Thread: Advice on ripping tunes....

Later on today i'm grabbing a mates 1210's and his mixer, to rip mine and his vinyl. I've done this once befroe a few years back but done them all at 192 - went for quantity not quality.

I remember reading somewhere on here that Vista has trouble picking up stereo. Is this true?

Also looking for hints and tips about setup. Should i go mixer to PC or deck to PC or through the amp to PC? This will not be a permanent setup so i'm looking purely for the best rip quality. Also, are there any apps i can run it through to improve sound quality?

Any help greatly appreciated...

I wouldn't know about the stereo issue with Vista but personally I'd go from deck to mixer to PC. There's already a pretty helpfull thread here on this subject - viewtopic.php?f=173&t=11879

^^^^Cheers fella. Some top tips in there.

this was written by sadowitz at killawaves. proper handy little guide, covers all aspects of ripping


Vinyl Ripping: The Ultimate Guide

Foreword


The final sound quality of the rip is determined mainly by how well it was ripped in the first place, not by what codec you use to encode it, what format you save it as or how well you master it; if the initial rip is bad, there's little you can do to noticeably improve the sound quality. This guide is not intended to be interpreted as definite fact, it’s all speculative; if you feel you disagree with any part of it them of course disregard it and stick with what you are comfortable with. This guide has been written mainly for people who have had no previous ripping experience, or just don’t know how to rip properly(!), but of course it may prove to be informative for everyone. I will continually update this guide with more accurate information and more topics concerning record quality, basically, anything which will help improve the quality of record rips.



Set the Turntable Up Correctly


Firstly, and most importantly: Getting a good contact between the needle and the record. There are various procedures you must do to ensure that you are getting the optimum contact between the needle and the record.

* The first and probably most obvious thing to do would be to make sure that the needles you are using to do the rip are the best condition that they can be, ideally use new needles. The outcome of this will be that the needle will be more responsive and pick up all of the frequencies, and not result in the rips sounding “muffled” or “flat”. For best sound quality you should use “elliptical” needles. These are thinner than conical or spherical needles. Thinner needles result in them being more sensitive as they are able to read smaller variations on the groove (the higher frequencies) meaning a much more accurate rip, as a pose to wider needles which would not be able to get the higher frequencies.


* Make sure that you have the tonearm at the correct height so that the arm is parallel with the platter (with a record on it, otherwise this procedure is pointless) and that the needle is perpendicular to the vinyl. This will result in all the force of the tonearm being directed down squarely onto the needle, therefore a better contact resulting in the needle reading the record more accurately. If the arm is too high or low then the needle will not be perpendicular to the record which will result in the needle not functioning at its best.



In some cases the record may be scratched, or simply that the groove becomes very shallow causing the needle to come out of the groove. In this case, it might prove to be a better idea to elevate the tonearm several millimetres higher than is parallel to the record to keep the needle securely in the groove.

* Optimize the counterbalance on the tonearm to get the ideal pressure. As with most issues regarding the needle, good contact is essential to get a good rip. If the needle is too light then it will make the ripped audio sound “weak” and infirm. Consult the manual for your turntable which should give the ideal weight. If you haven’t got a manual to consult, the general weight you should be around is 2.5 grams.



* Set the anti-skating up correctly, i.e. no bias towards or away from the centre of the record. This will keep the channels evenly balanced as well as reducing the possibility of the needle coming out of the groove.



Once you have configured the contact between the needle and the record, there are several other things you must do.

* Ensure that the speed the turntable is rotating at is as accurate as you can possibly make it. Try and avoid ripping too slow or too quickly. You should be aiming at no more than ± 1 BPM of what the record should be.



* Make sure that you've set the EQ on the mixer to 0 for all frequency ranges, i.e. have no bass boost etc. - make the rip exactly as it is on the vinyl. Ignore anyone who suggests giving it more bass; the whole point of doing a rip is to replicate the vinyl as accurately as possible.



* Make sure you have the amplitude levels correct. The most common problem with rips is that they're either too quiet, or worse - too loud. Quiet rips are annoying for obvious reasons, and rips that are done too loudly distort and sound awful. Never let the waveform hit 0 db - ever. Let the maximum peak be around -1 db and/or the average peak around -3 db. If in doubt record it slightly quieter than what you feel the maximum should be. You can always adjust the amplitude later on the computer, although the less amplification needed, the better, as amplifying the rip will not only amplify the desired audio, but also hiss and clicks.



* Keep your turntable on a firm surface to avoid uneven rotation or jumping of the platter and needle. It is best to isolate the turntable from other vibrations. It is surprising how vibrations from a keyboard typing or placing objects onto the desk with the turntable on can interfere with the rip and be recorded with the music itself (I have encountered this problem with various rips from different sources, in which the sound of typing is audible in quieter parts of the recording).




