Ripping Vinyl - Tricks, advice...

[GOS]

Hey all....so I'm pretty new to ripping vinyl. My turntable has USB, and I can rip direct to Audacity. Probably that is a pretty normal start. Audacity has a bunch of features...but not sure which ones to use during and or after ripping.

I guess my first question is about the anti-click feature. So, when we have older albums that have a bit of clicking going on...not scratches, I guess.....but anywho. Do you all select the whole album, then select de-click? Or, do you focus on the quiet moments and hit those only? Pro's and cons? And, no matter which way you go - how do you set the limits?

I'd love some specific advice -

Finally - a little off topic, but regarding those clicks. IN most cases, are the clicks simply embedded dirt that a typical clean can't fix? If yes, will one of those bath type cleaners take care of all that? Worth it??

Thanks in advance!!

 

[skherbeck]

Hey all....so I'm pretty new to ripping vinyl. My turntable has USB, and I can rip direct to Audacity. Probably that is a pretty normal start. Audacity has a bunch of features...but not sure which ones to use during and or after ripping.

I guess my first question is about the anti-click feature. So, when we have older albums that have a bit of clicking going on...not scratches, I guess.....but anywho. Do you all select the whole album, then select de-click? Or, do you focus on the quiet moments and hit those only? Pro's and cons? And, no matter which way you go - how do you set the limits?

I'd love some specific advice -

Finally - a little off topic, but regarding those clicks. IN most cases, are the clicks simply embedded dirt that a typical clean can't fix? If yes, will one of those bath type cleaners take care of all that? Worth it??

Thanks in advance!!

One thing that I found works well if there are only a few clicks/pops here and there is to use Audacity, isolate the click, zoom in on it EXTREMELY close, select the click, "cut" it out of the wave, and use "repair" on the remaining ends. (This technique isn't useful when the rip is filled with tons of pops and crackles, though). Not sure how to use the de-click feature (I can never get it to work successfully!)

 

[Simon A]

Gene, I use Audacity for my needledrops and I'm very happy with the result. I use the 96/24 setting and I tend not to de-click but rather I choose to clean the records before doing the transfers. I invite you to look at the Spin Clean kit as it's a cheap way to clean records and it works like a charm. There a bunch of clips on YouTube about it. It will change your life. Have fun!

 

[ssully]

The best ripping/click cleanup software I've used is Wave Repair

http://www.delback.co.uk/wavrep/

 

[0tto]

i've been thru this several years back. after trying plenty of different appz i stopped and now would recommend you ClickRepair.
seems still the best in its category - lightweight, fast, adjustable "on the fly" in real time and gives very good result.

 

[fredblue]

Is this it?

http://www.clickrepair.net/noise/intermittent_noise.html

Can I run 4 x SQ-decoded channels thru Click Repair?

Is it safe to run SQ-encoded 2 channel thru it first before decoding?

 

[0tto]

yes Adam, it is app i have recommended.
if i understand correctly your question, then not 4 channel but rather 2 stereo pair separately.
yes, it's safe to clean recording without impact on the matrix encoding. in fact i had noticed it's
even better to remove clicks before decoding as they have impact on final result of decoding.

 

[steelydave]

I think ClickRepair is an important tool in digital restoration of vinyl, but you can't underestimate the difference that having really clean vinyl will make in the quality of your transfers. Put it this way: I'd rather spend an hour deep cleaning a record than manually declicking it in software afterwards. It's like if you're scanning a photographic negative - a negative that was cleaned so it was dust-free to start with is most likely going to look better than one that had to be manually digitally dust-busted in Photoshop, and in the long run it's probably going to save you time and aggravation. There are many methods to clean vinyl from the $75 Spin-Clean to the $650 VPI 16.5 to the $5 TiteBond II wood glue trick. Personally I think the wood glue one is great because it lifts dirt out rather than trying to force it out via washing or rubbing, but it's probably the kind of thing you want to be confident with doing before you start putting glue on any of your valuable records.

 

[Franklin]

One thing that I found works well if there are only a few clicks/pops here and there is to use Audacity, isolate the click, zoom in on it EXTREMELY close, select the click, "cut" it out of the wave, and use "repair" on the remaining ends. (This technique isn't useful when the rip is filled with tons of pops and crackles, though). Not sure how to use the de-click feature (I can never get it to work successfully!)

Don't cut out the click, just repair it as is. Why lose small sections of music?

 

[Franklin]

I'd echo the advice of cleaning the record first, that can make a huge difference. Try to find a peak point on the record and allow yourself around 3dB from there just in case. Also if you're taking USB out from the pre-amp find out what rate it is sending out. If it's sending out at 16/44.1 and you're taking it in at 24/96 you could introduce additional clicks from clocking errors.

Lastly, aside from zooming in and repairing clicks, Audacity's declicking is pretty bad and I've not managed to find a balance between removing clicks effectively and hurting the sound. Audition 3's click repair is much better, and free if you've got the software (can it still be downloaded?) The click repair app listed above is very good, but bear in mind over cooking the declick (not just in this app) can effect horns and synths in a strange way.

