Digitizing from Vinyl

B

Brent Larimore

Member
Hello Forum: Thank you to all who offer their suggestions on this.
I have an old 45 I did back in high school and no longer own a turntable.
My question is: what is possibly the best turntable for digitizing with the end
of putting it out as a digital stream, etc. ?
My main concerns are 1. Speed (Pitch) accuracy & 2. Sound quality & 3. Budget is somewhat
limited so I can't spend a furtune.

Thanks!

Brent
 
Brent Larimore said:
Hello Forum: Thank you to all who offer their suggestions on this.
I have an old 45 I did back in high school and no longer own a turntable.
My question is: what is possibly the best turntable for digitizing with the end
of putting it out as a digital stream, etc. ?
My main concerns are 1. Speed (Pitch) accuracy & 2. Sound quality & 3. Budget is somewhat
limited so I can't spend a furtune.

Thanks!

Brent
Click to expand...
Hello

This is an interesting one. I have 2 turntables and a load of vinyl LP's. If you are in UK then there is a shop called Richer Sounds. I believe they are also available online. They are an excellent company that specialises in very good quality seperates that wont break the bank. I suggest you check them out xxxx
 
Richer sounds killed most local high shops. The ones who did TVs, videos and hifi. Not the crazy audiophile places, just where you went for a new amp or turntable. Nobody really knew how they did it but the model worked and was sustainable.

if you only have one single, would it not be cheaper to just post on Facebook for friends who still have a turntable, and go and see them with your recorder and a couple of cables.
 
I'd agree with Rob - for just a one off find someone with the gear. There are some decent software tools for cleaning up the audio from vinyl but they can't replace audio that is missing or distorted from a poor transfer from vinyl to digital. Whatever you do, don't be tempted to get one of the budget turntables with a red and black cartridge. While they will make something vaguely approaching the right noise, they will also damage your record so it may not play without distortion on a decent turntable.
 
Smithers XKR said:
Hello

This is an interesting one. I have 2 turntables and a load of vinyl LP's. If you are in UK then there is a shop called Richer Sounds. I believe they are also available online. They are an excellent company that specialises in very good quality seperates that wont break the bank. I suggest you check them out xxxx
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Thanks, Smithers!
 
rob aylestone said:
Richer sounds killed most local high shops. The ones who did TVs, videos and hifi. Not the crazy audiophile places, just where you went for a new amp or turntable. Nobody really knew how they did it but the model worked and was sustainable.

if you only have one single, would it not be cheaper to just post on Facebook for friends who still have a turntable, and go and see them with your recorder and a couple of cables.
Click to expand...
Good suggestion, Rob, TY
 
jamesperrett said:
I'd agree with Rob - for just a one off find someone with the gear. There are some decent software tools for cleaning up the audio from vinyl but they can't replace audio that is missing or distorted from a poor transfer from vinyl to digital. Whatever you do, don't be tempted to get one of the budget turntables with a red and black cartridge. While they will make something vaguely approaching the right noise, they will also damage your record so it may not play without distortion on a decent turntable.
Click to expand...
TY, James! Definitely don't want to go backwards with something cheap
 
One other comment, pitch accuracy isn't really a problem. Most digital programs have the ability to adjust pitch. I recently did a bunch of transfers from some tape reels, and the pitch was off about 5%. A simple movement of a slider in Reaper (the program I used to capture the audio) put things back on pitch.

I've done a few dozen record transfers of albums that are no longer available, and they are very easy to do. Anyone with a good vinyl playback system can do it. For a 45, you're probably talking about 8-10 minutes tops for both sides.

I usually capture at 88kHz/24 bit. Once captured, you can play endlessly on removing any defects, clicks and pops are the primary offenders. There are programs which can clean things up, but they sometimes make audible changes besides removing pops. I've gone so far as to manually "draw" a patch in a waveform to remove a large transient click.
 
TalismanRich said:
There are programs which can clean things up, but they sometimes make audible changes besides removing pops. I've gone so far as to manually "draw" a patch in a waveform to remove a large transient click.
Click to expand...

