2 compliant devices normally should work, but not all functionality is accessible.

 

Audacity works very well for recording, tagging, and cutting the vinyl tracks. The software is available under Linux and Windows. Dedicated solutions for vinyl processing (including RIAA conversion) exist. [1]

 

Playback and recording of audio is not too resource consuming, so your existing computer should be up to the task. Personally I prefer separate devices for ripping, recording and playback, but this is just convenience. For an integrated ripping and playback solution, you could take a look at, for example, OpenMediaVault.

 

As to cleaning: I use

1,5% medical cleaner [2],

15% 2-Propanol, [3]

83,5% aqua bidest

 

as a cleaning solution; rinsing afterwards with

20% 2-Propanol,

80% aqua bidest

 

If you have only a moderate number of dirty records, a commercial solution might be a better idea. If you want to clean records by hand, get a decent brush (carbon fibre or microfiber) and lots of microfiber cloth [4]. A semi-automatic alternative is the spin-clean record washer.

 

Regards,

-- iago

 

[1] For example Pure Vinyl

[2] Helipur H+N by Braun, you should find something equivalent locally

[3] Never, ever use alcoholic solutions on shellac records!

[4] Vinyl Engine should have detailed information about cleaning

[StephenJK]

I want to transfer my old vinyl to a digital format. I may also want to save CDs the same way.

 

snip....

 

Paul in East Troy WI

 

Paul,

 

We need more information. How many albums do you want to convert to a digital format? You mention CD's as well, but that's an entirely different (and much easier) process.

 

While I can comment on both, I'll focus on the LP's as CA doesn't have a lot of members who own turntables.

 

The number of albums that you have is the key question with respect to big round black things. Not only is the turntable and cartridge (both properly set up and aligned!) important so is the ADC that you intend to use to record your albums.

 

What level of quality are you finally looking for, something that will reveal every subtle nuance with accurate soundstage placement and positioning or basic music playback?

 

Meaning, what do you have invested in your sound system and what do you hope to achieve?

 

If you want to rip CD's that's easy to do but a bit time consuming. Recording and digitizing, or transcribing LP's is a much greater effort.

 

Consider ripping your CD's and perhaps having your LP's recorded by a service? Depending on how many you have, of course.

 

I've ripped about 800 CD's and have recorded and mastered around 900 LP's.

 

Ask questions and we will do our best to answer.

 

Edit: I save CD's as FLAC files with 16/14.4 compressed to level 5. LP's are saved in FLAC format as 24/96. File save format for folders and files is

Album Artist/Album/Artist-Track No.-Track Title

 

Spending some time on thinking about the file save type and structure ahead of time will potentially save you hundreds of hours of rework.

 

Many of us like using dBPoweramp to rip CD's, they use something they call AccurateRip to ensure that your results agree with their database of rips of the same title.

 

Hope this helps, Paul. It takes time to get your head around all this stuff.

 

As far as the LP chain goes, I'm currently using a Clearaudio Ovation turntable with a Universal tonearm and Dynavector Te Kaitora MC cartridge. That goes through an Audio Research PH5 phono preamp to an Audio Research LS25 preamp. Recording is with a modified Korg MR-2000S digital recorder at 1 bit/5.66 MHz. Cleaning is with a VPI 16.5 RCM. Mastering is with VinylStudio.

[esldude]

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f8-general-forum/improving-ripped-vinyl-quality-budget-27012/index2.html

 

Here is a recent thread with good info for you. Fellow was even using a Scott299D for his phono.

 

In post #27 is a vinyl rip using his computer sound card and Scott. I posted quite rightly in #28 that it sounded yucky. In post #41 is a link to his first attempt once he got the very affordable UR22 external ADC. A tremendous improvement.

 

Now here is a suggestion for powerful quiet affordable computer. I have one and have setup a few for others.

