Whats the best way to digitise your vinyl?

[tocsin]

I dunno. I feel like we need more info. If the music otherwise sounds good being played through the speakers straight from the vinyl, I don't see how giving it an actual wash with anything is going to affect how it sounds digitally.

[RDR]

I dunno. I feel like we need more info. If the music otherwise sounds good being played through the speakers straight from the vinyl, I don't see how giving it an actual wash with anything is going to affect how it sounds digitally.

+1.. more info is always good. As for washing it, it gets rid of grease in the grooves and particles of dust and dirt, so thats a good thing right?

[TheRev]

+1.. more info is always good. As for washing it, it gets rid of grease in the grooves and particles of dust and dirt, so thats a good thing right?

Exactly. It's funny, when you are playing the files off computer and next to purely digital files, you notice it a lot more when there are little clicks, pops etc you might ignore if you were just playing straight vinyl.

Cleaning the vinyl keeps those to a minimum.

[MorePunkThanFunk]

Sounds expensive but sounds just right!

Also+1 for the TEPID (not warm henry... you could overdo that with disasterous consequences) + A small amount of washing up liquid... makes them vinyls sound good as new!!! Plus it looks mad as **** when your doing it.

also make sure it's PH neutral so i doesn't corrode the grooves, or so i've been told

[MorePunkThanFunk]

I dunno. I feel like we need more info. If the music otherwise sounds good being played through the speakers straight from the vinyl, I don't see how giving it an actual wash with anything is going to affect how it sounds digitally.

cleaner sound from the vinyl will give you a cleaner record on the digital front.

[tocsin]

Not denying that. But, I'd like a better description of the sound issue. If it sounds good going through the mixer, but sounds like shit recorded off that mixer onto the computer, it's not the cleanliness of the vinyl that's an issue.

[Symmetric]

I'll clean my records with denatured alcohol and a lint-free optical grade cloth...then record thru the A&H Xone 62 into my Presonus Firebox at 24bit 48kHz, normalize the file after and create 320kBps MP3 from that for the portable version (I retain both and use the .wav w/Serato or FS) Sounds great!

[MARK ANXIOUS]

Well what I tend to do if make sure EVERY element in the chain is as perfect as it can be. Let's start from the top (the very first point of contact):

Record: Cleaned with Surgical Spirit and one of those cotton wool pads
Needle + Cartridge: Shure N44-7 and M44-7
Deck: 1210
DJ Mixer: Allen and Heath Xone 64 (although Pioneer are perfect too)
Phono Cables: The BEST you can buy - try a studio cable specialist
Desk (although you can do without this and plug direct into card if you don't produce)
Soundcard: MOTU 828 MkII
Editor/Recorder: Soundforge

Now, once you have the PERFECT chain in place, it's all about levels. make sure at every point in the chain, the level is nice and hot to reduce noise. OK so on your DJ Mixer, make sure levels are at 0. On the Desk, again make sure everything peaks at 0.

Then check the input levels in Soundforge. Chances are they will be clipping, as a 0db analog signal from the analog Desk, gives you no chance of overshoots in the digital domain. OK, so pull the input level down, via the soundcard settings, so the signal peaks at like -2 db (this makes sure you dont clip if there are pops or glitches on the record)...

OK so hit record and let's get it into the computer!

Once it's in you can do all sorts of weird and wonderful tricks via tape plugins to make it sound a little more analog. I actually used to master everything I recorded in, to a certain sound, so that all my records would sound similar when I played a digital set, but these days I just can't be arsed/haven't got the time (ps if you do this, it's easy to make mistakes if you don't know the art of mastering entirely!)

You can now save as WAV or MP3. I used to save everything as WAV but tbh if you save the wav as 320 Kbps MP3, it's alot smaller and the difference in quality is practically impossible to tell.

OK well I hope that helps. The only thing then is to tag your files properly.

Good luck!

[Jay Pace]

If you are running final scratch/similar avoid recording through a dj mixer, just use the inbuilt preamps in the unit itself. Nearly all dj mixers will colour your sound.

Keep your signal chain as short and clean as possible, use good needles, clean records and the latest mp3 codecs.

[tots]

Wicked thread and all the info anyone could possibly need on this subject,has helped me no end.

[davethedrummer]

just throw them all on the floor and take a photo of them with your phone.

is that digital enough?

[dan the acid man]

just throw them all on the floor and take a photo of them with your phone.

is that digital enough?

only if you record it with the video recording function, then post it on youtube

[davethedrummer]

only if you record it with the video recording function, then post it on youtube

word!

[the_psychologist]

from my own experience, the best rips i ever got are with my Numark TTX-1 deck that has a digital coaxial out and Groovemaster II needles. i run the coaxial right into my firewire soundcard's coaxial input, and there is no perceptible loss in quality. the signal also seems to be just below clipping at all times, which may be a function of some digital trickery. best i could have hoped for, and the tracks sound huge when played out. as another poster wrote, the chain needs to add as little "color" as possible to the rips, and also come in as hot as possible without clipping. somehow, i lucked out with this deck and it did everything using a single cable and no mixer. i still have the deck around just for ripping.

unfortunately, i only ripped about 1/2 of my collection that way - the rest were done earlier, using a mediocre integrated soundcard's analogue input. deffo a step down, but the same deck was used and it has line-level analogue output that still does a good job.

also, i experimented with noise and click/pop removal, and (in some cases) got awesome results. Cooledit has noise reduction and click/pop filters built in, and you can fiddle with the settings to see what works for you. some old, worn Goa records came out sounding incredible, but sparser music had audible artifacts that ruined the deal.

[the_psychologist]

also, as Mark wrote, clean the records first. i have one of those brush/fluid systems that you hold on the record while it spins. at one point, i had a soldering bulb that i used to blow off any visible fibers that remained after the brush. yes, i was obsessed. but the beautiful result was worth it.

[the_psychologist]

now if you're REALLY looking for the best quality, sometimes old Acid compilation CDs are ****ing treasure troves of unmixed tunes. think of it this way - you're ripping your own vinyl, which may be 15 years old (or more) and has been played many times. when these old CDs (ie Sound of Acid Core - http://www.discogs.com/release/145426) were made, the records or DATs they used for the CDs were of nearly perfect quality. so they were basically set in stone, and never degraded. many of the tracks i've found this way sound much better than the vinyl releases due to lack of wear, direct lineage, not being affected by the vinyl's master/cut/surface noise, etc.. well worth having these CDs now that were in the digital age.

[davethedrummer]

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives...s_wonders.html


i've found it!
the ultimate!

[the_psychologist]

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives...s_wonders.html


i've found it!
the ultimate!

i bet that baby lacks pitch control! and you sure as shit can't scratch. such a funny idea in some ways, but i still want two.

[t-dj]

I use a similar chain that works well for me:
-Shure M97 HiFi Needle on Technics 1210
-Cambridge Audio 640P Phono Preamp (no DJ mixer)
-RME Multiface Soundcard
-Samplitude recording software

playing the resulting digital copy from CDR actually sounded better in clubs cause it avoided the bad needles/ inferior preamp stage, going straight to a line level channel.

[DirtyHard]

bit of washing up liquid and some warm water
always does the trick

and this wont do any harm to them ?