The Record Itself



There are a few procedures that can be done to the record before ripping, some of which have relatively high risks of permanent damage to the record if done carelessly (but if done properly will result in highly beneficial restoration to the record):

* Cleaning


* Fixing scratches


* Flattening warps





Cleaning


Ideally you should use commercial cleaning fluids which can remove dirt on a microscopic level, but if you don’t have any of this to hand, or you don’t want to pay the expensive price for it, use distilled water which is easier and cheaper to obtain. Do not use tap water/bottled water as these contain minerals which can solidify in the grooves of the record. Use distilled water to rinse away any dirt from the record and thoroughly dry the record before playing.

If you feel you are capable of doing so, you can concoct your own cleaning fluids using isopropyl (a form of alcohol) mixed with distilled water and/or cleaning detergents. There are many different solutions that can be found on the internet for you to try (most based around the ingredients mentioned), or you could of course experiment at your own risk. Do not try using alcohols on acetate records; this would simply dissolve the record which means that it’s ruined. Only use (distilled) water to clean acetate records.

A simpler, but also effective method of cleaning a record is with a carbon brush. Put the record onto the turntable and let it rotate whilst gently resting the brush on the record and let the rotation of the record brush any fluff off whilst it simultaneously removes the static from the vinyl which would reduce feedback. Similarly, roller cleaners can be highly effective. The roller is slightly adhesive and will pick up any dirt from the record. The roller can then be washed and reused indefinitely. There is also a special kind of rubbery paste called “Discofol” which is smeared onto the record, left to solidify and is then peeled off, removing any dirt with it. However, Discofol is quite rare and may be difficult to obtain.




Scratches


Scratches are a common problem with records, and will make any rip sound quite bad. Unfortunately scratches are mostly irreparable, and as such, they can only really be dealt with in the post rip processing stage. However, if there is a click which makes the record incapable of being played fully without getting caught up in a loop or the needle coming out of the groove, then the only option is to attempt to fix the scratch. Now, firstly, no matter how you fix the scratch, it will never be what it originally was, and secondly, if a record is this badly damaged it probably isn’t worth using this guide to rip it, if rip it at all.
Nevertheless, there are two techniques that you could employ to at best make the record play fully.

1)With the aid of a magnifying glass, use a sewing needle to actually scratch a more defined groove into the scratched section. This will obviously create a lot of hiss and/or large, disruptive clicks during playback of the rip later, but at least it will allow the record to play fully.

2)Use nail varnish (not nail varnish remover!!) to help rebuild the walls of the groove. This is a fiddly process, similar to the previous method, except this is less destructive. Use a magnifying glass and a needle to apply small amounts of nail varnish to the walls of groove, which will then harden, thus allowing the tune to play fully.

However, neither of these techniques will sound particularly good during playback.




Warped Records


This is a common problem with records, in which the record becomes bent due to heat and the way in which the record has been stored. Depending on how badly bent the record is, varying degrees of success can be had in flattening it out again. The two factors that need to be applied to the record to reverse the warp are: pressure and heat, usually combined. There are lots of ways you can apply heat, such as; a hair dryer, warm water, the oven (on a low temperature) and even sunlight can be used. There are also plenty of ways to apply the pressure, a pile of books/magazines being the most readily available.
The basic idea of fixing a warp is:

1)Heat the record, which will make the record more flexible

and then:

2)Apply pressure in order to flatten the record out.
One method is to “sandwich” the record between two pieces of glass, approximately 3/8 inch (1 cm) thick by 14 inch (36 cm) square, and to leave it in the sunlight. The sunlight will soften the vinyl and the weight of the glass will flatten it out. This can take days, but it’s a gentle approach and is unlikely to cause much damage. You might want to consider putting something opaque over the label of the record to prevent the sunlight from fading it. It is also important not to put too much pressure onto the record, or the grooves may be flattened.



Doing the rip


It doesn’t matter too much what software you use to record the rip, they are pretty much all as good as each other. Audacity is perfectly fine (and free). It would be sensible to record the rip with the same program you will be using to do any editing with later (I recommend Adobe Audition v3).
The settings you can rip at vary largely, but for lossless ripping, which is what this guide is intended for, there are only two variables to consider. Sample rate and bit depth.
The sample rate should be no less than 44.1 kHz, and it can go up to a maximum of 192 kHz, although there’s really no point in ripping above 48 kHz for several reasons.
(All of these frequency values should be doubled to reflect the sample rate)

1) A stylus is usually not sensitive enough to effectively pick up frequencies above 22 kHz.
2) Speakers are rarely good enough to play above 21 kHz.
3) Human hearing can only detect up to around 20 kHz.
4) Records are usually only mastered to around 24 kHz.