 

Robot Check

 

This is a Lenovo desktop server. $249 with 4 gb of ram. ($50 more for 8 gb) I do think your plan to use only 2 gb is while workable going to be an issue at times. You'll be much better off with at least 4 gig.

 

This is your old full size desktop so maybe not small enough for your plans. One big plus is these are very, very quiet. They have several fans that run very slowly. They are dead silent from about 12 inches away. They use a low wattage CPU which is still fairly powerful. You get a DVD drive, but no hard drive. All you need add is a hard drive (which you have) and an OS. This case has abundant room for connecting many hard drives internally. It has something like 6 USB 3.0 ports which might be important for transferring as well as two display ports. Finally the built in sound card is much quieter than is the norm. Not audiophile quality quiet, but you never get audibly obvious bleed through related to computer operations and the noise floor is pretty good. Works up to 192/24 as well. If this looks interesting keep in mind this uses server type memory and if you think you want 8 gig down the road it might be worthwhile to get it up front.

 

Now regardless of the above, if you are interested in really good quality recording of vinyl, an external interface like someone suggested is going to be much better than internal sound cards on motherboards. As you can hear for yourself in the links from that other thread.

 

If it were a choice of using the computer you have parts for and the one I suggested above sound quality will be much better with your computer and spending a bit for the UR22 ADC.

[wkhanna]

no intent on spoiling the party....but keep this in mind....

 

assuming you are digitizing a significant number of LP's consider the amount time you will be investing. last thing you want is to get part-way thru or finished and then determine your vinyl rig & analog-to-digital converter (ADC) did not deliver the sound quality you expect or want.

 

a good ADC/ a good cartridge (properly aligned), with a speed-stable turntable are minimum requirements, imho.

 

you only want to do this once if you can help it.

 

for ripping CD's, I prefer dBpoweramp using flac files.

 

for ripping vinyl, you may want to consider Vinyl Studio

 

for effective cleaning of a stack of LP's on a budget, this Spin Clean unit fits the bill with either home-brew on commercial cleaners

[CR250]

You should be able to que (record/pause) your recording software like a cassette deck. Then get a wireless keyboard/trackpad and bring it with you to the TT. That will allow you to drop the needle and hit play immediately.

[StephenJK]

You should be able to que (record/pause) your recording software like a cassette deck. Then get a wireless keyboard/trackpad and bring it with you to the TT. That will allow you to drop the needle and hit play immediately.

 

If you use a software program such as VinylStudio it will recognize the needle drop and start the recording.

[CR250]

If you use a software program such as VinylStudio it will recognize the needle drop and start the recording.

 

I was responding to this in the OP.

 

"I have not quite figured out how I'm going to coordinate dropping the needle onto the LP and starting recording with a headless system, when the controlling system will be 40 feet away in another room. But I think I can just start recording, drop the needle, and then later trim out the dead air with Audacity."

[StephenJK]

I was responding to this in the OP.

 

"I have not quite figured out how I'm going to coordinate dropping the needle onto the LP and starting recording with a headless system, when the controlling system will be 40 feet away in another room. But I think I can just start recording, drop the needle, and then later trim out the dead air with Audacity."

 

Yeah, it can be easy to lose track of what's going on. I would never recommend Audacity. It's just not the right thing for mastering vinyl. Many of us use VinylStudio, it's a great program at a good price and works extremely well. I use Audacity to make ring tones for my wife's phone, that's about it.

[Jabs1542]

+1 for VinylStudio

[dtc]

Vinyl Studio is the way to go over Audacity. Audacity allows adding lots of effects but is not really set up for vinyl. Vinyl Studio has a very nice work flow and it is one of few, or maybe the only package, that do look up of album detail from multiple sources, including discogs. That saves a lot of time. It also does hum, hiss, click repair, etc. It is only $29 but do not let that scare you off. It is a fine program.