 

[seilerbird]

I used Adobe Audition to remove clicks. Zooming in a removing a few milliseconds and the click is gone. You cannot hear the few milliseconds that are gone. You have to remove over 15 milliseconds before it becomes noticeable and even then you have to be aware something was removed and be listening for it to actually hear it. AA has a really good click and pop eliminator too for really nasty records.

 

[0tto]

I think ClickRepair is an important tool in digital restoration of vinyl, but you can't underestimate the difference that having really clean vinyl will make in the quality of your transfers. Put it this way: I'd rather spend an hour deep cleaning a record than manually declicking it in software afterwards. It's like if you're scanning a photographic negative - a negative that was cleaned so it was dust-free to start with is most likely going to look better than one that had to be manually digitally dust-busted in Photoshop, and in the long run it's probably going to save you time and aggravation. There are many methods to clean vinyl from the $75 Spin-Clean to the $650 VPI 16.5 to the $5 TiteBond II wood glue trick. Personally I think the wood glue one is great because it lifts dirt out rather than trying to force it out via washing or rubbing, but it's probably the kind of thing you want to be confident with doing before you start putting glue on any of your valuable records.

that's pretty obvious, before digitize the LP, good cleaning of it won't hurt.
problem arises when LP's itself 40+ y.o. quadraphonic which has seen better days and
now hasn't have alternatives for replacement. i have quite a bunch of such. if classical
for most part still in good shape, the pop... oh well, i guess even real snake oil wouldn't
help them to become new again

 

[ssully]

There are many methods to clean vinyl from the $75 Spin-Clean to the $650 VPI 16.5 to the $5 TiteBond II wood glue trick. .

Everything old is new again. Many years ago, in the vinyl era, there was a goopy product you would smear over your records, let dry, and peel off. Tried it once and it kinda worked, except you had to use *a lot* of goop or some of it would remain stuck to the record as a thin film, and you'd have to wash it off with water.

Anyway.

 

[ssully]

Apparently there's a new version

http://recordrevirginizer.com/about.html

 

[atrocity]

+1 for the SpinClean and for ClickRepair.

While cleaning is always an important first step, some records will always be noisy and post-production is your only useful option.

The biggest problem with ClickRepair (and, no doubt, anything else performing the same function) is that it's highly dependent on the music or possibly on the specific interaction between the music and the noise removal software. Or, in English, sometimes it does a spectacular job and other times it audibly ruins the music. The most important thing is to actually listen to it in real time so you know exactly what it's doing. And for any serious recording project, I always use headphones to minimize any other distractions.

ClickRepair is also very adjustable, so the fact that it causes damage at its default settings doesn't mean that it won't be useful when dialled back a bit.

Sometimes I wind up cutting single songs into multiple pieces and processing each piece separately. For example, you can often get away with using ClickRepair with everything maximized on quiet fade-ups or fade-outs. But those same settings will destroy louder passages. I used to do fast fadeouts at the end of an outgoing track and fast fadeups at the beginning of an incoming track but lately find that just isolating the inter-track section and running it through ClickRepair fully cranked-up calls less attention to itself.

A year or so back I digitized the 12" version of ZZ Top's "Legs". ClickRepair's default settings worked perfectly right up until the beginning of the vocal, which it then tried to obliterate. I just wound up noise-reducing everything up to before the start of the vocal and leaving the rest alone.

The biggest problem I have with digitizing vinyl is that once I get into trying to really clean it up, it can eat the better part of a day just to do a single LP.

I think I'm a minority in this, but I also prefer using dedicated digital recorders like a Roland R-05 to trying to make it all work on the computer. Once the recorder captures it, I just copy the WAV file into the computer and work on it there.

 

[kap'n krunch]

+2 for ClickRepair..you'll even get your questions answered by its creator, Brian Davies..Lovely chap...
I personally just use distilled water to physically clean it...
I have a "new" brown discwasher brush , a CLASSIC black Discwasher brush and kimwipes
My method:

-clean the dust with the brown DW brush
-spray some water and clean it with the BLACK DW brush
-wipe with Kimwipes
-spray AGAIN and wipe it with KimWipes..
--voilà!!!

 

[fredblue]

what I like to do is, pour a nice long gin and tonic, put on some barry white (from a CD of course, no errant crackles can be allowed to interfere with the walrus of love's dulcet tones during the process), dim the lights, put the surgical gloves on, smear baby oil all over.. oh hang on.. cleaning records you say?

 

[kap'n krunch]

what I like to do is, pour a nice long gin and tonic, put on some barry white (from a CD of course, no errant crackles can be allowed to interfere with the walrus of love's dulcet tones during the process), dim the lights, put the surgical gloves on, smear baby oil all over.. oh hang on.. cleaning records you say?

Barry White huh????
I TOTALLY understand you!!!!
and ..if IIRC, yes it was about CLEANING Vinyl....
anda one anda two....