If you did rip at 96 kHz you would probably get a range of 20 kHz inaudible hiss that doubles the file size. Therefore, rip at 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz at most.

It is excessive to rip above 24 bit (unless you plan on sampling it). Dance music would not sound any better with highly sensitive dynamics, it is not intended for careful listening or appreciation. 32 bit would only triple the file size for very little sound quality gain. 24 bit is ample; 16 bit is perfectly good enough though. In summary, I recommend 44.1 kHz 16 bit as a minimum and 48 kHz 24 bit as a maximum setting to rip at.

Also, mute all other applications/sounds before doing the rip (it is not uncommon for badly done rips to have irrelevant computer sounds in them, such as clicking or msn sound effects). In fact, close any unnecessary processes on your computer. Put as little strain on the computer's resources as possible. Some lower quality rips jump where the computer has run out of ram while doing the rip, so free up as much resources as you can.



Post Rip Processing

I recommend using Adobe Audition v3 to do audio restoration. Audition is a powerful yet very simple program to use and has all of the functions you will need when cleaning up the rip. You can of course use anything you like, though.

This part the ripping process is completely subjective, speculative and is often difficult to obtain great sound quality unless you are prepared to spend about two hours work per tune. I can’t stress enough how important it is to know exactly what a process does before applying it. Often people will do a restoration process to cure one problem, but will cause several other problems without realising it and the problems are only discovered several hundred rips later.

Firstly, I do not recommend using automatic de-clickers, they usually cause more damage than good as they often falsely detect clicks where there aren’t any, this can be particularly bad for vocal sections (the waveform of vocals is similar to a click). You can test the “reliability” of a de-clicker for yourself: use adobe audition to generate a constant tone (sine wave) and then run the de-clicker and see how many clicks it "detects", keeping in mind it shouldn't detect any. The best approach is to manually go through the tune and remove the clicks when you hear them. I advise you use the spectrograph view when doing this as clicks will show up obviously as vertical lines. Use a set of sensitive headphones to hear the clicks clearly, don’t expect to hear any if you “blast” it through your booming speakers.

Hiss is usually not possible to remove successfully. Noise reduction/hiss reduction functions usually leave the tune warbled and reverbed afterwards and don't even remove the hiss properly anyway. It's simply not worth using them. You can, however, use the hiss removal tools to great success where there is a section of pure bass as they can easily remove all the frequencies above the bass, for example if the bassline is between 0-200 Hz, use an FFT filter to remove the frequencies above 200 Hz (this makes it sound like a great quality rip and gives the great illusion that the rip is sourced from CD or web etc). You must do a compromise between hiss and no hiss though, if you go from a contrast of heavy hiss to completely hiss free it sounds unnatural and obviously processed. Sometimes it's worth leaving the hiss in.

Avoid using an EQ, especially for bass. I would never use an EQ on bass. I have occasionally boosted the higher frequencies to make an otherwise muffled rip sound more fresh, but don't go over the top, only do it if completely necessary.

Adjust the panning if necessary, use the spectral pan display and the volume levels to try and get the optimum balance.

When you've done all of this, normalize the rip to make it as loud as possible without distorting.



Saving the Rip

Considering that this guide has been written with the intention of producing the highest quality rips possible, it would stupid to want to save the rip in a format other than lossless. There are many lossless audio formats available:


ALAC - Apple Lossless Audio Codec
APE - Monkey’s Audio
FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec
LA - Lossless Audio
LPAC - Lossless Predictive Audio Codec
OFR - OptimFROG
RAL - RealAudio Lossless
SHN - Shorten
TTA - True Audio
WV - WavPack
WMAL - Windows Media Audio Lossless


Each of these formats have their pros and cons, but for the sake of compatibility and reliability, FLAC is the most popular codec. There are nine different compression settings for FLAC, 0 – 8, 0 being the smallest compression, 8 having the best compression. Convert the uncompressed WAVs to FLAC, level 8 compression. You can use the free, FLAC frontend to do this.

If you want it as MP3, there are several popular codecs, but there is really only one which is any good: LAME (ironically). Don't use the Blade or Xing encoder, these are simply put: terrible, and don’t use the FhG encoder. FhG isn’t a terrible encoder, but it’s not the best either; definitely not as good as LAME. Unfortunately, most commercial software uses FhG as the MP3 encoder, therefore you should save the rip as WAV, and then manually convert it to MP3. Also, Use the latest version of lame to encode MP3s at 320 kbs. Use the lame frontend, “RazorLame” to do this encoding.

Great guide there ^

Thanks