 

As to conversion, there are 2 different approaches to using external A to D converters. You can either save the digital file to a drive in the A to D or the A to D can hook directly to a PC through usb. I prefer the former approach because it eliminates any issues with usb timing and noise. You can also use your PC for other work, like cleaning up another album with Vinyl Studio, while you are recording to the disk. Given your distance issues, this might be a good option. These systems either use a removable disk (flash) or have a usb to connect to the PC just for transferring files.

 

There are all sorts of price ranges depending on the quality of your turntable and the quality you want for the final product. At the low end you can us something like a Tascam DR-5, a handheld portable recorder that will record up to 96/24 - under $100.. The TASCAM DR-60DmkII is also an option and at least one person has reported excellent results with it - $200. Both record to a SD card that can then be removed and moved to a PC to copy the files. The big brother of those is the Tascam DA-3000 ($1,000) which goes to 192/24 and does DSD.

 

For usb mode recorders there is the HRT line streamer ($350), although you have to be careful with that since it does not allow the signal level to be varied. It can overload some systems. The Korg DS-DAC-10R ($700 I believe) is a new product and works with its AudioGate software, although you still need Vinyl Studio for track lookup and cleanup. The Benchmark ADC1 ($1,800) and the Ayre QA9 ($3,500 I believe) are higher priced options.

 

There are, of course, other options but those are some of the common ones. As a starting point, the entry level Tascam's may be a good option. If they are not good enough for you, can you return them. Either would probably be much better than your internal sound card, which can be noisy and not that precise.

 

The most common format on Windows is flac. On Apple you can use ALAC. Yes, format can become a religious issue, but start there and see how you like it. You should try recording at both 44KHz/16bits (CD quality) and 96KHz/24 bits and compare the sound. You will need an external DAC to play them. Some of the more expensive A to D converters also have a DAC, but they can be cumbersome to use.

 

For cleaning, you might look at the Spin Dry ($75). It is an inexpensive option for normal cleaning. Sounds like you are not into a $4,000 ultrasonic cleaner. But, for a few dollars each, you can send them off and have them professionally cleaned - e.g. RecordGenie.com

 

For reference, with Vinyl Studio, I can usually do a quick tag and cleanup in 15 to 30 minutes, assuming no real problems. But it can take up to several hours if there is a lot of damage on the disk that you want to remove.

[matejcek]

Wow. Thank you all for your responses. It's a wonderful thing to see people with passion for something come together, to support each other and also support novices who are looking for help.

 

I think it may be a week before I can respond properly – I'm leaving town for a few days. I hope that I have not wasted your time.

 

I'm old. As a musician (avocation, not profession), I appreciate accurate reproduction of many genres of music. But at 67, my ears are not as discerning as they once were. I don't know what one gives up with a less-than-ideal A to D converter. But I seem to be about to lose my job – the company is going under. I don't see a $150 ADC in my future, nor an $80 LP cleaner. I'm pretty sure I have to replace the sylus, and it would probably be dumb to not clean the discs. The discs in the complete works of John Philip Sousa set are probably nearly pristine. The early Grateful Dead, Doors, et cetera, could be rough.

 

I suppose I would do well to count the albums. It's not so many. I would be quite surprised if there were 200; there may not be 100. I'll look this evening.

 

My goal is to have ready access to more of the music that I love, to be able to easily listen to it at my desktop, in my car, and so forth. Once it's transferred, I imagine my bride will push hard to dispose of the LPs.

 

I also need to organize the music that is digital only – purchased downloads. I have quite a bit of ballroom dance music, having taken up social ballroom dancing at 60.

 

It's going to take me a while to digest the wealth of information you've given me. I'm obviously 'out of my league' here! Meanwhile, I'd love to hear any thoughts about finding a stylus for that old Stanton cartridge.

 

Curiosity question, not germane to my project: Does anybody use 'crystal cartridges' anymore, for anything? I would guess they are not very useful except as museum pieces or curios.

 

Thank you again for your kind support!

 

Paul in WI

[dtc]

Another recording cleaning option - steam.