I've actually found that automatically removing big clicks and pops is something that Izotope's RX is fairly bad at. You have to use a fairly high setting which also seems to lose detail in the sound. Adobe Audition is much better and I've also heard good reports about Acon Acoustica.
 
jamesperrett said:
I've actually found that automatically removing big clicks and pops is something that Izotope's RX is fairly bad at. You have to use a fairly high setting which also seems to lose detail in the sound. Adobe Audition is much better and I've also heard good reports about Acon Acoustica.
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Thats interesting James, I use a carbon brush for my vinyl records to remove the static and dust and have oval shaped styli on both of my turtables. The oval styli get into the grooves deeper and improve the bass frequency response. An easy upgrade for not a lot of money 🥰👍
 
My Rega has an Ortofon 2m Red, which I much prefer to the AudioTechnica 121 that was in there. My favorite was a Sonus Blue, but the diamond eventually fell out of the cantilever, and replacing the stylus was crazy expensive then, and way more now, if you can find one available.
 
Smithers XKR said:
The oval styli get into the grooves deeper and improve the bass frequency response. An easy upgrade for not a lot of money 🥰👍
Click to expand...

I like elliptical styli too but good ones often aren't cheap. I like Shure cartridges but you have to go for something like a Jico stylus if you want a decent replacement now that Shure no longer make their own replacements.
 
jamesperrett said:
I like elliptical styli too but good ones often aren't cheap. I like Shure cartridges but you have to go for something like a Jico stylus if you want a decent replacement now that Shure no longer make their own replacements.
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Well James to be honest the ones I got were only £20 each which seemed like a good deal to me. The overall frequency response seemed a lot smoother and the bass definately sounded more defined. I dont know how the newer modern vinyl reproduction pressings compare with the originals, it would be interesting to compare?
 
Smithers XKR said:
Well James to be honest the ones I got were only £20 each which seemed like a good deal to me. The overall frequency response seemed a lot smoother and the bass definately sounded more defined. I dont know how the newer modern vinyl reproduction pressings compare with the originals, it would be interesting to compare?
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I did buy the Led Zeppelin Remasters CD, that Page took into the studio many years ago and digitally remastered each individual track from the original recordings then remastered them. But you know what? I really cant tell any difference :giggle: Maybe my ears have gone xxx It is a bit brighter and cleaner maybe.. but you can do that with simple EQ on a cheap stereo.
 
Smithers XKR said:
Well James to be honest the ones I got were only £20 each which seemed like a good deal to me. The overall frequency response seemed a lot smoother and the bass definately sounded more defined. I dont know how the newer modern vinyl reproduction pressings compare with the originals, it would be interesting to compare?
Click to expand...
It looks like you can buy genuine Audio Technica styli for that price which should work well but I was disappointed with the one I bought around that price for the Shure. Lots of distortion on "s" sounds and general mistracking. I splashed out on a Jico hyperelliptical stylus and everything sounds good.
 
jamesperrett said:
It looks like you can buy genuine Audio Technica styli for that price which should work well but I was disappointed with the one I bought around that price for the Shure. Lots of distortion on "s" sounds and general mistracking. I splashed out on a Jico hyperelliptical stylus and everything sounds good.
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Yes james, I find that the elipticai stili give a much betterf bass.ftequency responce then the spherical styli with the units that the Dj guys prefer. The DJ guys prefer the tacticle scration tequtique and the sphericacal sistem dous not damage the grooves so much. But to me if you are a seriois vinyl guy the it is best to have the ovel strylus for vynil xxxx
 
jamesperrett said:
It looks like you can buy genuine Audio Technica styli for that price which should work well but I was disappointed with the one I bought around that price for the Shure. Lots of distortion on "s" sounds and general mistracking. I splashed out on a Jico hyperelliptical stylus and everything sounds good.
Click to expand...
I can only speak from experience but the eliptical stili are much better across the frequency range and I prefer tyem xx
 
Smithers XKR said:
Yes james, I find that the elipticai stili give a much betterf bass.ftequency responce then the spherical styli with the units that the Dj guys prefer. The DJ guys prefer the tacticle scration tequtique and the sphericacal sistem dous not damage the grooves so much. But to me if you are a seriois vinyl guy the it is best to have the ovel strylus for vynil xxxx
Click to expand...
I find that the FQ is a lot better and better overall dynamic generrally. As we say the eliprical shape stili tracks the grooves better and more accurately, especialliy in the bottom of the grooves for the sub 200k response xxxx
 
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