 

BISSELL® Steam Shot™ Hard Surface Cleaner - BedBathandBeyond.com

 

It really does work.

[dtc]

Not sure if this is the right one, but these guys may be able to help

 

D5100E Type Stylus for Stanton 500E etc - our Needle 820-DE

[bluesman]

My goal is to have ready access to more of the music that I love, to be able to easily listen to it at my desktop, in my car, and so forth.

Hi, Paul. If that's your goal, I think you're wasting your time ripping vinyl. I'm older than you and the proud owner of more than 1200 LPs of my own plus 200 or so of my family's original treasures, e.g. 1/4" thick 78s (some recorded only on one side) that include the first Stokowski recordings from 1918 or so. I also have my father's collection of Nat King Cole albums, my mother's show tunes in multidisc sets of 78s, my sister's and my 45s dating back to the early '50s, etc etc. I even have one recording of Rachmaninoff with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Stokowski (from 1924 as I recall).

 

All my own records are clean and in excellent shape, although the old ones from my family are not so clean. I bought a SpinClean when they first came out, and it works fine - but cleaning records takes time, and it's amazing how much dirt-generated background noise remains even after multiple spins. Cleaning and ripping vinyl albums well is VERY labor intensive. So I decided after doing only a few that I'd enjoy my records when I'm in the mood to play with them, and listen to the same content in digital form when I'm not (which is much of the time).

 

Almost everything in my collection (or a listenable alternative version) can be found on Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, or some other free or low cost streaming service. They may only be garden variety mp3s, but the sound quality from a well played 20+ year old record is also less than perfect. So I'm not unhappy with the combo of streams for general listening and records when I'm in the mood. And almost everything is available on CD, with older works in many genres now out on low cost labels - so if you have something on old vinyl that you particularly like to listen to, you can probably find it on a $6 CD.

 

Yes, I did rip all 1000+ CDs in my collection and I listen most often to those FLACs. But CDs were a lot easier to do than vinyl, and even so it took me many months doing a few every night. For me, that effort was well worth it. But ripping vinyl required too much effort for too little return, in my opinion and experience.

 

As for crystal cartridges, they're still available in very limited supply but have almost no utility. First, I don't think there was ever a stereo version, and I don't see how one could be made given the nature of the element. Second, crystal phono cartridges are inherent low pass filters - they boost bass and cut treble, and each different stylus/crystal design does so nonlinearly with a different response curve. As they put out relatively huge signals (up to a volt+), no voltage amplification stage (i.e. "preamplifier") was necessary - so there was no RIAA equalization. The inherent properties do form a very rough approximation of an RIAA playback curve, but they simply don't sound very good because 78s are pre-RIAA. Each label used its own EQ curve, and there was no compensation in playback except the cartridge's inherent one - so there's no consistency anyway. I'm pretty sure you can still buy a few new Astatic models.

 

David

[coleb13]

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is whether you will be satisfied just to capture the sound coming from your turntable or if you will want to edit the result to remove unwanted noise, crackles, pops, etc. I found I wasn't satisfied with CDs and digital files that sounded like scratchy records and I wanted them to sound more like the CDs I was buying. The editing process can add even more time to the task, to the point at which digitizing a record really becomes a labor of love. I would echo the suggestion that you look to purchase a download or CD instead of investing your time in trying to convert your records, unless you happen to have some beloved rare recordings that never were available in any other form (or you are particularly interested in trying your hand at the digitizing process.)

[richardp01]

I have similar questions to the original post. I would like to rip my vinyl albums (maybe 50 to 100) to 24/96 flac files. I downloaded Audacity and ripped a streaming file to try it out. It seems straight forward and looks like it will do the job. I found devices called USB Audio Interfaces that will convert A to D and stream to a computer over a USB connection. One that looks promising is a Steinberg UR22. It has two line inputs and will convert up to 24/192 resolution. My questions are:

1. Will this setup actually work as simply as I think it will?

2. Is recording an album in good condition at 24/96 resolution worth it? Will I be able to hear any difference between that and 16/44?

3. Is a $150 interface going to produce a high quality conversion that will justify recording at 24/96 resolution? Or will it take a higher quality A to D converter?

 

I would appreciate answers based on actual experience rather than theory. I have a Harmon Kardon CD recorder that I have used to rip CDs from some of my vinyls. The CD's sound good but AB comparisons show the CD's are a little bit inferior to the vinyls. This could be due to poor A to D conversion or low 16/44 resolution. I believe my cartridge and preamp have sufficient quality to get a better recording. I could just set up the system described above and make some test recordings to find out the answers to my questions, but I am hoping someone has already done something similar and can provide the answers.

[bluesman]

1. Will this setup actually work as simply as I think it will?

2. Is recording an album in good condition at 24/96 resolution worth it? Will I be able to hear any difference between that and 16/44?

3. Is a $150 interface going to produce a high quality conversion that will justify recording at 24/96 resolution? Or will it take a higher quality A to D converter?

1. Yes

2. For some albums you may hear a difference - I don't think it's worth the storage space

3. Yes. I've used several inexpensive ADCs made for home studio use and been happy with the sound quality. The mechanical quality can leave something to be desired, so buy one whose case, connectors etc feel solid.

[dtc]

I have similar questions to the original post. I would like to rip my vinyl albums (maybe 50 to 100) to 24/96 flac files. I downloaded Audacity and ripped a streaming file to try it out. It seems straight forward and looks like it will do the job. I found devices called USB Audio Interfaces that will convert A to D and stream to a computer over a USB connection. One that looks promising is a Steinberg UR22. It has two line inputs and will convert up to 24/192 resolution. My questions are:

1. Will this setup actually work as simply as I think it will?

2. Is recording an album in good condition at 24/96 resolution worth it? Will I be able to hear any difference between that and 16/44?

3. Is a $150 interface going to produce a high quality conversion that will justify recording at 24/96 resolution? Or will it take a higher quality A to D converter?

 

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. So here is a too long answer.

 

1. Yes and no. For albums that do not need a lot of cleanup or if you are OK with some noise, the process is pretty straightforward. Scratches that go across an album are pretty easy to fix. Scratches that go parallel to a track can be very hard to fix. If you are want to fix them, it can be very time consuming and occasionally this type of damage simply can not be easily repaired. In addition, on some albums, especially live albums, it can be hard to cleanly separate tracks. There is just no clean cutoff and startup. That can take some time. Sometimes I do not even try and simply label the combines tracks with the two different track names. And, for tagging and track timings, I would suggest Vinyl Studio can save a lot of time over Audacity.

 

2) Yes and no. It depends on your setup, you expectations and your ears. I definitely hear a difference between 16/44 and 24/96 on most albums. But that depends both on the A to D and on your digital playback system. Some people are very happy with 16/44. If your digitized files are inferior to you vinyl, should try 24/96 and even 24/192. My wife, with her bat like hearing, picks out 16/44 is about 2 seconds. Others say they cannot hear a difference. Incidentally, a wife with bat like hearing is a good thing if you want to constantly upgrade your system

 

3) Once again, it depends. I originally tried using the sound card in my PC and the results were not very good. A dedicated A to D made a huge difference, but I also purchased a more expensive unit (Korg MR-2000). But, once again depending on your playback system, a better A to D will make a difference. In another recent discussion, one poster had a definite preference for the $1,800 Berkeley ADC1 over the $1,000 Tascam DA-3000. Others think the Tascam produces results almost identical to their analog setup. I have not used the Steinberg, so this is theoretical. It uses usb power from the PC, which can be noisy and not very stable. It also requires a hookup to a computer, which can take the PC out of use when recording. The Tascam handhelds I mentioned above are battery powered and write to a removable flash drive. But you would have to try each to decide. Fortunately, you can usually get them from a place that allows returns.

 

A few other issues to know about, in no particular order.

 

When recording to 24/96 or 24/192 you are likely to have increasing, although low level, noise above 50 KHz or so. You should filter that out of the file or on playback.

 

To get your analog and digital signals to sound the same, you need a DAC that matches your analog setup. DACs are getting better and better, but they do sound different, even at high prices. One of my early issues was a DAC that just did not have the detail of my analog setup. A new DAC fixed that problem Without the new DAC I am not sure I ever would have been happy with the digitized files.

 

A digitized file can actually sound better than the original. People will disagree, but that is my experience. First, getting out the obvious clicks makes a difference. But, also reducing hiss can be a big difference, especially on quiet passages. People often say the do not want to damage the underlying music and I understand that. It is very possible for corrections to make it sound worse. But, the clicks and hiss have already damaged the original music. If you are concerned, you can make the corrections only on select parts of a track, but that does take more time.

 

I do most of my my cleanup using headphones. You will hear a lot more distortion with a decent pair of headphones than with your speakers. But you also may want a better DAC and speakers than come with a PC. I use an HRT Streamer DAC, some decent monitors, and an old amp. Since you are listening for distortion not the final music, they setup does not have to be as good as you playback system. For albums that I do not care so much about, I do the cleanup just using the speakers. Of course I use the setup to listen to music when on the computer. The powered AudioEngine speakers can also be nice if you do not have a lot of extra equipment hanging around like I do.

 

DSD is all the rage with some people these days. It requires a special A to D and a DAC that handles it. The main drawback is that you cannot edit the format. The only way to clean up the audio is to convert to PCM, which defeats the purpose. So, I would leave DSD to the professionals who access to original material, unless you want to faithfully reproduce all the noise on your albums.

 

Give Vinyl Studio a try - only $29.

 

Good luck.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Here are a couple articles from the CA Academy written by Mitch.

 

Computer Audiophile - Guide to Converting Analog Vinyl to Digital Files Using Macintosh

 

Computer Audiophile - Guide to Converting Analog Vinyl To Digital Files Using Windows

[dtc]

Here is another example of work flow, using Vinyl Studio. I know I sound like a salesman, but I am just a happy user. This is a bunch of screen shots with short commentary, but it shows the process. Be sure to click on the drill down at each stage. I find the process easy to use and the click repair is less expensive than using iZotope. The album/tract lookup is very valuable.

 

VinylStudio - Features and Screenshots

 

Chris - It would be nice to have an article like Mitch did using Vinyl Studio.

[blownsi]

I have digitized more than 1000 albums using a program called Magix Audio Cleaning Lab. I bought it years ago at the Circuit City closing sale for a buck. I actually prefer it to several competitors that I've tried. Anyhow, I have gotten significantly better results when starting out with a higher resolution for the actual recording and editing. Then downsampling to CD or even 320k MP3 vs just making the original recording at the final resolution desired. I would highly recommend this approach regardless of software.

[richardp01]

Wow! I posted my questions last night and I wake up with two very cogent responses and even more that follow. I appreciate the advice about work flow. Fifty to one hundred albums is obviously going to require a lot of time. The thought of having to split my computer time between final file processing and recording hadn't occurred to me, but I clearly see the value of recording on one device and processing on a second one so that both activities can occur simultaneously. Thanks so much to all of the above respondents for such good advice.

[dtc]

...Magix Audio Cleaning Lab...

 

New to me, but here you go

 

MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 2016

[blownsi]

New to me, but here you go

 

MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 2016

 

That's the one, my version is from around 2007 or so. Another software I heard alot about is Spin it Again so you can add that one to the list as well. I'm sure they all do about the same thing and the rest is just personal preference. I just cannot stand Pure Vinyl's strange interface that's supposed to simulate a record. Not sure if you can shut that off or not.